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Väsen Brings the Noose to the SW
By Michael Henningsen
MARCH 1, 1999:
Bloody Vikings! For nearly three centuries--from the eighth through
the 10th--these Norwegian warriors plundered Northern and Western
Europe, stealing everything in their path. When they returned
home after each excursion, they jammed righteously. And the music
they played was as surprisingly graceful as it was powerful. Once
Europe got wise and stole gunpowder from the Chinese, the bloody
Vikings stayed home, awaiting the advent of the bicycle, and not
a peep was heard until Schwinn began selling franchises. But the
bands--and the music--played on. Children skied to school, and
God was in His heaven.
Much like the Celts, the Swedes had a penchant for rollicking
tunes conducive to slurping grog, gorging on near-raw meat and
throwing large rocks at each other. The music was played on joyous
violins, lively percussion and an ancient keyed fiddle, unique
to the Swedes, called the nyckelharpa. The music was their
soundtrack, an historical account of conquest and conscience.
And the music lives on. Väsen (pronounced Veh'-sen) are a
Swedish quartet whose knowledge of the traditional tunes is complemented
by their collective ability to cast folk music in a contemporary
light. The instruments employed do not deviate from the instruments
of the past, yet the sound is at once hypnotically ancient and
uniquely modern. Väsen project a playful, improvisational
quality that brings new life to centuries-old technique and instrumentation.
The group's latest recording, Whirled (NorthSide), is their
first as a quartet and features striking musicianship (the nyckelharpa,
incidentally, is an extremely rare and difficult instrument to
play) on an enchanting collection of original tunes struck from
ancient casts. The sounds that result are dervish-like, laden
with instantaneous vitality and age-old importance. Truly, there's
nothing quite like it.

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