a r t i s t : Terje Isungset
t i t l e : Ice Concerts
d a t e : 2008
l a b e l : All Ice Records-Norway
g e n r e : Other
r l s. d a t e : May/2008
t r a c k s : 14
b i t r a t e : VBRkbps
s i z e : 79,4 MB
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Terje Isungset, like many of his Nordic compatriots, straddles
the divide between jazz, avant garde and even folk. A lot of
this has to do with the inherent Scandinavian respect for
nature and its power on the imagination. Isungset, a
percussionist who has worked with just about every major name
in Norwegian jazz, is a man who uses nature's materials to
make his music. Anyone who has seen him perform knows that he
can express himself more fully with a ram's horn, a bunch of
twigs or a couple of pebbles, better than most musicians could
with a whole fjord full of modern gadgetry. Ice Concerts,
culled from his tour of Arctic spots in 2006, sees him extend
the pallette of sounds that he first explored on his album
Iceman Is. And yes, it's all made with nothing more
sophisticated than frozen water and the human voice.
Again, when dealing with the Norwegian frame of mind,
boundaries and genres become meaningless. Musicians are simply
musicians, and as such regard themselves as part of a lineage
that stretches from folk tradition to the drum and electronica
of say, Nils Petter Molvaer. Isungset thus includes the
Supersilent trumpeter and all-round genius Arve Henriksen on
the ice trumpet and haunting vocals as he did on Iceman Is,
but he also throws in several female voices including some
fine 'joiking' courtesy of Sara Marielle Goup. Originally
devised as a cattle calling technique, this yelping sound fits
perfectly with the glacial, ringing tones of struck and blown
ice. Also Isungset performs one of Grieg's folk adaptations,
Fola, fola Blakken. The (arctic) circle, remains unbroken,
then...
As if to highlight Terje's belief that he is a part of
nature's music rather than being wholly responsible for its
manipulation, each track comes complete with a temprature
reading and a meteorological snapshot. By the final track, Ice
Memories, the wilderness has almost taken over completely,
with 'The Nature' credited with performning on snow. If you
expect this stuff to be cold and unforgiving, you'd be wrong.
It's a chiming, intimate and utterly beautiful world of sound
that entrances as much as it avoids any notion of 'novelty'.
Talk about chilled out...
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01-Dolosaigi [04:08]
02-Fola, Fola Blakken [05:13]
03-Contemplation [04:28]
04-Ser Deg [03:37]
05-Inuit [03:36]
06-Horizon [05:48]
07-The Other Side [04:28]
08-Silucian Town [06:23]
09-Ice Talks [02:38]
10-Cahcelottas [03:21]
11-Vond Dag [04:38]
12-Duottarjogas [02:22]
13-Silent Coldness [01:33]
14-Ice Memories 2007 [06:58]
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59:11 min