The Nordic Fidders Bloc
Album: The Nordic Fiddlers Bloc
Label: Etnisk
Tracks: 12
Website: http://thenordicfiddlersbloc.com/

I've often said that if there was a fiddle war, Shetland would be a world super power. Recently I've found myself regularly saying 'there's some great music coming out of Scandinavia at the moment.' The Nordic Fiddlers Bloc takes both of those statements and hurls them together in a shinty trophy breaking moment of horsehair bow goodness.

This self titled album brings together Norway's Olav Luksengard (Hardanger and Octave fiddles), Anders Hall from Sweden(fiddle and viola) and Shetland's Kevin Henderson (fiddle) for a genuine fiddler's power house. They even manage to name check another Shetland fiddle player along the way, "Jenna Reid Of Quarff" but she only gets the song named after her on the album, she doesn't get to play a note.

Whilst other fiddle bands are available, they've tended to concentrate on music from the top parts of the British Isles and Ireland and to be honest, though that trend has definitely been spreading east. As for the album it's self it draws on traditional songs from the homelands of all the musicians on the album and mixes them in with contemporary songs, mainly from other fiddlers of the band's acquaintance.

The thing I like about "The Nordic Fiddlers Bloc" is their use of tone across the album, light and jaunty tunes are mixed with darker ones to provide plenty of variety. I think it's more important for this to happen on an instrumental album than one with words, particularly if you're trying to reach a wider audience that enjoy fiddle music, but may not have quite the expertise to understand the vagaries between tunes too close in nature. If that makes the album sound a bit like a compromise, fear not, it's more a stylistic masterclass.

One of the things I like about instrumental albums is the way tunes are named, there seems to be far more dedications to events in people's lives and the places in tune titles than in songs, as well as a tendency to be a bit more light-hearted where a song warrants it.

As you can probably tell, I like this, I like this a lot. "The Nordic Fiddlers Bloc" would make a more than welcome addition to any folk collection and who knows a great starting place if you haven't got a collection yet.

Neil King