Egeland/Edén/Marin Vol.1

This project brings together Ånon Egeland, Mats Edén and Mikael Marin asa trio. Incredibly, although the three of them have known each other for decades, they have never before played together in this format. They’ve been mulling this project for a long time, but only now has it come to fruition.

Each of these musicians has, in his own characteristic way, created a distinc­tive style within Scandinavian tradition­al music, and each has collaborated with groups and on albums that have been key to the development of today’s Scan­dinavian folk scene. Ånon has released several important albums under his own name, while Mats Edén has been as central to Sweden’s Groupa as Mikael has to Väsen.

The trio’s project takes traditional tunes as its starting point, most of which were brought to the table by Ånon – some from his large, existing repertoire and some from little ­known manuscript collections. Apart from one march, all are dance tunes: springars/springdans/polskas, hallings, waltzes, reinlenders and trippars. The trio then came up with arrangements that show how the tradition(s) can be renewed and updated from within, as it were – without drums, bass or guitars – yet still sound youthful, contemporary and fresh.

The album was recorded in Rauland over a few days in December 2018, at the studio of the Department of Norwegian Folk Culture, part of the University of South­Eastern Norway. The arrangements were produced on the spot: the versions on the album are unique and never absolutely identical to the versions you’ll hear at the trio’s live performances.

Booklet with transcriptions of the tunes for you to play – and hi-res audio files at BandCamp