Biography
Comprising 11 instrumentalists and five female vocalists, Chateau Neuf Spelemannslag safeguards Norway’s traditional repertoire through performances that blend period instruments such as fiddle, Hardanger fiddle, accordion, and Norwegian recorder with saxophone, clarinet, oboe, electric bass, guitar, piano, and percussion. The ensemble thereby revives echoes of earlier Norwegian musical traditions. Established in 1994 by players and singers whose earlier work spanned classical, rock, jazz, and pop ensembles, the group continues to acquire folk melodies aurally before shaping them into elaborate collective arrangements. Henry Kaiser and David Lindley produced the band’s initial pair of releases, The Sweet Sunny North and its follow-up, The Sweet Sunny North, Vol. 2. Tjuvgods, issued in 1997, later appeared in the United States under the title Stolen Goods. During the summer of 1999 the musicians gave their first concert in London.