These three are extremely talented musicians receiving accolades from the international folk scene in their own right. Each Nordic Bloc players unique style and sound is complimented by the others and their chosen instruments.

 

The familiar fiddle and viola are augmented by the octave fiddle and ornate hardanger fiddle in an innovative show case demonstrating the versatility of all three traditions and the musicians skills.Layers of harmonies, bass, rhythm and riffs were used to produce pieces with a haunting orchestral quality much larger than that imagined could come from three men with fiddles.- Euphemia Matheson “ www.orkneynewstoday.co.uk (Gable End Theatre, Orkney May 2013)

 

"Of all the fiddle groups out there, this one has to be my favourite! Kevin Henderson (Shetland), Olav Luksengard Mjelva (Norway) and Anders Hall (Sweden), play music from the three countries with great gusto and sensitivity and the same time."
Matt Tighe, FATEA (Fiddles on Fire 2013 Review)

 

The absolute stars of the night for me were penultimate act, the sharply dressed Nordic Fiddlers Bloc. Opening with an interpretation of an un-named Whalsay reel into which they injected a healthy dose of Scandinavia, their outstanding musicianship was interspersed with some first class craic from band members Anders Hall, Kevin Henderson and Olav Luksengård Mjelva. It turns out the constant ribbing the Swedes and Norwegians give each other isn´t soothed by the addition of a Shetlander.

Highlights were the beautiful Greenland Mans Tune and a set of an American waltz and reel. The trio allow for some sublime quiet moments only to build the music to an emotive high again and again, winding harmonies through the melody in an almost classical style. The unmistakable Scandinavian sound with its unexpected minors and almost mischievous rhythms.
Louise Thomason - The Shetland Times (Shetland Folk Festival 2014 Review)

 

 

Separately and together, Mjelva, Henderson and Hall were in masterful and unique control of the core creative paradox of contemporary folk music: preserving and curating what is centuries old, they simultaneously respond to the inspirations and anxieties of the present to produce something modern and new. The excellence of the Nordic Fiddler Bloc lies in the fact that their own individual added elements, “their twenty-first century insights“ don´t compromise the other-worldly timelessness of the traditional material but, instead, enrich and illuminate it. Whether performing old tunes whose history was unknown, tunes attributed to folk figures of the past, tunes written by known composers, or their own pieces, Mjelva, Henderson and Hall make the musical vocabulary of the old so completely their own that they can tell both the old stories and a wide variety of new ones.These three fiddlers are virtuosic musicians. Though the basic rhythm of many of the tunes and pieces is often quite simple for instance, in three/four syncopations and cross-rhythms, jumps, stops, surprises and unexpected pulses all make each piece a constant movement of percussive elements. The music is so very visual that the core rhythm waltz or reel or polka can be seen as the dance steps and the rhythm-plays as toes-and-heels on wooden floors, as claps and clicks, as skirt-swishings and high energy whoops and hollers. Simultaneously, the astonishing harmonies, echoes, anticipations and dialogs around core melodies create ceaselessly imaginative textures of musical sound, some as hotly intense high-stakes athletic games and others as coolly shimmery as evening light on quiet lake water.
Playing just three instruments, Mjelva, Henderson and Hall make music that sounds like it´s come from a full string orchestra. Exploring all of each instrument´s possibilities and juxtaposing "regular" violins´ and violas´ abilities with those of specialized national fiddles such as the hardanger, Nordic Fiddler Bloc creates a distinctive sound of clarity, modern edginess and evocative other-worldliness. Their playing manages the magic balance of exceptionally tight control on the one hand and relaxed, dynamic fluidity on the other.The central experience of the Nordic Fiddler Bloc concert is an experience of happy, vibrant music-making. Some of the tunes are plain, flat-out fun. Some are just so gorgeous that you wish they wouldn´t end. This is music about dancing together and making community; it is music about how people share each other´s lives. Rooted very far in the past, it´s nonetheless music about optimism and the future. At the end of the concert, you´re delighted at the prospect of whatever might come next. What could be better?Jean Ballard Terepka - www.theatrescene.net, Symphony Space, New York, April 2015

 

 

 

Fiddle aficionados were thoroughly spoilt for choice all weekend, what with the gorgeously multilayered tones and textures of Nordic Fiddlers Bloc.

Sue Wilson - The Scotman (Orkney Folk Festival 2015 Review)