The new album Piper on the Roof by Elisabeth Vatn is singing and sensual, temperamental, intense and excited, vibrant, fanatical and groovy bagpipe music! It is also a documentation of the instrument’s history and the continuation of a Nordic musical which has hardly landed any attention.
Compositions of her own
At this recording is only three of the songs traditional, the rest are compositions by Elisabeth Vatn. She plays Swedish / Nordic bagpipes, clarinets, Meråker clarinet, harmonium and other tangents, and is accompanied by Gjermund Silset (bass), Helge Norbakken (percussion), Olav Torget (guitars) and Geir Sundstøl (guitars). Other musicians on the album is folk singer Øyonn Groven Myhren, Sami singer Niko Valkeapaa, Tori Snerte (flutes), Anne Hytta (fiddle) and Tellef Kvifte (flute). The recording is produced by Water and Silset.
A long musical journey
Elisabeth Vatn started playing the bagpipes – Guida – during a stay in Macedonia in 1993, but this was before she discovered that there actually was a Scandinavian – Swedish variant. It was the beginning of a long musical journey, geographically and aesthetically, as a performer and in the perspective of working in the field of ethnomusicology. As a musician, she works across various stylistic boundaries, from classical music, improvised and rhythmic music, folk and world music, and has many CD releases behind the band Tiger Lily, ChateauNeuf Spelemannslag, Harnihomba and duo-piano recording of Olivier Messiaen’s work Visions de L’Amen.
