Hedningarna (the heathens) is a neo-folk music Swedish and Finnish band that mixes electronics and rock with old Nordic tunes.

History

Hållbus Totte Mattson , Anders Stake and Björn Tollin formed Hedningarna in 1987. Hedning (heathen) means "unfaithful" and the musicians said that they felt to a great extent unfaithful to the prevailing ideas in folk music. They wanted to go far back for the roots of the Old Norse culture. Anders Stake started to invent and build new instruments to produce new sounds.

Hedningarna made themselves known in folk music circles. In 1988 Hedningarna composed and performed the music to the theatrical epos Den stora vreden (The Great Wrath) which aroused great interest. Their first album titled Hedningarna was released on Alice Records in 1989.

In 1991 Hedningarna started the collaboration with Silence Records . They met the Finnish singers Sanna Kurki-Suonio and Tellu Paulasto . The album Kaksi! was released in September of 1992. In 1993 Hedningarna was awarded a Swedish grammy for The Best Folk Music Album of the year. The sales of Kaksi! reached 35 000 sold albums, which was unbelievable for a folk music record in Sweden. British DJ Sasha made remixes of Hedningarna's Kruspolska which climbed the charts in England.

The third album Trä was released in September of 1994. Melody Maker wrote "it may sound alien, but yet it sounds like the most essential music on the earth."

Hedningarna performed at the Roskilde Festival in the presence of 20 000 people on the second largest stage.

In 1995 Hedningarna toured Scandinavia and abroad. A compilation album with songs from Trä and Kaksi! was released in the U.S. Now they were released in Spain, Holland, Belgium, Poland, Thailand, Great Britain and the U.S, but the people were still a little puzzled by the typical 3-beat in the polska.

Kurki-Suonio and Paulasto stayed the year 1996 at home in Finland for child birth and studies. Paulasto decided to leave the band and she was replaced by Anita Lehtonen . Lehtonen went to the same class with Paulasto at The Sibelius Academy .

Mattson, Stake and Tollin started the work with the new album Hippjokk . Rock bassist Ulf Ivarsson played the new bass-lute built by Totte. Finnish Lapp Wimme Saari participated with his singing and famous Norwegian guitarist Knut Reiersrud had also a role in the album. Johan Liljemark played the didgeridoo, which he had learned in Australia while living among the Aboriginals.

Hippjokk was released in February of 1997. The band made tours and festival gigs with the singers in Spain and Belgium, and Ulf "Rockis" Ivarsson became a member of Hedningarna. Anders Stake changed his name to Anders Norudde.

During the winter of 1998 Hedningarna travelled to the Russian Karelen to gather inspiration to their new album. It was recorded during the spring and summer the same year. A short tour around Spain took place that summer. Ulf Ivarsson leaved the group after the recordings were finished.

Mattson and Tollin together with the violin player Ola Bäckström recorded a CD with music for the dance troupe Virvla . It was released at Silence records in 1999. Sanna Kurki-Suonio released a solo album in Finland the same year.

The new album Karelia Visa was released in 1999, and it was followed by concerts in Scandinavia and a three week tour in the USA.

Hedningarna played live to a dance performance based on their music, made and performed by Flying Foot Forum in Minneapolis, USA. The violin player Magnus Stinnerbom joined the group.

The percussion player Christian Svensson joined the group in 2000.

The compilation CD 1989-2003 was released in 2003. Now Hedningarna have sold about 150 000 records.

Members

Musicians:

• Hållbus Totte Mattsson - mandora , lute, moraoud , hurdy-gurdy, accordion, hummel.

• Anders Norudde - fiddles, nyckelharpa, bowed harp , Swedish bagpipe, flutes, jews harp, hardanger fiddle.

• Christian Svensson - tambourine, percussion, hummel, sampling.

• Magnus Stinnerbom - Octave violin , viola.

Singers:

• Anita Lehtola - Current vocalist

• Liisa Matveinen - Current vocalist

• Sanna Kurki-Suonio

• Tellu Paulasto

Discography

• Hedningarna (1989)

• Kaksi (1991)

• Trä (1994)

• Kruspolska SASHA mixes (1994)

• Hippjokk (1997)

• Karelia Visa (1999)

• 1989-2003 (2003)

Similar artists

• Garmarna
• Gjallarhorn
• Sanna Kurki-Suonio
• Triakel
• Värttinä
• Väsen

External links

• Silence Records: Hedningarna