Hárr Benedicte Maurseth

• 1Augnast03:19
• 2Heilo07:32
• 3Reinsdyrbjøller05:49
• 4Kollasj I02:41
• 5Eidfyrder04:16
• 6Hárr03:51
• 7Hreinn06:18
• 8Kollasj II04:18
• 9Snø over Sysendalen05:16
• Total Runtime43:20

Info for Hárr

A few years ago, musician, writer and philosopher David Rothenberg invited me to join him in several musical projects involving the sounds of unique birds from around the world.

While I stayed in Berlin we also gave some live outdoor concerts, playing with nightingales in various parks late in the evening in the city. Playing with these incredible birds changed how I listened to animals in nature.

During the same period Hardanger Musikkfest, an annual festival arranged in my home region of Hardanger, commissioned new music from me for their 2019 festival.

The festival theme that year was “vandring”, a word with many different meanings such as walking, hiking or strolling. I had grown up at Maurset, in the mountains of Eidfjord municipality, close to the edge of the Hardangervidda National Park, and had gone hiking in this region throughout my life. So the festival theme felt close to my heart.

​ I have also felt involved with and connected to ecosophy (økosofi), founded by the Norwegian philosopher Arne Næss (1912-2009). This is based on the view that humans are part of an ecological system that is interdependent with nature, and that all of life and all of nature’s rich diversity have equal value. I wanted to include this perspective in the commissioned work “Hárr” as a way of focusing on its role as a creative inspiration, and to refer to the philosophy by using musique concrète from animals and human beings living, harvesting or simply enjoying the mountains’ gifts and abundance throughout the centuries. All this was combined with musical themes and fiddle tunes composed on the Hardanger fiddle, and later arranged and improvised together with the other musicians involved in the commissioned work. ​

In many ways creating music and hiking are the same thing, at least to me – they evoke an awareness of beauty, deep listening and presence when our spirit is open. You can experience them alone or share them with others, in silence or in conversation. Both require time, effort, patience and repetitive continuity. Both are also a reminder of something else, something larger than the individual self, that makes one feel forever humble as a human being.

Benedicte Maurseth, Hardanger fiddle
Håkon Mørch Stene, vibraphone, marimba, percussion, electric guitar, electronics
Mats Eilertsen, double bass, electronics
Guest:
Jørgen Træen, electronics
Rolf-Erik Nystrøm, saxophone
Stein Urheim, langeleik, harmonica, electronics, samples, percussion

Benedicte Maurseth
Hardanger fiddle player, composer and writer Benedicte Maurseth (b.1983) is a well- established and esteemed composer/performer on Norway’s folk music scene. Born in Eidfjord in the beautiful Hardanger Fjord region in western Norway, today her home is in the city of Bergen, where she works as a freelance musician. Maurseth has studied with Hardanger fiddle master Knut Hamre for close to 30 years, and traditional music from Hardanger is her area of expertise. She is an alumna of the prestigious Ole Bull Academy, where she studied Norwegian Folk Music Performance, and in recent years, Maurseth has expanded her work to include Norwegian traditional folk singing (kveding).

In 2007 she came to wider attention as Norway’s Young Folk Musician of the Year. Since then Maurseth has toured extensively as a soloist and in collaboration with others, both in Norway and internationally. She works closely with many of the leading artists across genres, especially within early music and improvised music. She has also worked with writers and actors and has a deep interest in baroque instruments and has for several years worked with fiddles dating back to the 1700s. She also uses gut strings and Baroque bows and tunes her fiddle in a lower pitch then what is common among most Hardanger fiddlers today.

For many years, Maurseth has also composed new material for the Hardanger fiddle, both for solo performances, solo recordings, and for the theatre and other ensembles. For her latest commissioned work, Tidekverv, she was awarded the NOPA Music Prize for 2017. She also received the Voss Jazz Prize for 2018, as well as many prestigious fellowships from the Norwegian state in order to concentrate on cultivating her tradition and creative work. She has recorded several albums for Grappa and ECM and has released books and essays. Her book about art, teaching and music as healing; To be nothing. Conversations with Knut Hamre, Hardanger Fiddle Master, is available in English through Terra Nova Press / MIT Press, Fall 2019.

This album contains no booklet.