Nordic Sounds
This episode of Folk it! Nordic Sounds, we reintroduce three CDs, from fairly recent to brand new releases.
We start rather conventionally with Henriette Flach & Anna Østerby, who perform instrumental Danish folk using nyckelharpa, hardingfele (a trad. Norwegian string instrument) and accordion. Flach and Østerby have been part of the Danish folk scene for quite some time now, but this is their debut as duo.
Another ‘old-timer’ in the scene is Phønix, who released their 11th album. They studied and listened to hundreds of old phonograph cylinders, holding recordings of Danish folk music from the beginning of the last century until just after WWII. The four-headed band made a selection and turned it into modern folk songs, in the familiar Phønix style.
Jumping from traditional to modern, it’s a big leap to Venla Ilona Blom’s music, a Finnish singer, composer and beatboxer. Her debut album ‘Nevrak’ contains so-called folktronica: bombastic, grotesque music, inspired by legends and myths from the Lofoten Islands to Katmandu. There is some resemblance to music from Enya, Kate Bush and the Faeroese Eivor and some traces of modern folk from the islands in the North Atlantic.
Henriette Flach & Anna Østerby – Ude Af Mine Hænder – GO’ Danish Folk Music GO0424 
1. Ude Af Mine Hænder 4:36
2. Ankomsten 2:48
3. Klædt I Grønt 2:10
4. Uvirkelige Virkeligheder 2:25
5. I Mønstre 2:52
Phønix – Nådelands Ø – Go’Danish GO1024
6. Elverhøj (trad, Mose) 4.56
7. Alle Mine Venner (Mose) 3.36
8. Højt Til Loftet (Vinther) 3.40
9. Oksefaldet (trad, Mose) 3.00
10. Kejserens Land (trad, Ane Marie Filsa) 3.46
11. Om Alle De Bjerge (trad, Lovise Hansen, Ingeborg Munch) 4.16
Venla Ilona Blom – Nevrak – Nordic Notes NN180
12. Sea of Sensations 3:16
13. Blue in you 3:31
14. Aavis 3:47
15. Musta veri 4:22
16. Serendipity 4:59
Tracks 1 -5: Flach- Østerby
Tracks 6, 9: trad, arr. + text: Mose
Track 7: Mose
Track 8: Vinther
Track 10: trad, text Ane Marie Filsa, arr. Mose
Track 11: trad, text Lovise Hansen, Ingeborg Munch, arr. Mose
Tracks 12-16 Venla Ilona Blom
Track 12: text Laonikos Psimikakis-Chalkokondylis
