Nils Økland & Sigbjorn Apeland

Nils Økland and keyboardist Sigbjørn Apeland – musical partners for thirty years – have long explored the interface of Norwegian traditional music and improvisation. Their beautiful new album Glimmer takes as its starting point Norwegian folk music.

Nils Økland Hardanger fiddle & violin
Sigbjorn Apeland Chamber organ

“It’s very rare to encounter music as beautiful as this, that can be returned to again and again and release new pleasures every time.” UK Jazz News

Norway’s most celebrated Hardanger fiddler player, Nils Økland has been quietly forging new paths in traditionally rooted music for the last 35 years. His distinctive music bridges the worlds of traditional folk and contemporary, forging links between the ancient and modern, written and improvised. The Hardanger’s plaintive, mourning sound, enhanced by its resonating strings, carries the listener to the high mountains of Norway and their majestic nature.

Nils Økland and keyboardist Sigbjørn Apeland – musical partners for thirty years – have long explored the interface of Norwegian traditional music and improvisation. Their beautiful new album Glimmer takes as its starting point Norwegian folk music. Apeland’s collection of pieces from local singers who have helped to keep the traditions alive forms the basis of the repertoire here, along with original compositions. Throughout, the combination of Økland’s Hardanger fiddle and Apeland’s harmonium is hugely evocative.

“The moonlit glimmer of a Hardanger fiddle’s harmonies is one of the wonders of music, but though Nils Økland’s mastery of Norway’s home-grown instrument often surfaces in themes that sound like folk songs, he draws on psychedelic rock trances, improv, classical music, and jazz.” The Guardian

“Quiet, often startling beauty.” Evening Standard