Majorstuen

Young and dashing fiddle quartet
Picking the right name for your band is often a tricky process. A tired and trusted fallback is to simply use the name of your hometown or neighbourhood. After all, it worked for Boston, Portishead and the Sugarhill Gang. And that's the method adopted by Majorstuen, the fiddle quintet hailing from the titular district of Oslo. So what does the sound of massed Norwegian fiddles actually sound like? Not unlike massed Irish fiddles as it goes, the instruments of these five bright young things cantering along at a fair lick on tunes that could be transporting you to the lush countryside of Kerry or Cork rather than the lands of the fjords. Favourites of Radio 3's Late Junction, when it comes to arranged folk music, Majorstuen have few equals. This is string music played with thrilling energy, with measured abandon and - always, always - with faultless virtuosity.

(Biography written by Nige Tassell 2011)
Photo: Geir Dokken