Roots Tour Part 6

Tuesday, June 23, 2009
We took the 8:10 am train from Oslo to Geilo (Yi low) where we were met by our hostess, Karin Brennesvik when we arrived at 11:20. She had just driven up from Telemark, and had all her baggage in her small car. We stuffed all our luggage and ourselves into her car and went over to the cabin she had rented. It was totally charming, one of several log cabins with sod roofs which the hotel had out back for rental. The interior was knotty pine, with a wood stove, five bedrooms containing 2 beds each, two bathrooms, kitchen with all the dishes and utensils provided, and an outside enclosed entry, to store boots, shoes and skis, and this time of year, patio chairs.

Karin is a remarkable woman. She has been dancing and teaching traditional Norwegian dance for 50 years She has made it her personal mission to preserve the dance and music of the regions of Norway. The oldest music and dance traditions are traced back to the 12th century, and the music for the oldest dances is provided by the Hardanger fiddle. This fiddle has 5 sympathetic strings which provide a drone for the 4 melody strings. The music is very modal, and the tunes are often crooked. This has a very ancient sound. Karen has won national dance competitions and trained many championship dancers. In fact, last year her dancers swept the competition. After having watched the competition, and then seeing Karen's dancers, it was obvious why she wins so many competitions. Her dancers seem to be floating, whereas the others are definitely earthbound.

She regularly tours to other countries to demonstrate and give workshops in Norwegian traditional dance. I met her in Portland at a house concert for Hardanger fiddle for the Portland Revels in December 2009. At that time, she told me about a regular dance week she sponsors in February, which features dance workshops, fiddling and cross country skiing. I must say that after the three days we spent with her in Geilo, both Tom and I are very tempted to attend.

The festival was just getting organized as we arrived, and another woman, Bjorg, a long time friend of Karin arrived in the afternoon. We were also awaiting the arrival of Karin's daughter, Arnhild, who was leaving Telemark after work. There was a big social dance being held in As, about 30 km away, but we needed to get settled in, visit the grocery store and walk around the town to get our bearings. Since Midsomar's Eve is celebrated on the 23rd, we all decided to stay up past midnight. Even though Norway has strict laws against open bonfires, we managed to have a very good time without one. We have a picture of Tom, Karin, Bjorg and me standing in front of the cabin at midnight. It is so light out at that time, you can lose track of how late it is. Karin says some people (probably younger people) never go to bed the entire week. We finally hit the sack at about 1 am.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Since the dance competition did not start until noon, Tom and I decided to hike up from the valley floor after breakfast. Geilo, at about 3,000 feet, is in a beautiful mountain valley. In the winter it is a ski resort, and there are many lifts on each side of the valley. Down below, it is forested, and up on the top it is above the tree line. We hiked up from the hotel past very old barns which looked like some we had viewed at the Folk Museum, and past modern cabins which ranged from simple to very grand. The meadows climb up the hill at a fairly steep angle and they were bordered by buttercups, foxglove, queen anne's lace, lupine, and a pink, and a purple flower I couldn't identify. We walked up for a little over an hour, and still hadn't reached the ski lifts, so we decided to return. At the top of our hike, we spotted a hare, which looks like a gigantic rabbit with extremely long hind legs. At first we thought it was a beagle sized dog, but then it hopped.

We returned in time to go to the dance competition. Karin sat with us and told us about the history and the finer points of Norwegian dance. There were so many competitors, both Junior and Senior divisions that they take a lunch break in the middle. One of the highlights for us were the young boys group from Geilo. They ranged in age from about 8 to 12, and were showing off their tricks – Russian style squat kicks, acrobatic flips, and jumping up to kick a hat off of a pole which is held at a height of at least 6 feet. All this must be done while keeping time with the fiddler, and dancing gracefully between tricks.

Food and beverages are sold in a huge tent next door to the competition hall. In the front of the tent there is a stage and a big dance floor set up. Wonderful bands perform, and the place is really “yumpin”. All the band members together sway and go up and down with bended knees in time with the music. The effect, when combined with a floor full of enthusiastic dancers, young and old, is quite wonderful. There are tables set up from the edge of the dance floor to the back of the tent, and they serve food and drink until 2 am. After the competition is done for the day, the chairs in the other hall are cleared, so there are 2 dance halls going simultaneously. There are also tables outside the hall, and those are packed with smokers, non-smokers, and some younger musicians jamming in less traditional and more innovative styles.

In the evening, there was a barbeque. Many of the dancers and families of dancers gathered on the lawn of a nearby house to socialize. The custom was to bring your own meal (not a potluck) and cook your own meat over the large BBQ grille. We were privileged to have several very fine young musicians play during the event. We recorded one of them. Karen had to leave midway to pick up another friend, Annemarie, from New Hampshire. They arrived in time to enjoy most of the picnic.

After dinner, I decided to go back down to the dance hall to enjoy the music. Tom took off for the top of the ridge. He was determined to get to the top by midnight. Since the sun sets at around 11:30 pm, and it never gets completely dark, he was able to accomplish this and be back by 2 pm.

Thursday, June 25, 2009
We attended the dance band competitions in the morning, and I took a break to jam with Mary Seim, a young woman who we met on the train from Oslo. Mary is a Minnesotan and her husband, Sigurd, and their daughter Emma (age 2), live in Oslo and attend and enter this competition frequently. Mary was kind enough to play fiddle with me once Emma was napping in the afternoon. I recorded several of her tunes, 2 done in cross tuning, and we played several old timey pieces together.

I also got some wonderful recordings from the band competitions. One band in particular was really rocking, and Mary told me that they had no recordings, but she knew of a possible private recording of them. All in all, I have some wonderful examples of Norwegian music to dig into.

In the afternoon, 3 more friends of Karen came, so there was lots of visiting and fun. Karen is naturally gregarious, so we would frequently wonder where she was, and she was off visiting someone. She was kind enough to keep us abreast of the conversation when it veered off into Norwegian. Most of the younger people were fluent English speakers, since they are required to study English from 1st grade on, but some of the older people are shyer about speaking it.

We decided to try for an earlier bedtime since we had to board the train for Bergen at 10 am the next morning. I think we managed to get to bed by 1 am.