GO0508

Baltic Crossing

DK/UK

Nyt musikalsk samarbejde bryder strømmen

Denmark, Finland & UK

Idéen til gruppen opstod da Kristian Bugge og den engelske guitarist Ian Stephenson mødtes på en folkemusikkonference i Kokkola i Finland i foråret 2002. Gruppen mødtes første gang hos Ian i Newcastle i januar 2003. Siden har de arbejdet med musikken og turneret i bl.a. Danmark, Finland og Norge.
De travle, unge musikere har nu udgivet deres første cd i eget navn!
Baltic Crossing spiller traditionel folkemusik fra deres tre hjemlande og nabolandene omkring. Dette er en invitation til en spændende rejse gennem de nordiske og keltiske lande.

Ian Stephenson (GB) på guitar og toradet harmonika
Uddannet på Englands eneste videregående uddannelse for folkemusik på Newcastle Universitet. Spiller i de engelske grupper 422 og Kathrin Tickell Band. Lokal initiativtager og igangsætter for div. projekter omkring Newcastle, bl.a. Windy Bottom folk Festival.

Andy May (GB) på sækkepiber og klaver
Bredt anerkendt traditionsbærer på de ret sjældne northumbrian pipes. Vandt som 10-årig sin første af en lang række spillekonkurrencer på dette instrument. Fungerer nu som dommer på de samme konkurrencer og spiller og turnerer desuden med den kendte sanger Jez Lowes band og med sit eget Andy May Band.

Antti Järvelä (FI) på kontrabas og mandolin
Er vokset op i den berømte spillemandsby Kaustinen. Spiller i nogle af de mest kendte finske folkemusikorkestre så som JPP, Troka og ikke mindst Frigg til hvilket han er initiativtager og bærende kraft. Har medvirket på adskillige indspilninger for mange finske artister og er ligeledes en meget brugt underviser. Studerer på Sibelius Akademiets folkemusikuddannelse i Helsinki.

Esko Järvelä (FI) på violin og bratsch
Er fætter til Antti og således også fra Kaustinen, hvor hans far Mauno Järvelä er storspillemand og en meget vigtig bærer og videregiver af den lokale musiktradition. Esko spiller også i Frigg, samt bl.a. Tsumi Sound System og Töttersön. Er i allerhøjeste grad vokset op med musikken fra den spæde start, hvilket høres i hans overbevisende spil. Studerer ligeledes på Sibelius Akademiets folkemusikuddannelse i Helsinki.

Kristian Bugge (DK) på violin
Modtog i 2004 Danmarks Radios P2 pris, ”radium prisen”, som bl.a. omfattede en pladekontrakt. Det førte til hans debut cd der udkom i sommeren 2005 og senere modtog to priser, ”årets folkemusik debut” og ”årets folkemusik instrumentalist”, ved Danish Music Awards – Folk i Tønder den 11. marts 2006! På cd’en medvirker Baltic Crossing på ca. halvdelen af numrene. Kristian spiller desuden med det danske folkemusikband Habadekuk, duoerne Jensen & Bugge og Wenzell & Bugge m.fl.

Baltic Crossing use their strong affinity for old dance music and respect for each others traditions to bring a new youthful energy to the folk music of Europe.  Wherever they meet, at least one has to cross the Baltic Sea. 

They are:

Kristian Bugge (DK)                                  Violin
Antti Jarvela (FI)                                      Double Bass, Mandolin, Banjo, Guitar (9)
Esko Jarvela (FI)                                       Violin, Viola, Double Bass (8)
Andy May (UK)                                         Northumbrian & Uilleann Pipes, Piano
Ian Stephenson (UK)                                Guitar, Melodeon, Double Bass (9)

tracks:

1. Sextour
Two traditional Danish tunes. The first one is found as ”Den toppede høne fra Vendsyssel” in the famous tunebook ”358 Danske Folkedansemelodier”. Kristian learned the second one from accordion and harmonica player Sonnich Lydom who found it in the manuscript of J. Mortensen from Svendborg under the name ”Wiener Quadrille”. The same tune was also found in the Fredericia manuscript of Hans Peder Christensen as “Sextour”. We liked that name better..

