Wardruna - Skald

Well as we all know the founder of the group Wardruna Einar Selvik will release the album entitled "Skald" and will see the light on November 28

For years now Wardruna founder Einar Selvik has done acoustic concerts and lectures, performing Wardruna songs on his own, as well as creations made for the TV-show “Vikings” in an acoustic format. Now parts of this material has finally been recorded “live in studio” in Solslottet Studio in Bergen (Norway), and is set for release through By Norse Music on November 23rd 2018.

“Skald” takes the listener on a musical journey outside the massive soundscape that Wardruna is known for and into a simpler and more direct form, where voice, poetry and ancient instruments like Kravik-lyre, Taglharpa and Bukkehorn lead the way.

Einar Selvik comments:

“Skald” was recorded live in the studio with the intention of capturing the raw and uncompromising energy of a live performance rather than aiming for a flawless and polished expression. It sets out to give voice to the ancient craft that once lay at the heart of the Norse oral traditions, presented as it takes shape in the hands of a humble contemporary skald today.

All formats of the album contains an extensive booklet with all lyrics translated as well as a solid introduction to the Skald and Old Norse poetry written by the acclaimed Icelandic author and Old Norse philologist Bergsveinn Birgisson.

Skald was recorded, mixed and mastered by Iver Sandøy at Solslottet Studio in 2018.

Produced by Einar Selvik and Iver Sandøy.

Wardruna - Skald

Ivar Bjørnson & Einar Selvik’s Skuggsjá

Skuggsjá is a musical piece written by Ivar Bjørnson and Einar Selvik. Arranged to be performed by Enslaved and Wardruna and was originally initiated as a commissioned concert piece for the 200th anniversary of the Norwegian Constitution and premiered in September 2014 at the Eidsivablot festival, Eidsvoll where the constitution was written. Shortly after its debut Skuggsjá was announced as one of the headliner acts of the 20th edition of Roadburn Festival 2015.

The growing desire to present Skuggsjá to a broader audience has ultimately led the Bjørnson and Selvik to record the piece in its entirety. There will be an album in 2016 and details regarding its release will follow soon.

Skuggsjá translates into ‘mirror’ or ‘reflection’ in the Norse language, and the piece not only contextualizes harder music’s role in the democracy in Norway in 2014, but also joins threads from the country’s ancient musical history and solidifies harder music’s position as Norway`s most important cultural export.

By highlighting ideas, traditions and instruments of their Norse past, Skuggsjá tells the history of Norway and reflect relevant aspects from the past into the present day. In light of this we reflect on ourselves as a people and nation. In a magnificent tapestry of metal instrumentation, a wide variety of Norway´s and Scandinavia’s oldest instruments, and poetry in Norse and Norwegian, Skuggsjá is a fusion between past and present, both lyrically and musically.

Ivar Bjørnson & Einar Selvik’s Skuggsjá

Tracklist:

01. Intro: Ull Kjem
02. Skuggsjá
03. Makta Og Vanæra (I All Tid)
04. Tore Hund
05. Rop Frå Røynda – Mælt Frå Minne
06. Skuggeslåtten
07. Kvervandi
08. Vitkispá
09. Bøn Om Ending – Bøn Om Byrjing
10. Outro : Ull Gjekk
11. Skaldens Song Til Tore Hund
12. Quantum Pasts (Rop Fra Røynda – Bardspec Ed)

Line-up

Ivar Bjørnson: vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards

Einar Selvik: vocals, taglharpa, Kravik-lyre, goat-horn, birch-bark lure, bone-flute, percussion, electronics

Contributing musicians

Grutle Kjellson: vocals

Lindy-Fay Hella: vocals

Eilif Gundersen: birch bark lure

Olav L. Mjelva: Harding fiddle

Wardruna Runaljod - Yggdrasil

Runaljod - Yggdrasil is the second album by Norwegian Nordic folk Wardruna. It is an interpretation of the Elder Futhark and is sung in Norwegian, Old Norse and Proto-Norse. The lyrics center around Norse spiritual themes.

Lyrical content and themes:

The song "Fehu", used in the first season of TV series Vikings during a raiding scene, tells of the dangers of gold and wealth and how greed takes over the hearts of men.

The title of the opening song, "Rotlaust Tre Fell", meaning "a rootless tree falls", is based on the philosophy of the band. The song is an invocation of the Allfather Odin and "my mother Frigg" and "wise Vanir", "ancient Thurs" and the Norns. "Rotlaust Tre Fell" was used in the third season of Vikings during preparation for an attack on Paris.

The final track, "Helvegen" ("the Road to Hel") is essentially a funeral song. The song (and album) closes with the famous stanza from Hávamál: "Cattle die, kinsmen die, You yourself will also die, but the word about you will never die, if you win a good reputation. Cattle die, kinsmen die, You yourself will also die, I know one that never dies: the judgement of those who died".

TRACK LISTING...

01. Rotlaust Tre Fell

02. Fehu

03. NaudiR

04. EhwaR

05. AnsuR

06. IwaR

07. IngwaR

08. Gibu

09. Solringen

10. Sowelu

11. Helvegen

Wardruna - Runaljod – Gap Var Ginnunga

Band: Wardruna

Album: Runaljod – Gap Var Ginnunga

Year: 2009

TRACK LISTING

1. Ár var alda 2:19

2. Hagal 7:40

3. Bjarkan 5:53

4. Løyndomsriss 3:15

5. Heimta Thurs 4:18

6. Thurs 1:16

7. Jara 5:02

8. Laukr 4:05

9. Kauna 2:34

10. Algir - Stien klarnar 4:17

11. Algir - Tognatale 5:39

12. Dagr 5:38

CREDITS

Runaljod – gap var Ginnunga was written and arranged by Kvitrafn.

