A jump start for young talent
Text and photo: Marianne Lystrup - ml@skriveliv.no
They stomp to a foreign beat until they get sick, three young Norwegian folk musicians. Soon they will meet six musicians from Cuba and Colombia.
In a group room at the Oslo Academy of Music, they are getting a jump start on this year's Førde Festival. Sverre Indris Joner, who is leading the project this year with Hilde Fjerdingøy, thought it would be good for the young talents to practice a little beforehand, before they play together with the foreign players.
Weekend in May
So this weekend in May, Astrid Garmo (fiddle, Harding fiddle, vocals and guitar), Rasmus Kjorstad (fiddle) and Emil Horstad (accordion etc.) have locked themselves in and practiced putting fourths, thirds and eighths together in new ways. The Caribbean rhythms are demanding and they admit that they don't have much knowledge of that kind of music before.
– Haven't you ever taken a salsa class?
The gang grins in denial, but is willing to join in the game when Joner tells them to play a version of Bå bå lille lam with a Caribbean twist.
Bye bye
– It's good to start with something that is familiar, instead of practicing something completely new. It's the same pedagogical twist we do with the group Hovedøen Social Club, which I started a few years ago. There we play good, old Norwegian hits as if they were Caribbean. Very fun, says Sverre Indris Joner.
He explains that what they do with the little lamb is move the melody forward an eighth note, so that the whole song is syncopated. Another trick he uses to get Caribbean sea spray into the blood of the Norwegian youth is the well-known party trick of letting one hand stroke up and down over the chest while the other claps in the same place, and then switching. I watch while they practice. It's not easy at all, and there's a lot of laughter and dancing.
Emil Horstad, Rasmus Kjorstad and Astrid Garmo on a crash course in Latino music with Sverre Indris Joner.
Dreaming
They also get to test big congas, but the way they slap the drum skin isn't really exciting, so it's probably good that this is mostly to get some insight into how the guest musicians operate. They themselves must stick to their own instruments.
– What do they dream of achieving through this project?
– I haven't really thought about it that much, but trying out new genres broadens your horizons, and I think it will be interesting, says Emil Horstad.
“ – I’m looking forward to getting to know the people who are coming, says Rasmus Kjorstad. ”
Astrid Garmo had not heard of this project before she was asked to participate, but she immediately saw that it was an exciting opportunity to get to know both new people and new musical styles.
Harder nut
– What do you think – can these young people achieve something great together with the guests, Sverre Indris Joner?
– Yes, I am happy to be a midwife for this project.
– But it strikes me that you have an easier match that comes with the Caribbean temperament, than if it were Arabic or Indian music you were going to mix with Norwegian folk music?
– Well, I have no experience with it, but from the outside it seems like a harder nut to crack. Plus, in those cultures they also have to take into account a lot of social and religious rules. A very male chauvinistic culture can probably be a challenge to work with, when you have to deal with young girls. Musically, I don't know. Rhythmically it might be a shorter way, but then you have scales and ways to intonate that are a different nut to crack. Not least when it comes to classical Indian music – it is extremely full of driving rules.
I don't want average sauce.
Joner believes that most of the music in the world has something cyclical about it that makes it possible to combine it with other styles. The most difficult is perhaps the music of the Balkans because the beats are not the same length. The easiest is music that has a clear, rhythmic drive in two or three measures.
“ It’s nice if it’s danceable. But no matter what you try to merge, the goal must be to come up with something new and common, so that it’s not just three satellites whizzing around without contact with each other. ”
There are plenty of those, he believes. The other pitfall with such a fusion project is that it looks like an average sauce that could have come from anywhere. When the lowest common multiple becomes so small that there is nothing meaningful left from any of the cultures, one might as well leave it alone.
They have to stretch.
– Taking the path of least resistance. At least I don't like that. You have to stretch yourself a bit. And as long as the musicians do it, as long as they try and try, and don't get angry and disappointed, it's worth the effort. But I probably push them a little outside their comfort zone... he smiles and lets them loose on the next task.