Synnøve Sletten
Genuine Finnskog-music
Synnøve Sletten is born and lives in Varaldskogen "the orchid part" of Finnskogen, in the magic great forest area at the border between Norway and Sweden.
Her music is learned by heritage like her family have done in generations at Finnskogen and they always only play by ear. That is way she play so ruff and in the typical old Varaldskog style. She plays diatonic accordion the instrument that was overall the main instrument in Finnskogen last century, the violin was more or less forgotten.
Whit Synnøve you can hear the genuine old folk music from the area, but you can also hear new folk tunes that she has composed by herself. This is her way to bring the music further to the next generation.
Synnøve also called the magic Finnskoghuldra
Her genuine Finnskog rhythm is easy to understand when you see her family tree where we find Finnish names like: Soikkainen, Ampiainen, Kavalainen, Nikarainen, Pöntinen, Valkoinen, Haljainen, Lomalainen,Porka……and in her family there has always been very good musicians.
She lives in the border area «east in the forest» were the best musicians from Finnskogen always where born , so also the two legends: Halteguten (Ola Porkala ca.1780-1840)from Grue Finnskog (Norway) and Lumiansguten ( Per Jönsson Lumiainen, 1816-75), from Mången, Gräsmark in Värmland(Sweden). The two are also linked by a legend recounting how they were taught to play the fiddle by a water sprite, called «Nøkken» or «Puken».
«Puken» or the female spirit «Huldra» are the spirits that you must have contact whit if you want to be a genuine Finnskog- musician says the older generation that lives «east in the forest».
Huldra (click here for info) Nøkken or Puken(click here for info)
Synnøves specialty Finnskog-waltz
Synnøves absolute speciality is Finnskog-waltz, having intervals of a semitone between the second and third degrees. (there are no written signs for her musical sounds, Genuine Finnskog musicians only play by ear. So this translate from Norwegian to English has no guarantee )
If you are so lucky that you can hear her live, listen to her special Finnskog-waltzes.
The press said : "when you see Synnøve hold her accordion in her arms, it look likes she hold a little baby in her arms and the most magnificent, indescribable music came out, it was real magic and her touch is unique"
It is not accidental that the album are named after her new waltz Nattfiol. Nattfiol this complex double meaning word in Norwegian: Night-violin or Lesser butterfly orchid and here we have the combination. The lesser butterfly orchid has always become the orchid of mysticism......................
More information,stories/legends about the melodies and video at the CD Nattfiol.
A interesting fact is it that the two most legendary musicians at Finnskogen all times; Halteguten and Lumianguten also was famous for their waltzes. Lumiansgutens nick name was "The waltz king from Finnskogen" even when he played in Oslo whit Ole Bull.
Ole Bull "Now the mountain stream has found its course"
Under yuo will find the legend recounting how Halteguten and Lumiansguten were taught to play the fiddle by a water sprite, "nøkken" also called "Puken", here freely rendered after Lindtorp: Kilde/source: Universitetet i Oslo, Fiddle traditions in Hedmark
The nøkken dwelt in the Røgden lake in Grue Finnskog, but each night entered the waterfalls in the Sandsjø beck to tune his harp. The Kalnes mill straddled the biggest waterfall. Three men who wanted to learn to play the fiddle sat under the mill-house on three Thursday nights in a row until the sun rose.
On the first night two small mice came along pulling a load of hay, and the men heard strange, pleasing tones.
On the second Thursday night there were only two fiddlers (Halteguten and Lumiansguten), the waterfall was troubled, and the playing was awful. At midnight a flayed billygoat arrived bearing his skin on his horns. They remained seated until dawn, and the music they heard was indescribable.
On the third Thursday night only Halteguten came. The waterfall sang thunderously, and suddenly it was broad daylight. Halteguten never explained what happened, but from then on there wasn't a tone or tune he couldn't play on the fiddle, and his fingers were always in the fiddle-playing position. He became the supreme fiddler in Finnskogen and was for all his life a 'local' fiddler who chiefly played the "polsk" (polsdans, springar and springdans are terms used in the district), but also a number of waltzes and polkas (hamborgers) carry references to him (see also halling, p. ?? and comment H9c).
Lumiansguten also became an excellent fiddler, travelled widely, in Hälsingland and Jämtland and elsewhere, and tried his hand as a theatre musician in Kristiania (Oslo). After a dissolute life he returned to Finnskogen like a "gust from another world", with a quantity of modern waltzes. It is these that he is best known for in posterity.
Other legends recount that Ole Bull offered Lumiansguten and Halteguten instruction, but that only Lumiansguten accepted the offer. Bull is said to made the following comment about his playing: "Now the mountain stream has found its course" (Ole Bull is involved in several anecdotes in these traditions, both as benefactor and as a benchmark for quality).
On the Norwegian side of the border we know of only one truly fine fiddler who is regarded as a direct heir to Halteguten and Lumiansguten, and for whom we have direct references - Andreas Tomta, "Tomtan" (born in 1828), from Austmarka (Kongsvinger). He was viewed as a master fiddler in the district in his period, but emigrated to America in the 1880s.
Kilde/source: Universitetet i Oslo, Fiddle traditions in Hedmark
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Nattfiol: Oil painting by Synnøve Sletten , front of CD
Contact: synnove@nattfiol.no
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