Sugar Plum Fairies were a

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

and

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

band from

Fyresdal Fyresdal is a municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Vest-Telemark. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Moland. Other villages in Fyresdal include Kilegrend, Øvre Bir ...

Vest-Telemark Vest-Telemark () is a traditional district in Norway. The area comprises the western areas of the larger region known as Upper Telemark () in Vestfold og Telemark county. The region consists of six municipalities: Fyresdal, Tokke, Vinje, Nis ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, formed in 2000, who released one

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

. The band plays pop music influenced by the

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

tradition of their native

Telemark Telemark () is a Counties of Norway, county and a current electoral district in Norway. Telemark borders the counties of Vestfold, Buskerud, Vestland, Rogaland and Agder. In 2020, Telemark merged with the county of Vestfold to form the county o ...

, using folk instruments like the Norwegian

hardanger fiddle A hardanger fiddle () is a traditional stringed instrument considered the national instrument of Norway. In modern designs, this type of fiddle is very similar to the violin, though with eight or nine strings (rather than four as on a standard v ...

and

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...

alongside

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

and

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

, as well as brass instruments such as the

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

and

euphonium The euphonium ( ; ; ) is a tenor- and baritone-voiced valved brass instrument. The euphonium is a member of the large family of valved bugles, along with the tuba and flugelhorn, characterised by a wide conical bore. Most instruments have thr ...

. The band perform songs in their native

dialect A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...

. On 2 June 2009, the band announced on their

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page that they were on indefinite hiatus.

Members

* Øyvind Berge — vocals, guitars, bass * Merethe Jørgensdottir Reinskås — guitars, accordion, trumpet, piano * Birgith Jørgensdottir Reinskås — euphonium, synthesizer * Torbjørn Strånd — drums, percussion, bass until 2005 * Tor Christian Tovslid — drums * Gro Elisabeth Valebjørg Galambos was a part of the original line-up, but quit prior to the recording of their debut album. * Sarah Corbisier has been a recurring member of the band's concert line-up since 2006.

''Fivrelddans''

Sugar Plum Fairies' album, ''Fivrelddans'' () was a

spin-off Spin-off, Spin Off, Spin-Off, or Spinoff may refer to: Entertainment and media *Spinoff (media), a media work derived from an existing work *''The Spinoff'', a New Zealand current affairs magazine * ''Spin Off'' (Canadian game show), a 2013 Canad ...

from a concert production entitled ''Fivrelddans & filosofi - Haakon Lie i ord og tonar'' composed and performed for the Olsokdagane i Fyresdal festival in 2004. The album was co-produced by Torbjørn Kittelsen and Jørgen Eide Kittelsen in Largostudio,

Rjukan Rjukan () is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town in Tinn Municipality in Telemark county, Norway. The town is also the administrative centre of Tinn Municipality. The town is located in the Vestfjorddalen valley, between the lakes Møsvatn ...

, Norway in April and May 2005, and released independently through the band's own label Spun Sugar Music on 10 December 2005. The record received several good reviews, and some airplay in Norway and abroad. The tracks "Andre Dugurdskvildi", "Fridtjof Nansen" and "Strålefall" were minor Norwegian radio hits. The album contains music put to the poems of writer

Haakon Lie Haakon Steen Lie (22 September 1905 – 25 May 2009) was a Norwegian politician who served as party secretary for the Norwegian Labour Party from 1945 to 1969. Coming from humble origins, he became involved in the labour movement at an early ag ...

, who is also from the band's hometown of Fyresdal. There were guest appearances on the album by Sarah Corbisier (

viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...

) and Magne Berge (

Hardanger fiddle A hardanger fiddle () is a traditional stringed instrument considered the national instrument of Norway. In modern designs, this type of fiddle is very similar to the violin, though with eight or nine strings (rather than four as on a standard v ...

). The song "Storlivisa" and the poem "Hjuringvise" featured in the original stage production, but were not recorded by the band. "Fløytarvisa hans Aslak smed" was not a part of the original stage production.

Track listing

Unless otherwise stated, all words are written by Haakon Lie with music by Øyvind Berge. # "Fivrelddans & filosofi" (H.Lie / M.J. Reinskås) # "Tid er pengar" # "Fyrste dugurdskvildi" # "Jolekveld" (H. Lie/Ø. Berge/M.J. Reinskås) # "Fridtjof Nansen" # "Andre Dugurdskvildi" # "Voggesong" (H. Lie/M.J. Reinskås) # "Sylvet" # "Tridje Dugurdskvildi" # "Fløytarvisa hans Aslak smed" # "Stogetaket" # "Einsemd" # "Fjorde Dugurdskvildi" # "Strålefall" # "Fivrelddans & filosofi - reprise" (H. Lie/M.J. Reinskås)

Other appearances

In 2006, Paul Bernard, Norwegian rapper, hip-hop artist & producer, sampled the band's song "Jolekveld", and the resulting collaboration "Depend" was released online under the name Paul Bernard feat. Sugar Plum Fairies, as part of Bernard's album ''Unfinished bizniz - a collection of dreams and grey stones'', with a live version included on the Paul Bernard and The Fat Fucks DVD '' Live at Lost Weekend''. In 2007, the band appeared with

Sigmund Groven Sigmund Groven (born 16 March 1946 in Heddal, Telemark) is a Norwegian classical harmonica player, today considered one of the world's leading classical harmonica players. He plays with a large number of the world's leading musicians and orches ...

and Tore Reppe as invited guests of Norsk Munnspillforum (The Norwegian Harmonica Association) at a concert in Moland kyrkje in Fyresdal. In 2008 the band was included on the October Party Records compilation album ''Norwegian Wood Music For China vol.5''.

Solo appearances by band members

Øyvind Berge contributed vocals and songwriting on the track "Ser Du Stjernene?" on Paul Bernard's album ''Unfinished Bizniz—a collection of dreams and grey stones'', and also sang on "Fat Fucks' Theme", part of the incidental music for Paul Bernard and The Fat Fucks' DVD " Live at Lost Weekend". In 2012 he released his debut solo album under the name "Sir Øyvind Berge & His Imaginary Orchestra", on Norwegian label Valiant Sounds. Merethe Jørgensdottir Reinskås is a member of the Oslofjord Brass ensemble and appears on their album ''OfBit''.

Discography

* ''Fivrelddans - Haakon Lie i ord og tonar'' (Spun Sugar Records, 2005) * "Depend" (Påls kjøkken) (''Paul Bernard feat. Sugar Plum Fairies,'' Internet-only release, 2006) * ''Norwegian Wood Music For China vol.5'' (October Party Records, 2008; released exclusively in China)

Awards

* The Fyresdal Municipality Culture Award (2006)

References

External links

Largostudio
recording studio at

Sugar Plum Fairies in Norwegian Bandindex
{{Authority control Norwegian pop music groups Norwegian folk musical groups Norwegian country music groups Musical groups established in 2000 2000 establishments in Norway Musical groups disestablished in 2009 2009 disestablishments in Norway Musical groups from Telemark