2. Vänkärin Set
First a traditional Swedish slängpolska from Harg in the region of Uppland. Kristian learned this tune from his good friend, Daniel Hedman who lives in beautiful Österänge in the northern part of Uppland.
Andy wrote Vänkärin Polska (The Shotgun Polska) in 2005, supposedly in the style of a northumbrian 3/2 hornpipe, but the rest of the band insisted it’s a polska, and Esko gave it a Finnish name which means ‘the front passenger seat of a car’ or ‘Shotgun’!!

3. Original Polka set
Two polkas from Vejle where Kristian grew up. The first one is called ”Du er min egen” and is from the repertoire of the famous fiddle player from Vejle, Frederik Iversen (1864-1948). He was the first musician ever to play traditional music on Danish Radio! The second one is called ”Et års Polka” and was composed by Kristian as a first birthday present for the wonderful twins, Greta and Alfred Wallin from Helsingborg in Sweden.

4. Den Strejkende General / The Striking General
Traditional Danish dance tune from the playing of Madvig Vilsen (1909-1987) from the Island of Læsø. It was originally composed by D.T.S. Bjerregaard (1852-1916) from Kjellerup outside Viborg, but the Læsø musicians adopted it and it became part of their big and very exciting traditional repertoire.

5. Ostindiens Velkomst
Traditional dance tune from Sønderho on the Island of Fanø. One of the many favourites we learned from the playing of Peter Uhrbrand.

6. Sir John Fenwick's
Two Traditonal English tunes: Sir John Fenwick's the Flower Among them All/The Dusty Miller.
Sir John Fenwick of Wallington, Northeast England, was a supporter of the Jacobites, and was excecuted in 1697 for plotting to kill the English king William of Orange. The tune is found in several early Northumbrian collections including Peacock's Pipe Tunes, although 16th century versions exist, commonly named Mary Scott the Flower of Yarrow. There are many tunes titled The Dusty Miller but this 3/2 hornpipe version is found in the manuscript of English dance tunes ”John of the Greeny Cheshire Way”.

7. Korv och Mos
This fantastic tune was composed by the renowned fiddler Mats Edén from Sweden.  It means “Sausages and Mash”.  We had a great time playing the tune with Mats during our famous no-underpants gig at the excellent Haukeliseter Festival in Norway.

8. Space Cowboys
Antti found these two nameless traditional Finnish Quadrilles in a tunebook whilst sitting reading on the toilet in Kaustinen.  He immediately saw that they had great potential, washed his hands, and brought them to England for our first ever concert.  They were christened Space Cowboys by the wonderful Swedish Saxophonist Harriet Ohlsson, who thought the chords sounded just like the classic rock song “The Joker” by Steven Miller.

9. Mofodragon Set
Koukkulammin polkka is composed by a great Finnish fiddler Otto Hotakainen (1908-1990) from Halsua. He wrote many great polka tunes after he once thought there would be something for people to think about.
Molbodrengens Hopsa is composed by Otto Rasmussen (1872-1949) but was made famous during the seventies, actually, by the great Danish fiddle player Ewald Thomsen (1913-1993) who used to play it regularly.

10. Schottis set
We first combined the tunes “Blind-Ola” (Norway) and “Harrin Jenkka” (Finland) together with a little help from the Finnish-Norwegian band “Frigg” whilst on tour with them in Denmark.  Ian would be extremely happy if anyone would notice the other tunes he has tried to hide in the intro...

11. Grønne Aal / Green Eel
We learned this tune from Gerd and Frede Nielsen from Flintinge, Lolland, DK. We’ve had many good tunes in their beautiful home. Among that we had the joy of their great sausages, cheese, bread and beer.. Grønne Aal is from the manuscript of Hans Pedersen Adrian (1853-1924) from the Island of Lolland.

Read more at www.balticcrossing.com