Ellivan

NORCD 0979
released 22.06.2009


arve henriksen: trumpet, vocal, electronics, drums, synth, whistling
elling vanberg: vocal
karl seglem: bukkehon, vocal
anna maria friman: vocal
terje isungset: drums, percussio, ice, vocal
jan bang: sampling




The making of this record has been a very special experience for me. The entire idea and inspiration originated long ago. I met Elling Vanberg only once, in 1983. This encounter between Olden's resident poet and me, a 15-year-old pupil listening to him reciting his work at school in Stryn, had a tremendous influence on me - in fact, even greater than I realized at the time. In 1995, two years after Elling died, I was commissioned to compose music for the Balejazz Festival in Balestrand. My immediate reaction was to turn to his texts. The memory of the sound of his voice inspired me to do some research, and in the archives of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) in Forde I discovered recordings of Elling reading some of his poetry and was given permission to use them. After presenting the project, which I called Farande bilete (Moving Pictures), at two concerts, I had originally intended to record it with NORCD. This idea never materialized. The challenge of combining recited texts and music frightened me, and I abandoned the idea. I continued to use some of the spoken text sound files at various concerts with improvised music with the band Food and in my collaboration with Terje Isungset and Karl Seglem.

Many years went by, and after working on my album Strjon, which was released on Rune Grammofon in 2007, I felt more closely connected to my roots, my childhood and to my early sources of inspiration. Once again I recalled Elling's spoken words, and began reworking the material. This new process felt right. I also discovered new ways to listen to and gain inspiration from his poems, novels and texts, which are now published in three volumes, Dei lakjande urteorda, Songen om dei store slettene and Grunnsteinar.

I have my own personal connection with this music, and I hope that the form of the record and Elling's voice can give the listener a glimpse of nature, of life on the farm and in the fjord district, of deep relationships and of the seasons. His poems can be seen as personal and local, but also as having a universal perspective. They can be interpreted in many different ways.

I am grateful to Anne Margrete Vanberg and her daughter Sigrid Kristin for giving me access to this treasure trove, Magne Dragesat, who brought Elling to my school in 1983, Ove Eide, who with his strong belief in the written word edited the three books and enthusiastically helped me with all the text on this album, NRK Sogn og Fjordane for supporting the production, Karl Seglem at NORCD, BaleJazz, the municipality of Stryn, Reidar Skar at 7etg, Helge Sten at audio virus lab, all the musicians who contributed their energy and inspiration, and especially to Elling Vanberg, who left us this rich legacy.

More information on Elling Vanberg is available at: www.ellivan.no

Arve Henriksen, 2009