In February FolkOrg kicked off its centennial jubilee, at Riksscenen concert hall in Oslo.
FolkOrg is the association for folk music and folk dance in Norway. The organization is the fusion of three groups, Landslaget for Spelemenn (National Association of Fiddlers, founded in 1923), Norsk Folkemusikk- og Danselag (Norwegian Folk Music and Dance Association, founded 1987), and FolkOrg, founded in 2009. The mission of FolkOrg is to strengthen the role of folk music and dance in society. With 5,000 members and around 150 local spelemannslag (fiddling groups) and fiddling/folk dance groups, FolkOrg attracts members from all parts of Norway.
FolkOrg publishes the magazine Folkemusikk, and their biggest events are the annual Landskappleiken (national folk music and dance contest) and the annual Landsfestivalen i Gammeldansmusikk (national festival and competition in gammeldans/old-time dance music), they also plan an annual industry conference for folk music, Folkelarm, and give out annual prizes such as best folk musician and best spelemannslag.
Performers at the opening concert kicked off the anniversary year in style, among them were winners of the 2022 Folkelarm festival. Listen to some of the artists: Over Stok og Steen, Synnøve Brøndbo Plassen, Eir Vatn Strøm, Tuva Færden and Johanne Flottorp, and others.
The largest event of the jubilee year will take place October 14 in Bergen, the birthplace of FolkOrg’s predecessor, Landslaget for Spelemenn. Along with this west coast celebration, a compilation jubilee album will also be released.
Musicians for loan
As part of the jubilee, a unique program called Lån en folkemusiker! Borrow a folk musician! was hatched. Youth choirs and orchestras can take advantage of this grant-sponsored program throughout the year and invite a professional folk musician to mentor their group in folk-related music.
Song for the 100th
To commemorate the anniversary, a contest was held to choose a Song for the 100th Anniversary. A fanfare composed by Øyvind Sandum was selected from 35 entries and premiered at the opening ceremony. To use the tune as much as possible throughout the year, the song was arranged by Ronny Kjøsen for choir, fiddling groups, accordion clubs and brass band.
To hear some of the artists highlighted by FolkOrg, listen on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/user/folkemusikk.no/playlists
Find tunes on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@Folkemusikkno/videos