Lindy Fay Hella: Vocals.

Gaahl: Vocals.

Hallvard Kleiveland: Hardanger fiddle (7 and 10).

Kvitrafn: Vocals and all other instruments and sounds.

Recorded and engineered by Kvitrafn at Fimbulljóð studio and various outdoor locations, 2003-2008. Mixed by Kvitrafn and Herbrand Larsen at Fimbulljóð studio. Mastered by Kvitrafn and Morten Lund at Masterhuset.

Runaljod – Gap Var Ginnunga

RUNES

Ever since the first runemasters started to carve their ‘charged’ signs thousands of years ago, the runes has had a strong symbolic value and has also gone hand in hand with knowledge and insights of some sort, often esoteric. Besides being a writing system the Norse mythology speaks of the runes as knowledge of divine origin –reginkunnr. In Hávamál, Odin – the god of wisdom – tells how he sacrificed himself to himself, hung from the world tree Yggdrasil, while pierced by his own spear Gungnir for nine whole nights. In this death-transcending state of mind, at one with the great gap (Ginnungagap), he found the runes and learned their meanings. According to the mythology Odin shared his knowledge to both gods and humans, and thus the runes came to our ancestors use.

RECOMMENDED LITERATURE:

Hávamál and Sigrdrífumál (Edda).

The Norwegian, Icelandic and Anglo-Saxon rune poems.

RUNALJOD

After many years of working with and studying runes and the ancient and ever young Norse pagan beliefs, the need for me to do a musical project like Wardruna became inevitable. In early 2003 I began doing the first recordings. From then on the concept and methods has slowly evolved and fallen into place. Wardruna search in the scattered ruins of Norse history and use the runes as a tool to understand and evoke the depths of the old nordic pagan beliefs. Musically, the main focus is on recreating the Norse cultic musical language and the near forgotten arts of galder and seidr, as well as the daily acts of life. This is mixed with impulses from Norwegian/Nordic folk music and music from other indigenous cultures.

Runaljod – gap var Ginnunga is the first part in theRunaljod trilogy. Each album features eight runes of the Elder Futhark, but not in accordance with the order of the three aettirs (families), which is most common when working with this futhark. Many of the recordings have taken place outdoors at locations relevant to the different runes. We have primarily used old, historical instruments such as self-made frame drums and ceremonial drums, mouth harp, tagelharpe (‘viking fiddle’), flutes, goat horns, tongue horns and Hardanger fiddle. Also more unconventional inputs like trees, stones, bones, water, fire etc. are employed to enhance the nature of the rune being ‘portrayed’.

Keeping in mind that there will always be a certain room for disagreement and discussion when working with the runes, I would like to emphasize that in my songs it is not necessarily a goal for me to approach the respective rune from every conceivable angle, nor to unravel all the different aspects of it. My approach is both of runologic and mystic nature, but I concentrate on the core of each rune and the qualities that serve the whole concept and purpose of Wardruna best: sowing new seeds and strengthening old roots!

Einar Kvitrafn

Wardruna

Wardruna Biography 2013

Wardruna is a Norwegian music group founded by Einar Kvitrafn Selvik. In 2009 Wardruna enchanted their listeners with their mesmerizing debut album ‘gap var Ginnunga’, which also was the first part of a planned trilogy. In the ensuing years the group have spent a lot of time on adapting their music to a live format and establishing a live band. This resulting in a handful of very special concerts, perhaps most notably when they performed in front of the majestic 1100-year-old Gokstad ship at the Viking Ship Museum in Norway.

With the use of the oldest of Nordic instruments and poetic metres as well as lyrics written in Norwegian, Old Norse and Proto-Norse tongue, Wardruna is now, after nearly three years in the making, finally ready to return with the second album in the ‘Runaljod’ trilogy entitled ‘Yggdrasil’. Multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Einar Kvitrafn Selvik has, together with vocalists Kristian Espedal (aka Gaahl) and Lindy-Fay Hella, managed to make a strikingly beautiful and intense continuation of what was started with their first album, but without falling into the trap of merely repeating themselves. ‘Yggdrasil’ is also graced with guest appearances by renowned Icelandic composer Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson and Iceland’s leading rímur singer Steindór Andersen.

The ongoing ‘Runaljod’ trilogy is a musical rendition of the 24 runes in what is often referred to as the elder futhark. Some of the recordings are done outdoors in places or under circumstances of significance to each rune. Wardruna primarily use old and historical instruments such as primitive deer-hide frame drums, Kraviklyra, tagelharpe, mouth harp, goat horn, lur and more. Non-traditional instruments and other sources of sound like trees, rocks, water and torches are also used.

All of these elements are carefully woven into a rich musical landscape and complemented with whispering voices, melodic song and mighty choirs. Although Wardruna’s music share characteristics with music typically labeled as folk, world and/or ambient, none of these genres can really describe their unique style. It truly must be experienced.

Core Members:

Einar Kvitrafn Selvik: Founder of Wardruna. Writes all music and lyrics, sings and plays most of the instruments.

Lindy-Fay Hella: Vocals.

Gaahl: Vocals. Conceptual contributions.

Wardruna - Discography

Runaljod – gap var Ginnunga (2009)



Runaljod – Yggdrasil (2013)



Runaljod – Ragnarok (2016)