To All and Sundry
For six years "Over Stok og Steen" (over hill and dale) have specialized in folk music from Hedemarken, the flatland villages east of the lake Mjøsa. The musical traditions of this region are wide-ranging in their history, form, and expression, something we have wished to take into account on the present recording. You will hear minuets from the 18th century, the peasant’s polka, the farmer’s fandango and the ballad singer’s wistful love songs.

With all respect for the folk music traditions of Hedemarken, we have adapted the melodies in our own way. A number of them we have kept in a traditional style, while taking some liberties with others and introducing new elements to the old melodies.

Over Stok og Steen

 fiddle Thomas Lomundal
 accordion, piano and harmonium Ronny Kjøsen
 accordion, "enrader" and clarinet Thomas Nilssen
 double bass Frode Slupphaug
 guitar og dobro Morten Brattås

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Reinlender  by Anders Sørensen, Romedal
Anders Sørensen [1821-1896] is one of the most influential players and composers ever to have worked on Hedemarken. He had the opportunity to reach great heights, but his life kept alternating between success and tragedy. Early in his career he played in both Copenhagen, Stockholm and Christiania – until he married and had two children. But his wife and offspring left him and emigrated to America.
During the rest of his life Anders Sørensen travelled around most of Southern Norway, giving concerts. He met various fiddlers in the small townships to whom he taught his music. In this way his compositions have survived, scattered across all of southern Norway.
When Sørensen composed this piece, he was probably strongly influenced by Johan Strauss and his Pizzicato-Polka…
 

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Polonaise  by Lars Hollo, Hamar
Lars Hollo [1826-1902], along with Anders Sørensen, remains one of the most important fiddlers and composers from Hedemarken. Hollo was born on Fluberg, on Land, but moved to Hedemarken with his parents at an early age. His father was also a fiddlers, and Lars early on joined his father's ensemble. Lars Hollo spent the whole of his adult life on Hamar. Contrary to Anders Sørensen, Lars Hollo was a quiet and shy man, who kept to his hometown. He worked as a teacher at Hamar's Teacher-college, in addition to keeping a famous ensemble that played at innumerable dances all around Hedemarken. Lars Hollo's musical notebooks have been preserved, making hundreds of his compositions available to us.
 

Brudemarsj  after Andreas Moestue, Tangen
Andreas Moestue [1855-1939] was a farmer at Vik on Tangen in the shire of Stange — a farm where Andersen Sørensen spent much time. Moestue was an excellent fiddler, but hardly ever played in public. The exception was the new year's sermon in church at Tangen, but it probably never featured any folk music. Eivind Groven at NRK actually managed to make Moestue play on the Radio once — they had to rig a studio in his home at Vik. Unfortunately this was before the recorders came, so Moestue's fiddling hasn't been preserved.
Our bridal march is taken from a collection by Lars Gunhildsberg [1916-1987] from Vallset. This bridal march can also be found in a collection of music after Hans Borgersen from Eidsvoll. It's title there, however, is "Brude Marsch af Prosten Nikolai Wergeland".
 

Damerne Gaar  gallop by Oluf Melvold, Åmot
Oluf Melvold [1843-1897], "The Strauss of Østerdalen", was a central figure in music in both Åmot, Elverum and Hamar — where he resided. In all of these places he had his own ensembles, and he instructed choirs and marching bands. The fact that Melvold was born blind, never stopped him performing. It must have been impressive to see him march through the streets of Hamar with Hamar Musikkforening, where he instructed as well as playing clarinet. But the fiddle was still his main instrument. His skill was such that the king, on several occasions, asked him to the castle to perform.
Despite the fact that all of Melvold's sheet music was lost in the great Pipervika-fire during WW2 in Oslo 1943, a lot of his compositions managed to survive. One of them is this one — a regal gallop.
 

Menuett  by Johannes Stenberg, Romedal
Johannes Stenberg [1776-1801] is one of the mysterious fiddlers from Hedemarken. He died only 25 years old in 1801, but still had time to develop a musicality and a compositional technic that was quite remarkable considering him being a farmer's son from Romedal. We don't know of to many of his compositions, but quite a few minuets in addition to some English waltzes have surived. The minuet was a popular dance on Hedemarken in Stenberg's time, but has since totally disappeared. It is said that the last time a minuet was danced in Stange, was during a ball on the farm of Saxlund in 1847.
This minuet was written down by the folk music-collector Ludvig M. Lindeman [1812-1887] in 1866.
 

En vise jeg vil synge  after Guttorm Flisen, Elverum
Hedemarken has, like every other place, had a rich tradition for vocal music. One of the central sources on Hedemarken is Guttorm Flisen [1908-1992] from Elverum. Folk songs were his greatest passion during his teenage years, and he eventually started collecting them. He learned these songs mainly at home from his parents and siblings, but also from other elders in the vicinity.
"En vise jeg vil synge" was taught to him by his siblings Ole, Margit and Agnes. This song is quite popular in the Solør-area.    Her is the lyrics!
 

Graaberg Masurka  by Daniel Sæter, Elverum
Graaberg is the legendary tavern in Elverum with very long traditions. Graaberg is usually associated with the Grundset fair, that at one point was one of the biggest fairs in all of southern Norway. Many are the fiddlers whose fiddle-strings have been worn out at Graaberg, and perhaps it was these fiddlers Daniel Sæter had in mind when he wrote this mazurka.
Daniel Sæter [1873-1959] was from Jømna in Eleverum — a fellow townsman of the renowned fiddler and composer Severin Jevnager [1869-1928]. Sæter and Jevnager played together for many years, and founded a large orchestra in their community. We know of around 80 of Sæter's tunes, and even though Sæter had a classical education, his compositions are strongly influenced by Elverum's folk music traditions.
 

