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32-545: In the late 1960s, guitarist Rune Walle (b. 1951) and drummer Gunnar Bergstrøm (b. 1952) became acquainted. They were both highly sought after musicians in the Bergen music scene, due to their young age and high musical skill level. In 1973, both of them were recruited for the second line-up of popular rock group Saft , with whom they recorded their award-winning album "Stev, sull, rock & roll" , which also included violinist and folk musician Sigbjørn Bernhoft Osa . Wanting to create

64-478: A bridge with a flatter arch to reduce the range of bow-arm motion needed for techniques such as the double shuffle, a form of bariolage involving rapid alternation between pairs of adjacent strings. To produce a "brighter" tone than the deep tones of gut or synthetic core strings, fiddlers often use steel strings. The fiddle is part of many traditional ( folk ) styles, which are typically aural traditions —taught " by ear " rather than via written music. Fiddling

96-412: A bill that also included The Beach Boys , The Doobie Brothers , Jeff Beck and Firefall . This did, however, mean that touring and recording was put on halt for Flying Norwegians. On January 10, 1977, four of the five original members reunited for a farewell concert in their hometown of Bergen; a concert which was recorded and released soon after. Bass guitarist Torkelsen had departed when Walle left for

128-595: A concerto for hardingfele, Three Fjords , in cooperation with Geirr Tveitt . In 1973 he recorded the track "Texas-låt" on an album with the rock group "Saft." He published the textbook Hardingfela in 1952. He became an Honorary Citizen of the U.S. state of Washington in 1968. He received the Arts Council Norway Honorary Award in 1976. He also received the Spellemannprisen Honorary Prize in 1973. Fiddler A fiddle

160-401: A heart attack, aged 51. Today, most of the members remain active, performing studio work, whilst stating that the death of Sanden "retired the band for good". Sigbj%C3%B8rn Bernhoft Osa Sigbjørn Bernhoft Osa (3 May 1910 – 2 February 1990) was a Norwegian fiddler and traditional folk musician . He was one of the best known Norwegian performers of folk music in the 1900s. Osa

192-665: A more country-driven sound, heavily inspired by bands such as the Eagles and the Flying Burrito Brothers , Walle and Bergstrøm left the band to form their own, titled "Flying Norwegians", in January 1974. To complete the line-up they recruited several other known musicians in the area; Cato Sanden (b. 1954) on guitars, keyboard player Jarle Zimmerman (b. Jarle Fjellanger, 1950) and bass guitarist Johannes Torkelsen (b. 1952). Sanden and Zimmermann shared vocal duties, with Sanden providing

224-491: A solo fiddler, or one or two with a group of other instrumentalists, is the norm, though twin fiddling is represented in some North American, Scandinavian, Scottish and Irish styles. Following the folk revivals of the second half of the 20th century, it became common for less formal situations to find large groups of fiddlers playing together—see for example the Calgary Fiddlers, Swedish Spelmanslag folk-musician clubs, and

256-504: A three-stringed variant of the viola —known as the kontra —and by double bass , with cimbalom and clarinet being less standard yet still common additions to a band. In Hungary, a three-stringed viola variant with a flat bridge, called the kontra or háromhúros brácsa makes up part of a traditional rhythm section in Hungarian folk music. The flat bridge lets the musician play three-string chords. A three-stringed double bass variant

288-406: Is a bowed string musical instrument , most often a violin . It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music . Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, the style of the music played may determine specific construction differences between fiddles and classical violins. For example, fiddles may optionally be set up with

320-456: Is also used. To a greater extent than classical violin playing, fiddle playing is characterized by a huge variety of ethnic or folk music traditions, each of which has its own distinctive sound. American fiddling , a broad category including traditional and modern styles Fiddling remains popular in Canada , and the various homegrown styles of Canadian fiddling are seen as an important part of

352-429: Is the act of playing the fiddle, and fiddlers are musicians who play it. Among musical styles, fiddling tends to produce rhythms that focus on dancing, with associated quick note changes, whereas classical music tends to contain more vibrato and sustained notes. Fiddling is also open to improvisation and embellishment with ornamentation at the player's discretion, in contrast to orchestral performances, which adhere to

