PER ANDERS BUEN GARNAS
Seljord Anno 1935
Talik 85

www.talik.no
 

Garnås, a Hardanger fiddle player, won Norway’s annual folk music competition in 2010 and was offered a contract by Talik records, which suggested he focus on the Seljord area of the country, where the competition had happened. From nearby Bø, this wasn’t a great musical stretch, and he decided to focus on the year 1935, something of a golden age for local fiddling in the region. Extensively documented (in English and Norwegian) in the CD booklet, the pieces themselves are short, but the disc is a masterclass in Hardanger fiddle, with its extra sympathetic strings (four of them), and also how tunes travel and also take on associations. Plated completely solo, it might not be for everyone, but it does mark Garnås as an outstanding musician.

— Chris Nickson