Nu-Nordic Band Samling Give Taste of Our Past
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www.iomtoday.co.im Isle of Man Examiner, Tuesday, November 1, 2011 13 MANX SHIP FIRST TO VISIT QUAKE MUSIC AND CULTURE STRICKEN JAPANESE PORT, page 15 CULTURAL MIX: The members of new Nordic band Samling, centre, at the Cooish were, from left, Naomi Harvey from Scotland, guitarist Tom Oakes from Devon, and Anne-Sofie Ling Vadal from Norway. They seek to com- bine traditional music from Norway, left, with Gaelic music from the Hebrides, right. Anne-Sofie told me: ‘It truly was a great experience for me personally to come to the Isle of Man, with all it’s links to Norway! I will definitely come back and spend a bit more time there to explore both the musical, history and culture links’ Nu-Nordic band Samling NORDREYS (Earldom of give taste of our past Orkney) THERE was a taste of a new gen- by Simon Artymiuk ensemble, there was also a real treat when Australian-born singer Sophia SUDREYS re of music at this year’s Coo- (Kingdom of part of an impressive Scandinavian At- Dale sang a solo Manx Gaelic song ac- Mann and ish concert – although it was lantic empire stretching from Denmark companied by Tom. She explained that the Isles) also a reminder of ancient links to Greenland. Even the Normans who on her visits to the island some years which, though forged long ago, took control of England after the Battle ago she had often encountered on Port continue to have resonance in of Hastings in 1066 were descendants Erin beach a little boy who every year of Danish raiders living in France. seemed to become more and more Manx culture and politics. In the west and north of the Brit- proficient at playing the fiddle – none Nu-Nordic music seeks to com- ish Isles it was Norwegians who were other than Tom is his younger days pare and combine the folk tradi- the principal Scandinavian raiders – and this duet was a reminder of that. tions of Scandinavia with those and settlers. In Shetland and Orkney When Samling came on stage they NORSE EMPIRE: A map, above, of the of the British Isles, and as well as the language used for centuries was a treated us to possibly the most unex- Kingdom of Mann and the Isles and the Samling other groups forming part now extinct Norse dialect called Norn, pected opening number that a Manx ‘Nordreys’ of Orkney and Shetland of the movement include the Auvo with similarities to today’s Faroese and audience is likely to hear: Anne Sofie Quartet, Baltic Crossing, Boreas Icelandic. In the Northern Isles links Ling Valdal (also of Fribo) singing a WARRIOR and Fribo. It is a concept which with Scandinavia have continued to be loud and piercing series of tuneful yo- RELIC: important – from providing Shetland NORDIC PAST: A traditional Norwe- dels – a traditional Norwegian cow call. may initially seem strange until One of the with a special form of fiddle playing to gian willow flute, left, and a Viking sword, I must admit, though, that it reminded Isle of Lewis you consider the major impact the wartime ‘Shetland bus’ smuggling right, from the Manx Museum me of an incident recorded in the Vi- chessmen that Norse and Danish settlement boats that helped the Resistance in tlers came from the Isle of Man. king Greenland Saga when Erik the unearthed had on large parts of Britain a little Nazi-occupied Norway in the 1940s. In Man and the Hebrides, during that Red’s daughter Freydis is said to have on a beach over 1,000 years ago. Gall-Gaels long period from Godred Crovan’s vic- frightened away an attack on some of in the Outer The first Viking voyaging and raiding tory at the Battle of Sky Hill, near Ram- the first Norse settlers in Vinland (Lab- Hebrides in in the 8th, 9th and 10th centuries left a Where the Norse interacted with the sey, in 1079 to Norway’s handing over rador, Canada) by the Skraelings (either 1831. They liberal scattering of Scandinavian pla- Gaelic-speaking Celts of the Hebrides of the islands to the Scottish king Alex- Native American warriors or Inuits) are made of cename elements down Britain’s coasts (or Sudreys – the ‘southern isles’ that ander III in 1266, there was probably a with a wild shrieking and wailing. walrus ivory – including Milford Haven, Lundy and became known as Sodor), the Isle of hybrid Norse-Gaelic language spoken Themes and date Hartland Point. During the