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GARMARNA was formed in January 1990,
just a week after a performance of Hamlet which contained very
strong, old Swedish music. STEFAN BRISLAND-FERNER, GOTTE
RINGQVIST, and RICKARD WESTMAN were inspired by the
show, and they began searching for old tunes and instruments.
After a year of playing together, the trio began to play festivals,
and just before their appearance at Hultsfreds-festivalen, Sweden's
biggest rock festival, JENS HÖGLIN joined the band
on drums. The music instantly became more powerful as the beat
of the drums plus the eternal drones gave extra magic and ecstacy
to the old traditional tunes.
Autumn 1992 saw
the band in the studio recording a CD EP, and they realized that
female vocals would provide a light contrast to the naturally
dark moods of the music. EMMA HÄRDELIN (a longtime
friend of the band) guested on that record, then joined the band
in early 1993, completing the lineup. The debut EP sold well
in Sweden, and helped the band tour in Scandinavia.
The following year,
the band decided to add samples and sequencers to the mix, giving
the old tunes a modern musical foundation. Still, the heart of
the music remains the harsh Swedish harmonies created by acoustic
instruments, topped off by EMMA's intense vocals. The
new album Vittrad ("crumbling away") was immediately
hailed by the local press, calling GARMARNA "probably
the best folkmusic band in Scandinavia."
In the deep winter
of 1994, Omnium released Vittrad in the US, with full English
translations of the dark old songs and an extra track Kleveberg's
Fire, pointing the way towards a new style of retro-futurist
folk music (including samples from prehistoric Scandinavia.)
The band also made the cover of Billboard and the CMJ World radio
chart.
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Garmarna: Gotte Ringqvist
- lute, violin, bowed harp, & rhythm / Jens Höglin -
drums and percussion / Emma Härdelin - lead vocals, violin
/ Stefan Brisland-Ferner (behind Emma) - violins, viola, hurdy-gurdy
& rhythm / Rickard Westman - bouzouki, guitars
The
band completed its initial US tour in March 1995, and have been
playing throughout Europe at festivals during the rest of the
year. 1996 started with a 14 gig long German tour closely followed
by the release of the new album named Guds Spelemän (Fiddlers
of God) after a poem by Swedish poet Nils Ferlin. The Swedish
press went wild over it and the album even made it to the Swedish
sales chart. The new album is released by Omnium in September
1996, and the band toured the US in October.
Now the band are
working on two new projects: a new record titled The Vengeance
for 1999 release on NorthSide, and a series of concerts in churches
around Sundsvall performing the music of Hildegard von Bingen.
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