Sinikka Langeland - Wind and Sun (2023) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

Many years into her study of the music of Finnskogen, an area of Norway once populated by Forest Finns, where she now resides, Sinikka Langeland returns with another strong chapter in her journey. Langeland's instrument, the charming Norwegian harp-like kantele, exists in several iterations from five and 15 strings up to 40, and is played on a table like the more familiar zither. An ECM recording artist since 2007, she has recorded in a number of contexts including solo, instrumental-only and vocal-centric. She teams with an all-star group of Norwegian musicians, including trumpeter Mathias Eick, bassist Mats Eilertsen and drummer Thomas Strønen, all of whom have recorded for ECM as leaders. Recorded by engineer Martin Abrahamsen at Rainbow Studios in Oslo, these sessions were mixed by Langeland, Guido Gorna and Michael Hinreiner at Bavaria Musikstudios in Munich. In line with the ECM ethos, the breadth and depth of the sound of Wind and Sun are breathtaking, accurately capturing the delicate resonances of the kantele. For lyrics for her original music, Langeland refashions texts from a variety of sources old and new—ancient myths and legends to modern poetry. Here she has collaborated with contemporary Norwegian poet and novelist Jon Fosse. His poem on the unstoppable passing of time, "It Walks and Walks," is gorgeously sung by Langeland while the horns provide complimentary accompaniment joining together at the end. In "When the Heart is a Moon," a pair of poems are joined and despite losing something in their English translation in the liner notes, some of Fosse's artfulness comes through: "I shall see it disappear/ And hear music/ In the movement we create/ And that creates us, so distinctly/ In the darkness." In many ways what grounds Langeland and her music in the modern world is her jazz-like approach to arranging and band dynamics. "The Love" spectacularly succeeds in adopting some of the sway of Brazilian bossa nova music, complete with a swarthy Stan Getz-like saxophone from a longtime Langeland collaborator, Trygve Seim. Another striking track is "A Child Who Exists," with just a trio of voice, kantele and saxophone whose interplay exudes a fragile, haunting beauty. Enchanting musicological esoterica.

TRACKLIST

1 Row My Ocean
2 Wind And Sun
3 It Walks And Walks
4 When The Heart Is The Moon
5 Hands That Held
6 A Child Who Exists
7 A Window Tells
8 The Love
9 Wind Song
10 A Child Who Exists (var.)
11 Wind And Sun (var)
12 You Hear My Heart Come



Thanks to the Original customer.