Who is Hedningarna

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Ranked #1,684 in Music, #44,645 overall

Hedningarna: a scandinavian folk music group

I discovered the Swedish group Hedningarna more than 10 years ago, when a friend of my roommate came back from archeological digs in the Gotland (a Swedish island). She spent her summer listening to Hedningarna and bought my roomate one of their CD ("Tra"). It was an instant love affair. The kind that makes you wonder how you could have lived before without their music.

Download some Hedningarna songs 

Listen to samples of some of my favorite Hedningarna songs. Below there's also a few complete songs with videos.
These videos are either live performance or fan-made because Hedningarna never produced any official videos.

Who are they anyway? 

Hedningarna means "The Heathens". Their music is an interesting mix between Scandinavian folk, electronic and rock. Some of their pieces even have a gothic appeal. This "techno-gothic" sound was very present on the album "Tra", making it their most successful album in term of sales.

Hedningarna is a Swedish band inspired by Swedish as well as Finnish traditional folk songs.The group is currently formed by 4 instrumentalists. Two of them have been with the group since the beginning in 1987: Hallbus Totte Mattson and Anders Norrudde. The other two, Magnus Stinnerbom and Christian Svensson joined the group in 1999 and 2000 respectively. These guys can play an amazing assortment of instruments, including many ancients: lute, hurdy-gurdy, mora-oud, mandora, Swedish bagpipe, willowflute, moraharp, goathorn, viola, hardingfela, basmoraharp and many more.

The original group was formed by Bjorn Tollin, Hallbus Totte Mattson and Anders Norrudde in 1987 and a first album was release in 1989.

In 1991 two female Finnish singers joined the group: Sanna Kurki-Suonio and Tellu Paulasto. This Swedish-Finno version of the group lead to their 2 best and most acclaimed albums: "Kaksi!" in 1992 and "Tra" in 1994.

In 1996 Tellu Paulastro left the group and she was replaced by Anita Lehtola. In 1997 Ulf Ivarsson, a bassplayer, joined Hedningarna and the album "Hippjokk" is released. He will leave the group in 1997.

In 1999, "Karelia-Visa" is released and after a three week tour in the USA, a new member, violin player Magnus Stinnerbom, join Hedningarna.

In 2000, Sanna Kurki-Suonio is replaced by Finnish singer Liisa Matveinen. Anita Lehtola and Bjorn Tollin left the group. Anita is replaced in 2001 with the return of Tellu Paulastro (now Turkka).

In 2003 a compilation album is released and after a Scandinavian tour, the Finnish singers left definitively.

Hedningarna - Tra 

The tracks (you can listen to some of them on my play list at the top of this page):

  • Tass' on Nainen(on my play list)
  • Min Skog
  • Varg Timmen
  • Gorrlaus
  • Skrautval
  • Pornopolka (on my play list)
  • Raven (on my play list)
  • Saglaten
  • Tuuli (on my play list)
  • Tappmarschen
  • Tina Vieri


      Editorial review by Chris Nickson

      "The album starts with a low growl, building into the menace that becomes "Tass'on Nainen," and you're into the world of Hedningarna, where traditional Swedish instrumentation (and the vocals of Sanna Kurki-Suonio and Tellu Paulasto) meet studio electronics. As dark as anything produced by a goth band, it's a startling record that's pushed the Nordic sound to world music's cutting edge. The fiddles distort evilly; programmed beats blend with a frame drum. While Hedningarna mine territory that other Swedish bands such as Garmarna do, the sound on this record is their own, full and wild and a studio creation that never sounds overproduced. When the guitar cuts loose at the end of "SaglaTen," it becomes obvious that this is really the new and glorious sound of folk-rock, '90s style. The guest joiking by Wimme on "Tuuli" only serves to make the album even more otherworldly, but a passport isn't required." --Chris Nickson

Trä

Trä

Amazon Price: (as of 12/17/2009)Buy Now

I discovered Hedningarna with this album and love what I heard . Tra packs a lot of punch and if you have to have one Hedningarna album in your collection this is the one.
It's from their best period (1991 to 1996 ) when the group was made of Bjorn Tollin, Hallbus Totte Mattson, Anders Norrudde, Sanna Kurki-Suonio and Tellu Paulasto.
- Nathalie Roy (Fanfreluche)

Hoglorfen 

One of the too few video of a live Hedningarna performance! From their album Hippjokk.
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What the heck is it?!! 

