Benedicte Maurseth - "Mirra"

"Mirra" is a continuation of Benedicte Maurseth's work and solo album "Hárr" (Hubro Records, 2022), which received the Nordic Music Prize and was recognized by The Guardian as one of the ten best folk music albums globally in the same year. Similar to "Hárr," "Mirra" is a concept album where concrete sound plays a central role in the compositions, with ecosophy serving as a foundational perspective. The music features repetitive patterns influenced by the suggestive repetitions found in folk music, American minimalism, krautrock, and free improvised music.
In "Mirra," the focus shifts to the wild reindeer near Maurseth's home in Eidfjord, Hardanger, which take on a solo role. The work follows various rituals of the wild reindeer throughout the year, capturing their distinct sounds and behaviors. The term "Mirra" is an old, extinct dialect term from Hardanger, likely referring to the behavior of reindeer running together in a circulating circle to stay warm and deter predators. It may also have been used to describe how the landscape seemed to "teem" with reindeer. Benedicte Maurseth conceptualized and composed the music, collaborating with Håkon Stene, Mats Eilertsen, and Morten Qvenild to further develop and arrange the pieces.

Benedicte Maurseth (Harding fiddle)
Håkon Stene (percussion, vibraphone, electronics)
Mats Eilertsen (double bass, electric bass)
Morten Qvenild (piano, electronics)

Benedicte Maurseth, an esteemed Hardanger fiddler, composer, and author, is a distinguished and award-winning performer. She has apprenticed under master fiddler Knut Hamre for several decades, specializing in the traditional music of Hardanger. Maurseth has toured extensively as a soloist both within Norway and internationally, collaborating with numerous renowned artists across various genres, including theatre, contemporary, and improvised music. Maurseth has composed multiple commissioned works for prestigious groups such as Kronos Quartet, Prague Music Ensemble, Ensemble neoN, Marvel Studios, National Theatre in Norway, and various TV and film productions. Her recordings include several albums released through Grappa Musikkforlag (Hubro & Heilo) and ECM Records. Additionally, she has authored books, articles, and essays.Her latest solo album, Hárr (2022), received the Nordic Music Prize and was recognized by The Guardian as one of the ten best folk music albums globally in 2022. The same year, her non-fiction book Fiddlesisters was published, offering a groundbreaking exploration of female fiddlers from the 18th century to the present. This work, along with a concert performance and museum exhibition of the same title, earned her the Folkelarm Award as «Folk Musician of the Year» in 2023, as well as the SFF prize for her significant contributions to Norwegian folk music.

Håkon Stene is active Internationally as a soloist and chamber musician across multiple genres, initiator and commissioner of new works, recording artist, producer, teacher, and researcher. His solo and chamber recordings have been awarded the Norwegian Grammy (Spellemann) in the category of contemporary music and “open genre” five times.He studied in Oslo, Freiburg, and San Diego. From 2005 to 2008 he was selected for the launch programme “INTRO” for young soloists by Concerts Norway. As a soloist he performed with Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Ensemble Modern, London Sinfonietta, Oslo Sinfonietta, 2e2m and others. Furthermore, he plays with ensembles such as asamisimasa (contemporary), Pantha Du Prince Conference of Trees (techno), and Nils Økland Ensemble (Folk Impro), including venues and festivals throughout Europe, the U.S. and Asia. Håkon Stene collaborates with numerous composers across generations and styles. A special interest of his has been the expanded role of the instrumentalist in experimental music. This topic was explored in the research projects “’This is Not a Drum’ – Towards a Post-Instrumental Practice” and the post-doctoral project “Music with the Real” undertaken at the Norwegian Academy of Music from 2010 to 2017. In 2017 he was appointed professor of percussion at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg.

Mats Eilertsen is a highly in-demand musician and plays in several different bands and constellations in Norway and internationally. He composes for various ensembles and projects and has released several albums in his own name, the latest ones being «Hymn For Hope» (2021) and «Solitude Central» (2021) as well as Mats Eilertsen Trio «And Then Comes The Night» (ECM 2019) (Spellemannsprisen, Norwegian Grammy Award 2019). Mats is one of the finest and most distinct bass players on the Norwegian jazz scene of today. He has a special warm and lyrical way of treating the bass, being steady and experimental at the same time, bringing it all together and yet showing openness, willingness, and constantly searching for new sounds. Long an important contributor to ECM recordings, and appearing on albums by Tord Gustavsen, Trygve Seim, Mathias Eick, Nils Økland, Wolfert Brederode, Jakob Young and more, Eilertsen has concurrently maintained projects of his own, including the present trio, quartet, and solo projects.
He enjoys being a sideman with a diverse group of musicians and music, Bendik Hofseth, Sinikka Langeland, Håkon Kornstad, Nils Økland and more. He has participated on more 100 recordings with a wide range of artists.

Morten Qvenild's artistic scope (1998-2023) contains a wide range of genres and openness, which has resulted in a great artistic breadth and production over several years. The pianist, producer and composer has given concerts with A-ha, played improvisational music with Gard Nilssen, jammed with the improvising computer KimAuto in an artistic research project and written songs with poet Frode Grytten during the same week. This describes Qvenild's eclectic workday well. Morten has been very active as a musician and composer in European jazz and other related genres since 1998 and has toured internationally during all these years. He has contributed artistically with solo projects and in several bands and constellations; In the Country, The National Bank, Solveig Slettahjell, A-ha, Marit Larsen, Susanne Sundfør, Arve Henriksen, Thomas Dybdahl, Martin Hagfors, Ingrid Olava, The Budding Rose, Nils Petter Molvær, Shining, Jaga Jazzist, Trinity and Susanna and the Magical Orchestra to name a few. In the performing and creative field, Morten Qvenild has extensive experience with various aesthetically founded technical setups based on music technology mixed with acoustic instruments, as well as experience as a songwriter/lyricist in pop music, studio production, improvisation, and contemporary music, often from his own sound studio; UglaLyd. He has performed over 1,000 concerts and contributed to around 100 album recordings, many of these with his own projects and self-composed music.