Viser På Vandring Vol. 1 – Songs Of The Romany People In Norway

EM11 / 2002

SONGS OF THE ROMANY PEOPLE OF NORWAY

Documentary Field Recordings 2002
Rare Autentic Field Recordings made In Norway 2002

Romany people have lived in Norway for at least five hundred years. The songs on the CD are sung in Norwegian.One of the goals of this album is to illustrate the rich, and very much alive, song traditions that still thrive among the travellers in Norway. This is valuable folk material both for the Romany people themselves and also as a part of Norway’s cultural diversity. Many travellers can sing these folk songs, and are good singers and able to master the distinctive singing style which characterises the Romany people of Norway. Sometimes, they are local songs that are known in other branches of Norwegian folk music, but often with a different melody, text variation or “colouring”. There was far too much material for one CD: We therefore call the first album “Vol. I”, a name which implies a promise of more to come. The album portrays a wide selection of musicians with differing interpretations, voices and ages. I think this breadth gives a wonderful variation. Most are amateurs who do not count themselves as artistes in the normal sense of the word, and who also are quite difficult to get hold of, due to the fact that they are travelling around. This is why wetoo decided to travel around and make a documentary CD.