Polka  after Nikolai Evensen, Nes
Nikolai Evensen [1887-1979] was a farmhand from Nes in the county of Ringsaker. At the early age of 14 he began to play the single-rowed accordion, and innumerable performances was probably a nice extra income to his farmhand salary. When Evensen was 83 his son-in-law Erik Ballangrud made a recording of him. This gives us an insight to a style of play which is fairly uncommon among accordionists today. His technique and sense of beat is second to none. Just listen!
 

Runtom-kule  after Christian Horne, Romedal
In 1910, the folk music collector Paul Sandvik [1847-1936] wrote down some pieces after Christian Horne [1838-1912] from Romedal. Horne was not a fiddler himself, but was, as a college-man, probably inspired by the "national cultural inheritage", such that he could contribute with a few melodies to the folk music collector.
In Romedal, the country-dance is named by some as "runtom", and we have combined three of these.
 

Vals  by Hans Balstad, Nes
Hans Balstad [1815-1858] is named as one of the four "greats" from Hedemarken, the three others being Anders Sørensen, Lars Hollo and Johannes Stenberg. Hans Balstad was a farmer, on the farm of Balstad at Nes in Ringsaker. When Hamar became an independent city in 1849, the demand for musical ensembles grew, as it had in other cities. There wasn't much of a musical life in Hamar those first years, so the musicians resident in the near-lying townships where hired. Of these, Balstadmusikken was undoubtedly the most popular. Later Lars Hollo's ensemble took over as Hamar's number one dance-orchestra.
 

Menuett  by Johannes Stenberg, Romedal
Another one of Johannes Stenberg's many minuets. His number of minuets shows what a high status this dance had on Hedemarken in earlier times. Christen N. Ringnes [1835-1910] writes in 1909: "The young were given to hear by the elders, that the youth no longer knew how to have fun such as in the older days, while they were young and fit to dance. In that time one could dance both Springdans and Halling, even Minuet — that was something, that gave the dance more life than what is used today, and then one would prepare and make a jump-around, so one reached the ceiling with one's toes, whereas now all this is missing!"
 

Fandango  by Lars Hollo, Hamar
Fandango was an immensely popular dance on Hedemarken from around 1820 until the start of the 20th century. Headmaster Olaf Koppang from Stor-Elvdal tells in an interview: "The Norwegian fandango was a quick dance, but it probably had nothing to do with the Spanish one. Nonetheless fast movements were needed, and it took such a long time, with all the pairs standing in row down the hall, that it was mostly suited for the young."
 

Sørg ikke kjære pike  after Guttorm Flisen, Elverum
This song was taught to Flisen in 1926 by Marie Gleditsch [1875-1962] from Tørberget, Trysil. Once in a while people would gather in Marie and her husband Herman's house, and there would be talking, cardplay, and singing.    Her is the lyrics!
 

Masurka  by Lars Hollo, Hamar
Lars Hollo was by nature a quiet and shy man, but as he entered the festivity-hall along with his orchestra, there was a certain authority and dignity about him, that made people stand up along the walls.
 

Over Stok og Steen  gallop after Olaus Jensen, Gausdal
Over Stok Og Steen is the gallop from which we have taken our name. The gallop represents, in many ways, the tradtion in which we play. The melody is by origin an Austrian gallop: "Über Stock und Stein", but has wandered all the way up to us, and can be found in a number of different varieties around Norway. We'll allow Arild Hoksnes to recapitulate from his journey in Salzkammergut, where he met the fiddler Blån-Lois and his fellow musicians: "Then the master gives the signal. He searches out his fiddle, and strokes. It is sermon-time. But suddenly he breaks through the sacral mood, and waves forward the instruments that have been discreetly hidden away on the kitchen floor and in the hallway. No hesitation anymore: Two fiddles, a viola and a double-bass fill the kitchen. "Now, what to play?", Blån-Lois smiles. Han knows that everyone around the table will join in on most of the tunes he knows. "Über Stock und Stein?" They nod, ready their bows, and start playing away in a polka-beat. The Norwegian immediately pictures Gunvor Hals and "Tango at Toten". His eyes water. To much apple-brandy? No, his thoughts fly straight to a TV-show where the group Oslodølene played an old gallop from Ottadalen. The tune has a funny name: "All the old housewives". But what is this old gallop from Lom doing in Blan-Lois' kitchen? Some trickery must be about. "I learnt this polka from a fiddler here in town, called Carl Schwandtner. He wrote down a lot of music from the local tradition. Especially the music that was played in the emperor-family's summer-residence", Alois reveals when the Norwegian, with eyes wide open, asks him from where he has the tune. Naturally even Blån-Lois gives a start. He is more than a little surprised when he finds out that the polka is also played in townships of which he's never heard. Beyond log and rock — far, far to the north, in "Old-dance-land"."
Our version is after the fiddler Olaus Jensen [1846-1920] from Gausdal.
 

Springdans fra Hedemarken  after Ludvig M. Lindeman
We found this old tune in Lindeman's "Norwegian Mountain-tunes", published in 1853. Melody-material in the tune shows some kind of likeness with newer tunes of the same kind. Perhaps it bears witness of an older form related to the Swedish polska?
 

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Over Stok og Steen

 fele Thomas Lomundal
 trekkspill, flygel og trøorgel Ronny Kjøsen
 trekkspill, enrader og klarinett Thomas Nilssen
 kontrabass Frode Slupphaug
 gitar og dobro Morten Brattås

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