Garmarna
Garmarna is a Swedish folk rock band whose repertoire mainly consists of old Scandinavian ballads and their own compositions. Unlike the neo-acoustic sounds of Hedningarna , her music is rockier and electronic effects come to the fore.
history
Garmarna was founded in 1990 by three young people, Stefan Brisland-Ferner , Gotte Ringqvist and Rickard Westman from Sundsvall . Inspired by old Swedish music that they had heard in the Hamlet theater , they looked for old tunes and instruments. After the first year together, Jens Höglin joined as a drummer.
The first EP was produced in 1992. Long-time friend Emma Härdelin was invited as the female vocal part, as she contrasted well with the dark mood of the music; all the more so because the natural sound of her voice has not been reshaped by classical vocal training. The band's debut sold well in Sweden and was accompanied by a tour of Scandinavia. The following year Emma also became an official member of the group.
On the following album "Vittrad" the band decided to use sampling and sequencers for mixing . In Germany the album was released with German text transcription by Westpark Music; In 1994, Omnium published Vittrad in the USA with English translations of the ancient texts.
The band toured regularly - mostly in Sweden, Germany and the USA. The follow-up album from 1996 "Guds Spelemän" received very good reviews internationally and sold accordingly. In 1997 Garmarna took part in the Melodifestivalen . In 1998 the band gave a series of concerts in churches in northern Sweden, where they and the actress Felicia Konrad presented their interpretation of the medieval works of Hildegard von Bingen .
In 1999 the third album "Vedergällningen" was released, the production of which was more oriented towards rock and triphop . The band then completed and completed the "Hildegard von Bingen" album, which was released in 2001, in the studio. The album consists of settings of Latin texts by Hildegard von Bingen and is less oriented towards rock elements, but rather mixes medieval sounds with elements of electronic music .
In 2016 Garmarna released the album "6" after a fifteen year break, on which the electronic elements came to the fore. In contrast to earlier releases, “6” mainly contains self-written songs, including two duets with rock musician Joakim Thåström and rapper Maxida Märak .
Band members
- Stefan Brisland-Ferner: violin , hurdy-gurdy , nyckelharpa , sampler
- Emma Härdelin: vocals, violin. Emma's voice has been in contrast to the character of the music in the Trio Triakel since the mid-1990s .
- Jens Höglin: drums , percussion
- God Ringqvist: lute , violin, backing vocals
- Rickard Westman: guitar, bass , electric bow
Discography
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Albums
- Garmarna (1993, EP; 2003, re-release with six additional tracks)
- Vittrad (1994)
- Guds Spelemän (1996)
- Vedergällningen (1999)
- Hildegard von Bingen (2001)
- 6 (2016)
Singles
- Mr. Holger (1996)
- En gång ska han gråta (1997)
- Gaming (1999)
- Euchari (1999)
- Över gränsen (2015)
more publishments
- Rastlös (Rasta Hunden) on the compilation "We're Only in It for the Money" (1999)
Awards
- Iron Eversteiner 1996
Web links
- Official website - in English with the band members' blog
- Garmarna at Discogs (English)
- Interview from 2001