The Hot List: January 3, 2003
Reviews by Matthew J. Forss
Matthew brings us a gathering of recent releases from NorthSide:
Anders Norudde - Himself: The first solo recording of Swedish bagpipe, fiddle and moraharpa music by the founding member of the Swedish folk/rock group, Hedningarna.
Wimme - Cugu (Puppy): The third album featuring Sami yoik (chant) and contemporary instrumentation from Northern Finland.
Triakel - Triakel: Vocalist Emma Hardelin, fiddler Kjell-Erik Eriksson and Janne Stroemstedt on harmonium present various poems, stories, tunes and polkas from Sweden.
Garmarna - Vittrad: Vocalist Emma Hardelin is backed by mainly traditional instrumentation from Sweden.
Loituma - In The Moonlight: Traditional and original Finnish songs, featuring the kantele (Finnish harp), violin, viola and vocals.
Nyckelharpa Orchestra - Byss-Calle: Six musicians from Sweden perform music by the renowned nyckelharpa legend, Byss-Calle (1783-1847).
Troka - Smash: Finnish folk quintet that performs traditional and original compositions from Sweden and Finland on accordion, bass, fiddle, piano, drums and bouzouki.
Matthew J. Forss is currently a full-time student at Lakeland College-Sheboygan,
Wisconsin. He is majoring in Biology and German Language/Culture. Since 1998,
he has collected numerous musical instruments and CDs from around the world.
Also in 1998, he wrote a paper on Mongolian Ethnomusicology, titled:
How Does Music Play An Important Role In The Life And Culture Of Mongolia?
Currently, he has collected over 100 CDs that represent dozens of different
countries. His general interests include ethnomusicology journalism and
researching the traditional/contemporary ethnic music of various cultures
from around the world. His specific, geographic areas of study include the
traditional and popular music from Central Eurasia (especially Mongolia, Uzbekistan,
Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan.) In November of 2000, he accepted the position of
writing world music CD reviews for this site.
