Classically trained on the piano and pedal harp, Joanna Newsom is a young independent American singer songwriter whose music is almost impossible to define. Her magnum opus to date is without a doubt her 2006 recording Ys for the Drag City record label. While drawing on Americana, avant-garde, folk, classical and contemporary …
Vi skal ikkje sova bort sumarnatta
"Vi skal ikkje sova bort sumarnatta" (We shall not sleep away the summer night) is both an ode to the Nordic summer nights and a love song. It is also one of Norway’s most popular folk songs. It was written by Norwegian poet Aslaug Låstad Lygre (1910 - 1966) and was published as part of her 1948 collection “Eld av steinar”. The …
Vyvienne Long: Let go
Vyvienne Long is a Dublin born classically trained cellist, pianist and singer songwriter who started her career playing in various chamber music ensembles around Europe before being recruited by Irish singer songwriter Damien Rice to tour with his band. Somewhere along that great tour, I discovered fun and exhilaration in …
Dinah Washington & Max Richter: This bitter earth/ On the nature of daylight
"This bitter earth/On the nature of daylight" is the song that concludes Martin Scorsese’s 2010 psychological thriller Shutter Island. None of the music for the film’s soundtrack was actually composed for the film but it was (expertly) curated by musician and long-time collaborator Robbie Robertson, whom Martin Scorsese …
Claudio Monteverdi: Lamento Della Ninfa
L'Arpeggiata Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) was an Italian composer in the late Renaissance whose innovative compositions led to the birth of opera as a new style of music. In addition to early operas and church music, Monteverdi published nine books of Madrigals, or Renaissance love poems sung and arranged for several …
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Ane Brun: The dancer
Ane Brun is a Norwegian singer and songwriter based in Sweden since 2001. Since the international release of her début album in 2003, the singer has been charming audiences worldwide with her distinctive and almost theatrical voice. Ane Brun is also without question an incredibly gifted artist when it comes to covering songs. …