Presang – Alf Cranner

Alf Cranner and Knut Reiersrud, musical legends in the folk song and blues scene, presents songs from Cranner’s repertoire in a new wrapping on this album titled ‘Presang’ (= ‘gift’). Alf Cranner (born 25 October 1936 in Oslo) is a major Norwegian folk singer, lyricist and painter. He is considered by many as the pioneer of the Norwegian folk music wave of the 1960s. Knut Reiersrud is one of Norways finest guitarist, mostly known in the genre blues. His work also incorporates elements of Norwegian traditional music and African music. Reiersrud has recorded and played with David Lindley, the Blind Boys Of Alabama, Rickie Lee Jones and Nina Hagen. He has also numerous collaborations with Middle East performers like Rim Banna and Mahsa Vahdat. Knut and Alf met for the first time in 1997, and last time they worked together was back in 2004. The years have strayed off, and Alf has turned 82 years old. But there’s a very special chemistry between these two guys, and they knew how to keep this chemistry present when they started to do some concerts together with Knut’s band in the spring of 2018. The response from the audience was so monumental that the idea of making a record immediately was announced. 11 songs with a royal bundle of Norwegian musicians, with an age span of 42 years. And in the center – Reiersrud’s guitars and Cranner’s unique way of communicating his lyrics.