Greetings from Ringnes, Skotbu
COUNTRY rocks at KUMU
Concert in the foyer of Kumu Art Museum, 19:00 h
GIRL FROM SASKATOON
HGH (Hagfors/Gebhardt/Hello!)
Artist Talleiv Taro Manum, curator of the concert:
"The concert night is meant to remind us the 'Greetings from RINGNES' Festival in Skotbu 2001–2005 I used to organise in my home village. At the same time the event, a friendly concert night, would be like a soundtrack to my works of Instamatic Series (1999–) shown in this Ars Baltica exhibition.
Everything started from a site specific installation created for an art biennial in 2001. The installation consisted of a poster, a kiosk and a call-box – there were three rock concert ads on a fence, which became a basis for a five-year festival tradition. The revival of the 'Greetings from RINGNES, Skotbu' festival in another Norwegian town, Moss, in the Momentum Biennial 2006, gave a reason to repeat the Momentum performance in Tallinn, the performers being Girl from Saskatoon and HGH, of course."
HGH (Hagfors/Gebhardt/Hello!)
is the duo of Martin Hagfors ja Håkon Gebhardt. Hagfors has performed in Ringnes Festival with his bands Home Groan and Cream Of The Crop, and Gebhardt with the groups The International Tussler Society and The Cream Of The Crop.
The Home Groan’s 5th LP, Addict, serves as an affirmation of Martin Hagfors’ ability to write time-less songs. His Groan’n’Roll style is a mixture of country music, good pop melodies, witty lyrics and finally Hagfors’ own individual voice that has an experienced yet innocent nuance.
There is simplicity and roughness in HGH’s music that leaves very few people indifferent. How-ever, sometimes, alone and accompanying himself on guitar or harmonica, Hagfors steps beyond the borders of traditional folk music and sends the guitar sound through a small amplifier, so that it would sound as coarse lo-fi music. Hagfors has also dubbed Jaga Jazzist, the Norwegian power jazz orchestra.
GIRL FROM SASKATOON
released their first single Aloha My Love in Oslo Rock Festival “Oya Festivalen” in summer 2003. Their first album, This is Only the Beginning was released last year. The band has travelled here and there in Europe both as a duo and a big band. Among other places they have visited Esto-nia twice.
COUNTRY in Estonia
It was in March 2005 when Girl from Saskatoon first visited Estonia. Back then it was only a duo: Nathalie Bekkelund and Jens Andreassen playing guitars and singing. But seeing those two per-forming meant much more than you might imagine, because – when was the last time that country music was actually popular in Estonia, and until what time has it been seen as hillbilly music or something for the elderly? Until quite recently.
Although here in Estonia we have not heard about any brand-new Western-style bands or our local Dolly Partons in polka-dotted dresses, quite a few young people have mentioned country music as one of their musical preferences. And note that these are not necessarily people who get together at Viljandi Folk Music Festival, but also those who have discovered the relation between country music and rock. How far from Neil Young and Johnny Cash are, let’s say, these Westerners, the Rockabilly one-man bands, such as Hasil Atkins or the more recent Bob Log III who has also per-formed in Tallinn ?
Country music is not just meandering Nashville and the smoothly nasal sound of slide guitar, but it is also windy and rusty proto-rock, trumpeting the harsh truth. Banjo, ukulele, Strat guitar, harmonica and a whopping bass drum thump underneath it form a set of instruments that tell both modern and ancient fairy tales to country music lovers. Yet, I must say that the idea of Jaan Elgula of Justament and Tambet Jürno of Zahir, swapping cowboy hats that accidentally got mixed up in the backstage of, let’s say, the Levist Väljas Festival seems comical...
In Norway the new wave of country music rose already four or five years ago. Young men suddenly showed up in white wifebeaters (sleeveless shirts), dashing side-whiskers and horseshoe-shaped moustache; the girls in wide bright-coloured dresses with extremely low cut neckline. And of course everyone had fancy cowboy hats and heavy boots to complete the outfit – Girl from Saskatoon was among the first. To be honest, this new country style is slightly more of a rock than just ordinary country, and GFS is even punk-rock-country, born with guitar in one hand and harmonica in another, love in the heart and bleached hair waving above the Rock & Western step.
Andres Lõo, musician
Adress:
KUMU Art Museum
Weizenbergi 34 / Valge 1
10127 Tallinn
Phone +372 602 6000, +372 602 6123
Fax +372 602 6002
Partcipants:
Girl from Saskatoon
www.girlfromsaskatoon.no
HGH (Martin Hagfors and Hakon Gebhardt)
www.homegroan.net/hgh
