New song Margit out now!
On the upcoming album, I’ve created music inspired by the tales about my great-great-grandfather “Kjempe-Jo” (which translates to “Jo the Giant” or “Giant Jo”) from the small village of Tovdal in southern Norway. Some of the songs are just inspired by the essence of him and the stories around him, while some are inspired by more specific stories.
“Margit” is one of those more specific ones: The tale says that one night, as Kjempe-Jo was walking over the hills from Hillestad to Austenå (these are hamlets near Tovdal), he met the ghost of his late mother when approaching a huge stone near the path. She stopped him, in urge to tell him something important: by this exact stone, she met with a man called Tolv Hillestad a late night. And they stayed there until the morning. “Jo,” she said. “You’re not the son of my husband, but of Tolv! And when she had unveiled the breaking news for Kjempe-Jo, she disappeared.
(I usually tell this story at concerts, and when Johanne Flottorp and I had the pleasure of playing in the wonderful Hillestad Gallery in Tovdal during a duo tour, it turned out there was actually a Tolv Hillestad in the audience!)
The folk music inspiration might not be too obvious in this song. I rather had Johanne play the Hardanger fiddle with a more classical approach, together with Katrine on cello. We have tried to recreate the kind of dream state that Kjempe-Jo was in when experiencing this peculiar event. I hope you enjoy it!
