Qvam/Plassen | Norway
Folk music with roots and rhythm - and soul
Solid roots in traditional music from the mountain region of Trøndelag and Nord-Østredalen lie at the bottom when Bendik Qvam and Synnøve Brøndbo Plassen offer modern folk music, interspersed with catchy riffs, fennel playing and folk songs. This year's Spellemann prize winners serve up beautiful vocals, with a good accompaniment of guitar, mandolin, fennel, lyre and guitar. The duo gives us driving rhythms and beautiful sounds in an intimate and close soundscape, which is also characterized by the fact that both have a background in both blues and folk songs. This is folk music and the joy of playing that can melt any musical heart.
The music on the debut album Stråk (2025) reflects the many sides of life as it once was in Nord-Østerdalen and Trøndelag: stories of hard times and hardship, of young love that both burns and stings, and of the people's eternal longing for music and dance as an escape from everyday life.
The title Stråk refers to a journey, a region – an area or a thoroughfare. Nord-Østerdalen and Trøndelag have always been such landscapes – places people have traveled through, with music as a constant companion.
Synnøve Brøndbo Plassen : Vocals, guitar and lyre
Bendik Qvam : Guitar, vocals, French horn and willow flute