THE QUAD QUINTET - TAGAL
Wordless folk song
Tagal is a newly written work that explores the wordless part of the folk song. Composed by Jorun Marie Kvernberg for the vocal group Kvedarkvintetten.
"Tagal" can be translated as being silent, being silent or speechless, and the work challenges the framework for vocal music in that the textual elements are virtually absent. To 'løte på kjafte', i.e. to sing instrumental songs, is a branch of the traditional folk song. In recent years, the Kvedark quintet has particularly delved into song trelling. With improvisation in a wordless language, they put together small syllables and find the sounds that can imitate the fiddle best, in the form of rhythm and phrasing. This is a personal and individual language that each individual performer develops and is alone about, and it is thus unique for the Kvedark Quintet to find a common trolling language for five voices.
*The award-winning composer and musician Jorun Marie Kvernberg has extensive experience composing new music with roots in folk music. In 2020, she was awarded a working grant from the Norwegian State Artists' Scholarship as a popular composer. Kvernberg is the only folk musician to have been awarded TONO's Edvard Prize. She is perhaps best known for her work with the group Majorstuen (2000-2020), where she composed much of the material for five strings.
Kvernberg has a strong fascination with voices as instruments and everything that opens up when instruments are replaced by vocalists, especially when a group has folk song codes at the forefront of its expression. This is how the collaboration between the Kvedarkvintetten and Kvernberg came about.
The Kvedarkintetten consists of five folk singers from Hallingdal. The group has been central to the Norwegian folk music scene for many years, and has several exciting projects behind them, including the album “Julesong” (Grappa) which was released in 2017. Individually, they are prominent performers in folk music and folk dance, and as a quintet they are one of the leading vocal groups in Norway that worship folk songs in a capella format.
Margit Myhr - vocals
Sina Myhr - vocals
Helga Myhr - vocals and Hardanger fiddle
Tonje Risdal Liahagen - vocals
Silje Risdal Liahagen - vocals