late 800s, Man and parts of Ireland, the Scandi- – something to which Phil Gawne ap- from the King Alfred the Great of Wessex was navians took Celts as wives and serv- propriately referred when introducing The band’s other songs sought to 1100s when forced to divide England in two, with ants and fathered descendants who Samling, as their unique speciality is bind together similar Norwegian and Lewis was the northern half being called Danel- became known as Gall-Gaels – Gaelic- comparing and combining Norwegian Gaelic tunes on particular themes, ruled by the aw and ruled from Scandinavian-held speaking foreigners. In Ireland they and Scottish Gaelic song traditions. some working songs, some cheerful in Manx Viking York. laid the foundations for most of the First, however, concert-goers were theme and some downright tragic. kings There were so many Danes living Emerald Isle’s cities, including Dublin, treated to some rousing Manx music by Anne Sofie would start with the Nor- in southern England by the early 11th Cork and Wexford, and, when periodi- the support band, The Reeling Stones, wegian song and then halfway through century King Ethelred the Unready or- cally expelled, colonised the Lake Dis- led by indefatigable young fiddle player Scottish bandmate Naomi Harvey (also traditionally made of willow or birch, dered ethnic cleansing in the St Brice’s trict and Wirral, leaving Scandinavian Tom Callister and also featuring Paul of band Lurach) would begin the Gaelic such flutes only last until the wood Day Massacre, in which the English placenames with Gaelic flourishes. Rogers on banjo, Cairistìona Dougherty version. Sometimes they sang in unison dries out, so nowadays, she joked, they were ordered to turn on their Danish The sagas indicate that the Norse on flute and Luke Melvin on bodhran, – an effect a bit like the school favour- are ‘traditionally made from plastic’. It neighbours. By the mid-11th century, took Irish and Hebridean servants with and the were also joined by David Kil- ite London’s Burning when sung in a was interesting to compare the sound however, King Knut – now remembered them when colonising Iceland and gallon of King Chiaullee. The audience round – and sometimes separately. For of this instrument with Naomi’s Celtic mainly for trying to turn back the tide – Greenland – and in the Faroe Islands were treated to tune after superb tune. many of the tunes they were accompa- versions of tin whistle and recorder. managed to gain control of England as there is a tradition that their first set- As well as the group playing as an nied by the third bandmate to make it At the end of the concert the Samling over the water, guitarist Tom Oakes. band members asked the audience if Each of the trio introduced the songs in there was anyone prepared to sing the a lively and humorous way. island’s national anthem or a tradition- Sadly the fourth member of the al Manx song to give them another taste group, fiddle player Jon Bews, had of our own musical traditions. been unable to come to the island at After a bit of a pause an impromptu the last moment, so for one of the songs group including Phil Gawne and Profes- the girls tried to replicate the sound of sor Brian Stowell obliged with an excel- fiddle playing with their voices. Luck- lent rendering of the goodnight song ily the deficiency was made up by the Arrane Oie Vie, earning much applause appearance of island favourite the ever from the audience. modest but superb fiddle player Katie The next day I heard Phil Gawne talk- Lawrence, who also performed an in- ing in a radio interview about how he strumental duet with Tom Oakes had been able to hold a long conver- A real revelation was Anne Sofie’s sation with a Highland Gaelic speaker Norwegian willow flute, which looked from the Isle of Skye, each speaking a bit like a short walking stick with a their own language but each able to un- hole in the top into which the player derstand one another. blows and then a hollow end by which Such is the Norse-Gaelic legacy in two STAR SUPPORTS: Reeling Stones members on the night included, from left, Luke Melvin, Cairistìona Dougherty, David Kilgallon (of the tune is produced with just a couple parts of what was once, centuries ago, King Chiaullee), Tom Callister and Paul Rogers of fingers. She explained that although the Kingdom of Mann and the Isles..