RAGNHILD HEMSING: VETRA

The album Vetra features folk music taken from the material collected and written down by Ludvig Mathias Lindeman, in Valdres. Lindeman found his raw material in the tunes and folk melodies played and sung in villages and small communities off the beaten track in various parts of Norway, and which had been handed on directly from person to person, and which in the process had been moulded into a style which we can call traditional music - in our case traditional Valdres music. We cannot get away from the local element. Folk music and folk songs in Valdres are closely connected to the local scene: it's nature and animal life, it's seasons, and it's people. Folk songs and short verses refer to people by name, and stories tell of animals and underground creatures. Folk music is very much part of the folk history and identity of Valdres. This album can be a modest contribution to this identity.