Scratch SISU – SISU

Scratch!

The concept sisu was one that every Norwegian youth who skied in the 1960s grew up with. Sisu was understood as ‘hanging in there’, putting out that crucial extra effort. Sisu was tough as tree roots, enduring as a mountain, it was as amorphous as a frozen waterfall, and it was clearly Finnish – we thought until it appeared as a percussion ensemble in the 1990s. SISU still meant something powerful and unshakable, but it also became associated with the aesthetic, ecstatic and extraordinary.

The SISU percussion trio emerged in part from the stimulating environment of the Norwegian Academy of Music. During the course of the ensemble’s first decade six musicians have been members of SISU: now scattered across the country bringing ‘The SISU Experience’ to its most remote and perhaps unlikely areas. SISU plays on boats, in gyms and theatres, while reaping in enthusiastic reports of their performances abroad as well. And when SISU now makes its debut recording for Simax Classics, you can rest assure it is not a mainstream release…