The Music of Hans W. Brimi
The double album W – Music by Hans W. Brimi pays tribute to the well-known fiddler from Garmo in Lom. Hans W. Brimi’s grandson, fiddler Aslak O. Brimi, instigated the project and produced the album. Hans W. Brimi was for a generation an ambassador for the traditional music of Lom and Ottadal. He is considered one of the foremost Norwegian folk musicians of the twentieth century, and was also an outstanding performer on the fiddle. In addition to his activities as a leading presenter of traditional music, Brimi was also a productive composer. He wrote nearly 60 fiddle tunes, many of which were inspired by myths and superstitions as well as the everyday life and events that took place at the Brimi farmstead and summer mountain farm in the northeastern part of Jotunheimen. On W – Music by Hans W. Brimi some of his finest tunes are presented in new interpretations by several of the most prominent folk music performers in Norway today: the Gjermund Larsen Trio, Sigbjørn Apeland and Nils Økland, Astrid Sulheim, Leif Ingvar Ranøien, Per Anders Buen Garnås, the trio Hått, the duo Erlend Viken/Aslak O. Brimi, and Gudbrandsdølenes Spelemanslag. This CD also includes a new, remastered version of Hans W. Brimi’s solo album Hyljarhildring, originally released in 1987. He celebrated his 70th birthday that year, and the record marked a musical high point of his life as a fiddler. The album consists of 19 of Brimi’s own compositions that were recorded at Rainbow Studio with technicians Jan Erik Kongshaug and Rune Lindquist. It was previously available only as an LP. These two albums together offer a comprehensive picture of Hans W. Brimi’s great musical legacy.
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The double album W – Music by Hans W. Brimi pays tribute to the well-known fiddler from Garmo in Lom. Hans W. Brimi’s grandson, fiddler Aslak O. Brimi, instigated the project and produced the album.
New interpretations
On W – Music by Hans W. Brimi some of his finest tunes are presented in new interpretations by several of the most prominent folk music performers in Norway today: the Gjermund Larsen Trio, Sigbjørn Apeland and Nils Økland, Astrid Sulheim, Leif Ingvar Ranøien, Per Anders Buen Garnås, the trio Hått, the duo Erlend Viken/Aslak O. Brimi, and Gudbrandsdølenes Spelemanslag.
The musicians have been given free rein to explore and challenge the music in their own ways. Hans W. Brimi was famous for taking a broad view of what was right and wrong in folk music. He himself said, in Arvid Møller’s biography Den vare tonen (The Sensitive Tone): “Each individual fiddler must interpret a tune from his own point of departure. (…) The fiddler should identify with the tune, and must give of himself. This is what folk music is all about.”
Hyljarhildring
This CD also includes a new, remastered version of Hans W. Brimi’s solo album Hyljarhildring, originally released in 1987. He celebrated his 70th birthday that year, and the record marked a musical high point of his life as a fiddler. The album consists of 19 of Brimi’s own compositions that were recorded at Rainbow Studio with technicians Jan Erik Kongshaug and Rune Lindquist. It was previously available only as an LP. These two albums together offer a comprehensive picture of Hans W. Brimi’s great musical legacy.