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384-636: The 11th and 12th centuries European writers use the terms fiddle and lira interchangeably when referring to bowed instruments. West African fiddlers have accompanied singing and dancing with one-string gourd fiddles since the twelfth century, and many black musicians in America learned on similar homemade fiddles before switching over to the European violin. As early as the mid-1600s, black fiddlers ("exquisite performers on three-stringed fiddles") were playing for both black and white dancers at street celebrations in

416-607: The Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam (New York City), and by 1690 slave fiddlers were routinely providing the music at plantation balls in Virginia. The etymology of fiddle is uncertain: it probably derives from the Latin fidula , which is the early word for violin , or it may be natively Germanic. The name appears to be related to Icelandic fiðla and also Old English fiðele . A native Germanic ancestor of fiddle might even be

448-505: The US, and was replaced with Jan Ove Hommel for the show. Following a one-year break, Sanden reformed the band in 1978, with Egil Skjelnes (steel guitar), Ronald Jensen (bass) and Jan Ove Hommel (guitars) joining Sanden, Zimmerman and Bergstrøm to form a full line-up. This version was however short-lived, recording the album This Time Around to mixed reviews in 1979, and a brief tour. In 1981, in an attempt to break into mainstream music once again,

480-475: The album, the band returned to the studio in late 1975 to record their second, and best known album, "Wounded Bird" , released in 1976 to rave reviews and impressive sales, reaching No. 12 on the Norwegian album charts. Whilst writing and recording their own material in 1975, the band was asked by their fellow musician and friend, Teddy Nelson , to be his supporting band for his debut album, Diggy Liggy . For this

512-433: The ancestor of the early Romance form of violin . In medieval times, fiddle also referred to a predecessor of today's violin. Like the violin, it tended to have four strings, but came in a variety of shapes and sizes. Another family of instruments that contributed to the development of the modern fiddle are the viols , which are held between the legs and played vertically, and have fretted fingerboards. In performance,

544-459: The band began recording their fourth studio album, Du står i veien (Nor. You're in my way ), with new-wave inspired rock songs in Norwegian. This upset Sanden, who was a country- and rock musician at heart, and he left the band just as work began. Skjelnes, Hommel and Jensen all left with him, and studio musicians Bjørn Tore Aasheim (guitars) and Atle Mjørhaug (bass) were recruited to finish the album, with Zimmerman taking over lead vocals. The album

576-431: The band recruited another friend, steel guitarist Egil Skjelnes, to give the band the needed sound. In order to keep their own studio career as a separate venture, they translated their name to Norwegian; recording under the name "Flyvende Nordmenn". This alternative line-up remained with Nelson for his first four albums (except Walle and Torkelsen, who only appeared on the first album). Three of these were in Norwegian, while

608-658: The beat) could push their instrument harder than could a violinist. Various fiddle traditions have differing values. In the very late 20th century, a few artists successfully reconstructed the Scottish tradition of violin and "big fiddle", or cello. Notable recorded examples include Iain Fraser and Christine Hanson, Amelia Kaminski and Christine Hanson's Bonnie Lasses, Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas ' Fire and Grace, and Tim Macdonald and Jeremy Ward's The Wilds . Hungarian, Slovenian, and Romanian fiddle players are often accompanied by

640-480: The composer's notes to reproduce a work faithfully. It is less common for a classically trained violinist to play folk music, but today, many fiddlers (e.g., Alasdair Fraser , Brittany Haas , and Alison Krauss ) have classical training. The first recorded reference to the bowed lira was in the 9th century by the Persian geographer Ibn Khurradadhbih (d. 911); in his lexicographical discussion of instruments he cited

672-649: The fourth was a venture into English country-rock songs, released under the name "Teddy Nelson and the Flying Norwegians". The album, entitled Point of Departure , is today considered part of both artists main catalogue. In the spring of 1976 the band resumed touring while not in the studio, a tour which included a brief stint as opening act for the Ozark Mountain Daredevils during their 1976 spring tour of Scandinavia. A few weeks later, in June 1976, Rune Walle

