Knut Hamre

Knut Hamre is one of Norways most accomplished fiddlers, and no one has won the National Contest for Traditional Music more times than he. Hamre began playing the fiddle at the age of 10 and received his first training from his father. Later he learned much fiddling by Håvard Kvandal and especially Anders Kjerland, but also by a number of other fiddlers in Hardanger and Voss.

Knut Hamres playing is characterized by an unusually strong empathy, and he possesses the ability to communicate like few other fiddlers. Although it is the lyrical play that dominates in Hamre, he also played a lot of dancetunes. On the CD Fargespel 1993 he put the spotlight on the older musical language in fiddle music by performing some tunes of old-fashioned character, including playing after Trygve Hæven from Voss. In 1980, together with fiddler Leif Rygg from Voss, he gave out the LP Nøringen, containing tunes from Hardanger and Voss played solo and in ensembles.