Sing Nightingale
In collaboration with Adrian Myhr
for fujara, seljefløyte, hardingfele, santur and double-bass
2024
All compositions by Adrian Myhr and Michaela Antalová except folk melodies on track 3, 9, 10 and 11.
Two musicians, two different folk music traditions, two soundscapes hundreds of miles apart and one nightingale song. Nightingale melodies inspired this intoxicating folk album by Slovakian flautist Michaela Antalová and Norwegian double bassist Adrian Myhr. The Oslo-based duo’s album follows their meditative 2021 debut Zvony (Bells), which featured harmonium, field recordings of crickets and a Slovak male choir.
Sing Nightingale is a translation of ‘Zaspievaj Slavicku’, a traditional Slovakian song. The duo experiments with this theme of the songbird; exploring instrumentation from around the world and its rich tonal textures. On ‘Night Singing’, Michaela plays a Slovakian fujara, a tall, upright wooden bass flute originally played by shepherds. The fujara’s smooth, deep tones are laid over a recording of a nightingale by musicologist Tomáš Šenkyřík, with Michaela’s flute mimicking the bird’s nocturnal chirps and warbles to attract a mate. Michaela is carefully imitating the bird, who is in turn improvising his melody. In ‘Worm Moon’, named after the springtime full moon in March, when nightingales return from Africa where they have spent the cold winter, Adrian’s slow and resonant double bass is brightened by the sweet trills of a real nightingale and Michaela’s fujara.
The Norwegian Hardanger fiddle or hardingfele, features on two specially written songs; ‘Lament’ and ‘Rosenhave’ (rose garden) which bring together the nightingale’s symbolic associations with undying love, sacrifice, deep sorrow and loss. Celebrated Hardanger fiddle player Helga Myhr plays alongside Adrian’s double bass and Michaela’s seljefløyte or willow flute. Helga also plays on ‘Flagre’ (Flutter) and ‘Dance Nightingale’. The seljefløyte is very similar to the Slovak overtone flute koncovka. By using this Norwegian instrument, Adrian and Michaela’s new compositions are reminiscent of both countries’ folk traditions. Folk music often comes from unknown sources; the original writer may not be known and the melodies are typically passed down orally. Michaela and Adrian’s project merges the different folk musics from their respective countries, finding common ground in the sonic qualities of instruments and evolving a new hybrid folk style, authentic in its own right.
For the stunning adaptation of the traditional Slovakian fujara song ‘Dolu Ovce Dolinami’ (‘Sheep down the valleys’), Adrian’s friend Javid Afsari Rad plays the Iranian santur, similar to the traditional Slovak string instrument cimbalom. By coincidence, Iran’s national bird is the nightingale, making another unexpected connection to the symbolic bird. These 11 tracks are a beguiling fusion of traditional folk styles, approached by musicians from an avant-garde, improv and jazz background. The album pays tribute to a hugely expressive bird and finds a strange, soothing universality in the folk sounds of different countries.
Adrian Myhr - double bass, harmonium
Michaela Antalová - fujara, seljefløyte, xylophone bar, shaker, voice
Helga Myhr - hardanger fiddle, voice
Javid Afsari Rad - santur
Recorded at Maridalsveien 3 in Oslo, Norway by Adrian Myhr and Michaela Antalová in period from February to April 2024.
Mixed and mastered by Christian Obermayer at Strype Audio, Oslo, Norway.
Voices on track 10 was recorded in the former silo of the sugar factory in Rimavská Sobota, Slovakia, singers: Anežka Matoušková and Lucie Páchová.
Recording of nightingale on track 4 and 6 by Tomáš Šenkyřík and Libor Meřinský kindly borrowed from label Skupina.
Design by Richard Hronský and Karola Ainsar
Words by Claire Sawers
Supported using public funding by Slovak Arts Council and The Audio and Visual Fund and Arts Council Norway.
released November 28, 2024 on mappa.
CD/LP can be purchased directly from me (write me an e-mail) or from mappa here!