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704-422: The lead vocals on most occasions. With a line-up with all-experienced and well known musicians, the band was given a record deal nearly instantly, and entered the studio to record their first album, "New Day" . Met with high praise it sold fairly by Norwegian standards, selling 50 000 copies during 1974–75, and the band was dubbed "The Norwegian Eagles" by several news outlets. Following a popular tour to support

736-638: The lira (lūrā) as a typical instrument of the Byzantines and equivalent to the rabāb played in the Islamic Empires. The medieval fiddle emerged in 10th-century Europe, deriving from the Byzantine lira ( Ancient Greek : λύρα , Latin : lira , English: lyre ), a bowed string instrument of the Byzantine Empire and ancestor of most European bowed instruments. Lira spread widely westward to Europe; in

768-651: The radio with the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation in the 1940s and recorded more than 350 traditional airs ( Norwegian : slått ) on either hardingfele or violin between 1948 and 1978. His airs were often based on the Voss tradition from elder fiddlers such as Sjur Helgeland , Ola Mosafinn or his own father. He often toured in Norway, Europe and the United States with concerts or causeries . He composed

800-471: The same time the two albums recorded by the original line-up was re-released on CD, selling to gold. In 1996 they entered the studio for the first time together since 1975 and recorded the band's fifth album, Still Riding . Following a brief set of concerts, they disbanded once again in 1997. Following this the band had occasional reunions and concerts, the last of which took place on April 28, 2005, in Bergen. Five days later, on May 3, Sanden died unexpectedly of

832-408: The second album, Living Today , also being the most sold record in Norway in 1986. Torkelsen and Skjelnes returned to work with Teddy Nelson in 1981, and remained in his touring band until Nelsons death in 1992. The other members also appeared sporadically with the group. In 1994, twenty years after their first album, the original five members reunited, performing a handful of concerts in Norway. At

864-412: The worldwide phenomenon of Irish sessions . Orchestral violins, on the other hand, are commonly grouped in sections, or "chairs" . These contrasting traditions may be vestiges of historical performance settings: large concert halls where violins were played required more instruments, before electronic amplification, than did more intimate dance halls and houses that fiddlers played in. The difference

896-473: Was a disaster, met with poor sales and reviews, and the group soon disbanded. Sanden, Zimmermann and Walle all had successful solo careers following their time with Flying Norwegians. Walle, having returned to Norway in 1980, recorded several albums that sold fairly, as did Zimmerman. It was Sanden, however, who had the most success, with his two first albums both winning Album of the Year awards (in 1984 and 86), and

928-506: Was a skilled violin and hardingfele player and Osa learned to play both instruments starting when he was six. He studied violin with Bjarne Brustad in Oslo then with the academy of Musikselskabet Harmoniens orkester in Bergen from 1929 to 1930. He continued his violin studies with de:Siegfried Eberhardt in Berlin from 1931 to 1932. He made his début as violinist in 1937. He started playing on

960-499: Was born in Ulvik , Hardanger as the son of fiddler and painter Lars Osa and children's writer Hermine Bernhoft-Osa . He spent his first years in Valle , Setesdal , and moved to Voss when he was six years old. He was married to Kersti Alice Grambo from 1937, and to Anne Heggtveit from 1950. He was the father of actress Liv Bernhoft Osa (b. 1957). He died in Voss in 1990. Osa's father

992-487: Was contacted with the offer to replace Randle Chowning as guitarist in Ozark Mountain Daredevils , following the latter's abrupt departure. Walle had impressed the other members of the band during Flying Norwegians shows as opening act, and they requested that he join them for the US leg of their 1976 tour. He accepted the offer, and played his first show with the group at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City on July 23, 1976, on

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1024-424: Was likely compounded by the different sounds expected of violin music and fiddle music. Historically, the majority of fiddle music was dance music, while violin music had either grown out of dance music or was something else entirely. Violin music came to value a smoothness that fiddling, with its dance-driven clear beat, did not always follow. In situations that required greater volume, a fiddler (as long as they kept

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