Dirty Linen

This is an excerpt from the print edition of Dirty Linen #124 (June/July 2006).
The full article is in the magazine, available on newsstands, by subscription, and at the Dirty Linen webstore.

Gjallarhorn

Jenny Wilhelms & Gjallarhorn

A Taste of the Pagan North

by Steve Winick

"With this band it has always been the music that chooses the members," Jenny Wilhelms said. "It is like a living being of its own in a way."

If Gjallarhorn is a living being, Wilhelms is its head; she is the band's lead singer, fiddler, and primary spokesperson. After 12 years with the group, she is also its only remaining original member. The next-longest-serving member has been in the band less than half as long. For over a decade, Gjallarhorn has been playing Nordic (Scandinavian and Finnish) songs and music for audiences all over the world. Its sound combines the earthy pulse of deep-drone instruments like the Australian didjeridu with the lushness of Nordic violins, violas, and Hardanger fiddles, and the gentle ringing of mandolas with the exciting percussive attack of world music. On top of it all soars Wilhelms' voice, pure as the driven snow and wild as…well, the driven snow. It's a perfect vehicle for the Swedish, Norwegian, and Icelandic ballads and Finnish runo songs she interprets as the group's main singer. The result has been critical acclaim in Europe and North America, a regular touring schedule, and three (soon to be four) highly regarded albums.

With Finnish and Scandinavian music coming from the same band, readers might be forgiven for thinking this was pan-Nordic fusion. But there's a more organic explanation. Gjallarhorn has its origins in the community known as Finland-Swedish, the ethnically Swedish minority residing in Finland. While the group members' native language is a dialect of Swedish (a Scandinavian language), their other national language is Finnish (a Finno-Ugric language), and for Wilhelms to sing in both is no more contrived than, say, Celine Dion singing in both French and English.

Wilhelms explained a bit further: "Politically, Finland belonged to Sweden from medieval times until the 19th century, and most castles, cities, churches, and universities were founded during this period. The official language was Swedish in those times. Now the situation has been the reverse for almost 200 years, but the position in society for the Swedish-speaking minority is still fairly good, and we are much better off than most minorities in the world. We have our own broadcasting networks, newspapers, publishers, theaters, and schools, as well as universities in various cities, and all street signs are in two languages in the western parts of Finland. The Swedish-speaking people remain mainly in the coastal regions and in the archipelago."

[cover #124]