Ok, I haven't found any information regarding the "Kaski" cover. Is it a blurry picture representing something, or just some doodle / modern art?
And if someone have a definitive answer (with proof) I'd be interested to know. So let's do some brainstorming here, your guess is as good as mine!


Does this album cover represent something??

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It's not abstract, it really does represent something

Peter says:

It's a blurry picture of a skull, don't know what animal, though definitively not human. The eyes are placed frontal and up high in the skull, so a bit like a monkey's? Maybe they heard people say they made monkey-music. Better music than what most people listen to, though.

Posted November 17, 2009

Irenemaria says:

The Swedish word Hedningarna means "The heathens".
May be the photo is something mysterious, viking kind of supersticious thing? =)

Posted June 10, 2009

fanfreluche says:

Everytime I take this CD to play it, the cover just scream "Mooooo". It looks like a jersey cow to me. I am 100% certain it is NOT a Jersey cow, but I cannot figure out a better answer. What's your guess?

Posted April 23, 2009

It's just some insignificant doodle, nothing more.

 

Knarklaten By Hedningarna 

"Knarklaten" (the Bulldog) perfomed lived. You won't find this track on any of their album, but on "Nordic Roots" volume 3
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Blog posts about Hedningarna 

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Hedningarna playing traditionnal music instruments 

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Photos in this gallery are used under Creative Commons from BedwyrPhoto.com / Oscar López González

Links 

Hedningarna
Official Hedningarna page
Hedningarna Lyrics
Lyrics in their original language
Scandinavian music
Nice pages dedicated to scandinavian music. A good way to discover new artists.
Scandinavian & Nordic Music
Buy scandinavian music CD's and DVD's. An online store specialized in Scandinavian music. They accept paypal.

Pornopolka: Traditionnal Finnish song 

This track is on the "Tra" album. Sung in Finnish by Sanna Kurki-Suonio and Tellu Paulasto. If you need a little motivation to do your fitness training, play "Pornopolka".

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Grab a deal on ebay 

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eBay

Scandinavian artists on squidoo 

Metal, folk, Pop, Rock.....It's a Viking invasion and we are loving it!


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Did you know about this group before coming here? 

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If you enjoyed Hedningarna music, don't miss some of these artists 

"Nordic Roots" will be a good pick to sample some of the best Scandinavian Folk-Rock artists. It includes tracks from Hedningarna, Vasen, Groupa, Hoven Droven, Hege Rimestad and many more. A great album that will make you want to discover these artist's work.

Swedish group "Garmarna" is another sure choice if you liked what you heard here.

"The Wizard Women of the North" features Norwegian, Swedish, and Finnish female musicians.

And of course, you have to listen to one of "Varttina" album. The finish group is probably the leader in Scandinavian folk revival music. They certainly have open many doors to younger artists.
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About Lensmaster Fanfreluche 

Lensmaster fanfreluche has been a member since March 23 2007, has rated 751 lenses, favorited 193, and has created 52 lenses from scratch. Nathalie Roy donates their royalties to Squidoo Charity Fund. This member's top-ranked page is "Twilight Posters". See all my lenses

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I am a Canadian. Depending on the time of the year you will find me either in Canada or France. I have been doing the split between two continent since 2000.

I started on squidoo in march 2007. Some of my first lenses were the philately related ones (Machin, kiloware) and the one on TV show character "Jeff Murdock".

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