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God's Musicians
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| Price: | $11.98 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details |
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Average customer review:
Track Listing
- Friends And Kin
- Sir Mannelig
- Halling From Macedonia
- My Husband
- Werewolf
- Hilla Lilla
- Today As Before
- Hunger
- Sir Holger
- Fiddlers Of God
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #81040 in Music
- Released on: 1996-09-17
- Number of discs: 1
Customer Reviews
All Yer Vänner Och Fränder Should Hear It
I was introduced to this amazing folk / rock outfit from Sweden via their video for V?nner Och Fr?nder and I was immediately struck by their pensiveness, instrumentation, and Emma's voice.
So I bought the album and was not disappointed by all the other great material found here. Garmarna manage to take ages-old ballads and breath a new life into them without losing their feeling of ancient realms from long ago. You don't have to know Swedish, and forget all the stereotypes associated with the culture -- this is more Valhalla than ABBA. The dark brooding arrangement on V?nner Och Fr?nder conjures up visions of rhythmic Viking rowers.
Other highpoints are the rootsy Halling from Macedonia; Werewolf; and Herr Mannelig. The haunting title track is also stellar. Along with Hedningarna, Garmarna are at the top when it comes to this sort of thing. There isn't a whole lot of variety but it still works as a whole and is a great listen all the way through and worth having.
God's Musicians
This is a gorgeous album, both for its sound and lyrical content (in Swedish, if you didn't know) and for its great instrumentation. Few things could be improved at this point, and those that could are barely significant.
The album opens with Friends And Kin, Herr Manelig and Hålling fraken Makedonia, which set the tone for the album... however, every song on this CD is at least as good as those fantastic openers-- "Hilla Lilla", "Sir Holger" and especially "Guds Speleman" are some of the best. Throughout the album Garmarna combines Emma Hårdelin's great voice with guitars, keyed fiddles, and other varied instruments and fuses old and new together seamlessly. This is not my favorite Garmarna album (I prefer the trip-hop style of Vedergållningen) but it is the best overall album they have done (where every song is extraordinary, instead of only a few).
If you want to be exposed to something extremely different and incredibly enjoyable, this is probably your best bet. Enjoy!
The quintessential Garmarna album
If you've never heard before the enchanting sound of Garmarna, this is the epitome, I believe, of their genre: A postmodern interpretation of medieval melodies, rhythms, and lyrics; a perfect blend of scandinavian ballads and modern rock. --Not to mention Emma HŠrdelin's voice which is the final touch to this instrumentation. I have seen them live and Stefan Brisland-Ferner is the Jimi Hendrix of the hurdy-gurdy. The quintessential Garmarna album.
