Gjallarhorn (, ) is a Finnish band that performs

world music "World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...

with roots in 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 ...

of Finland and Sweden. The group was formed in 1994. The band's music echoes the ancient folk music tradition of

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

with medieval

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

minuet A minuet (; also spelled menuet) is a social dance of French origin for two people, usually written in time. The English word was adapted from the Italian ''minuetto'' and the French ''menuet''. The term also describes the musical form tha ...

s, prayers in runo-metric chanting and ancient

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

rímur In Icelandic literature, a ''ríma'' (, literally "a rhyme", pl. ''rímur'', ) is an epic poetry, epic poem written in any of the so-called ''rímnahættir'' (, "rímur meters"). They are rhymed, they alliterative verse, alliterate and consist of ...

epics in a modern way. The group is named after the

Gjallarhorn In Norse mythology, Gjallarhorn (Old Norse: ; "hollering horn"Orchard (1997:57). or "the loud sounding horn"Simek (2007:110).) is a horn associated with the god Heimdallr and the wise being Mímir. The sound of Heimdallr's horn will herald the ...

associated with the god

Heimdall In Norse mythology, Heimdall (from Old Norse Heimdallr; modern Icelandic language, Icelandic Heimdallur) is a Æsir, god. He is the son of Odin and nine mothers. Heimdall keeps watch for invaders and the onset of Ragnarök from his dwelling Himi ...

r from the

Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology, is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...

The music

The band is Finnish and hails from Ostrobothnia, a Swedish-speaking region on the west coast of Finland, one of the four regions of the historical province of Ostrobothnia and the only region in Finland outside

Åland Åland ( , ; ) is an Federacy, autonomous and Demilitarized zone, demilitarised region of Finland. Receiving its autonomy by a 1920 decision of the League of Nations, it is the smallest region of Finland by both area () and population (30,54 ...

where more people speak Swedish rather than Finnish. The music of the band remains Swedish in character. Most of their repertoire is the acoustic folk music of these Swedish-speaking Finns, from the unique minuets and ballads that have only survived in Ostrobothnia, to the old traditional

waltz The waltz ( , meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom dance, ballroom and folk dance, in triple (3/4 time, time), performed primarily in closed position. Along with the ländler and allemande, the waltz was sometimes referred to by the ...

es. The

didgeridoo The didgeridoo (;()), also spelt didjeridu, among other variants, is a wind instrument, played with vibrating lips to produce a continuous Drone (music), drone while using a special breathing technique called circular breathing. The didgerido ...

and sub-contrabass recorder offer an underlying drone, a technique shared by some other Nordic bands such as Garmarna. Also notable is their use of the

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 Jenny Wilhelms' ''

kulning Kulning, also known as the Nordic herding call, refers to high-pitched herding calls that were developed centuries ago in Norway and Sweden. Different regions have different names for these calls, such as ''kauka'', ''lålla'', ''kula'', ''kulok ...

'', a high-pitched, wordless vocal technique based on traditional Scandinavian cattle-herding calls.

History

Gjallarhorn was formed in 1994 on the west coast of Finland, in the Swedish speaking area, by Jenny Wilhelms, Christopher Öhman (

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 ...

mandola The mandola (US and Canada) or tenor mandola (Ireland and UK) is a fretted, stringed musical instrument. It is to the mandolin what the viola is to the violin: the four double courses of strings tuned in fifths to the same pitches as the viola ...

) and Jacob Frankenhaeuser (

). The band started as a trio but became a quartet with percussion in 1996. The band has been a quartet ever since. In 1997 the first CD '' Ranarop'' was released. The group was selected "Folk music group of the year 1997" and the CD was "Folk music CD of the year 1997" in Finland. In 1998 the band started touring frequently on a professional basis with performances at international world, folk and jazz music festivals. Gjallarhorn has toured in Europe, United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Japan. The second CD '' Sjofn'' was released in 2000 and the third CD '' Grimborg'' in 2002. In 2003 ''Grimborg'' was awarded the French " Academie Charles Cros" prize for world musicCoups de Coeur 2003
/ref> and Gjallarhorn was nominated for the music prize of the Nordic Council of Ministries. In 2004 the band made a 10th anniversary tour, and the Swedish Cultural Fund of Finland selected the band with Jenny Wilhelms for their annual honor award, given to artists in different fields of cultural and educational work. In 2005 the band started working on new material. The fourth album '' Rimfaxe'' was released in 2006. The album was mixed in the US by

Bruce Swedien Bruce Swedien ( ) (April 19, 1934 – November 16, 2020) was an American recording engineer, mixing engineer and record producer. He was widely known for his work with Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Paul McCartney and Barbra Streisand. Swedie ...

. The didgeridoo was replaced by Göran Månsson's sub contrabass recorder as the drone effect and bass of the band.

Band members

The current members of the band are: *Sebastian Åberg,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

(2006– ) *Adrian Jones,

kalimba Mbira ( ; ) are a family of musical instruments, traditional to the Shona people of Zimbabwe. They consist of a wooden board (often fitted with a resonator) with attached staggered metal tines, played by holding the instrument in the hands and ...

(2000– ) *Göran Månsson,

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

s, recorders, sub contrabass recorder (2005– ) * Jenny Wilhelms,

vocal The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound producti ...

fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...

and hardangerfiddle (1994– ) *Martin Kantola,

sound In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the br ...

(1996– )

Former members

*Jakob Frankenhaeuser,

(1994–1996) *David Lillkvist,

(1996–2002) * Tommy Mansikka-Aho,

, slideridoo and

jaw harp The Jew's harp, also known as jaw harp, juice harp, or mouth harp, is a lamellophone instrument, consisting of a flexible metal or bamboo tongue or Reed (mouthpiece), reed attached to a frame. Despite the colloquial name, the Jew's harp most like ...

(1996–2004) *Christopher Öhman,

(1994–2000) *Sara Puljula,

(2002–2003) *Petter Berndalen,

(2004–2006)

Discography

Albums

* '' Ranarop'', 1997 (original); 2002 (remastered) * '' Sjofn'', 2000 * '' Grimborg'', 2003 * '' Rimfaxe'', 2006

References

External links

The official Gjallarhorn website (archived at Wayback Machine)
{{Authority control 1994 establishments in Finland Finnish folk musical groups Finnish folk rock groups Finnish world music groups Musical groups established in 1994 Swedish-language musical groups from Finland Westpark Music artists