Dvergmål

“Dvergmål” (“elf-tongue”) is an old word for “echo”. People used to believe that when an answer resounded from the mountains, it was the elves mocking them… The group Dvergmål was established when folk singers from the east and the west met, and their songs curled, coiled and twisted together, alone or in different combinations, or together with the langeleik (Norwegian zither), lyre, munnharpe (Jew’s harp), seljefløyte (willow pipe) or Hardanger fiddle. The group became popular when it released its CD of Ivar Aasen’s lyrics, Visor og kvæde frå Blåberglandet (Grappa, 1996), which was nominated for the Norwegian Grammy Award. Dvergmål was commissioned to write a work for the Folk Music Festival in Ål in 2002, and the result was a church concert, and in 2004 a CD, presenting the hymns and folk songs of poet Elias Blix. The members of the group are Øyonn Groven Myhren, Marit Mattisgard, Jon Anders Halvorsen and Turid Spildo. “Dvergmål is the only group in the country that can create new folk music of such high quality.” (Tore Skaug, Kvinten) June 2011