“The Behind-the-Scene-Award of the year goes to Morten Alfred Høirup. At Autor – Composers & Songwriter’s Awards of Honor show, we are not only awarding composers, but also people that in other ways make a big effort supporting music in Denmark. We do that by giving out Organisationsprisen, the so called Behind-the-Scene-Award (The Organisations Award). This year it actually went to a composer AND musician. Wednesday evening at our award show Morten Alfred Høirup was celebrated for his tireless dissemination work for folk music in Denmark! Once at Danish Broadcasting Association, then with the podcast Katten i Sækken, or at RadioFolk.dk – Morten Alfred Høirup has kept propagate the knowledge of the genre while updating and supporting a scene, that find it more difficult profiling it self at the usual platforms, than most other scenes. This was pointed out by violinist, composer and member of the board of Autor, during her speech of motivation. Thank you very much for your effort, Morten!” You are so welcome. I feel very humble and grateful. Thank you!
YLVA’S WELCOME – Kristian Bugge & Morten Alfred Høirup
Ylva’s Welcome is the story of a little girl named Ylva, who was born into this world at the beginning of last year. But it is also the story of the proud, old ship Ylva who returns home after a long and eventful voyage to foreign countries. In other words, the tune Ylva’s Welcome is about faith, hope and love.
“When we were working on this melody, we were very inspired by the fact that Kristian’s sister had just given birth to a lovely little girl, her name was going to be Ylva. We talked about the incredible life journey she will now embark on for the next many years. And at the same time we talked about and imagined a large old sailing ship returning home after traveling for months or maybe years on the open sea in all kinds of weather.”
The two Danish musicians fiddle player Kristian Bugge and guitarist Morten Alfred Høirup are both veterans of the Danish and international folk music scene. For years they have toured with good friends, performing traditional Danish folk music in many countries like Denmark, Norway, Germany, the USA and Canada. Now with Ylva’s Welcome, they are releasing their first joint composition of brand new music with roots in the Nordic tradition.
“The idea with this number is to give the listener a hope and a belief that everything will be ok, and also to share a proper shot of energy and an invitation to just shout along and have a great time with music!”
At Ylva’s Welcome, Kristian Bugge and Morten Alfred Høirup collaborate with the two excellent Finnish musicians Tapani Varis (double bass, Jewish harp) and Eero Turkka (harmonica and throat singing.)
Ylva’s Welcome is recorded and mixed by producer and sound engineer Torben Sminge in his Snowville Recording Studio in Odense. The mastering is done by Søren Oliver Due, known for his work with the popular Danish EDM duo, Zookeepers.
I am excited to announce that my first ever music collection is ready be published on the 4th of June 2022. We will be celebrating the occasion with a smal but cozy release party at Halkær Folk & Roots Festival in Himmerland, where I am actually hired as a MC in the days of 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th of June. T
The title of my collection is Ingela’s Waltz – 25 New Danish Folk Melodies, and it contain music that I have composed during the years, all with belonging cords. Five of these tunes are brand new, and has never been played in public before, and the remaining 20 melodies was already used for all sort of things, sorting from dokumentaries, master classes, jamsessions, TV, radio, Cd recordings, concerts, dances, festivals and so on.
Furthermore the book contain a number of anekdotes and small stories about where the inspiration to write this music came from.
The fall is here and I am spending some of my time on building a page on Bandcamp.com, where you can follow the music I compose and record alone as well as with good colleagues. It is free of any charge to browse and listen, and Bandcamp.com is actually a pretty diverse world of new and different music from many places and genrers.
Now, getting ‘older’ I also get more and more fascinated by the idea of composing much more of my own music, and recording it just the way I feel like.
So from now on you can go to Bandcamp.com to listen to some of the my many compositions, tunes that I have recorded and released, with very talented colleagues from Denmark and abroad.
You can follow what is happening to my music, and you can even buy some of it, in case you are the kind of person who like to build your very own unique music collection. And by the way: Please feel welcome to spread the happy word amongst your family and friends.
A trip around the Funen Village in Odense in an old horse waggon. Photo: Stine Boline Høirup
What a summer, I must say! Mia Guldhammer & I are releasing our debut album ‘Tral, Tråd & Traditioner’ at Musik over Præstø Fjord festival, and that is in it self pretty fantastic, we think.
On August 6th I turn 60 years old. Who would have thought so? I am celebrating at Musik over Præstø Fjord, and I am looking very much forward.
On the same time in August I have 10 concerts with the duo Jensen & Bugge, with whom I have been performing lots of concerts and tours for the last 10 years. Most the concerts in August are at the Funen Village in Odense, one of our favorite ‘venues’. The village is a brilliant place to explore with its old farm houses, the domestic animals and the traditional hand crafts from the 19th century.
Our job is to play small ‘pop-up concerts around in the village, and to tell about singing and music on the 19th century, but also about how we use the music, and even compose new material inspired by traditional music, here in the 21st century.
The cover of the brand new album ‘Tral, Tråd & Traditioner which will be released on August the 6th 2021.
Finally the new album with Mia Guldhammer & Morten Alfred Høirup – Tral Tråd & Traditioner – came out. We have been waiting for that for a long time. Tral means ‘Diddling’, Tråd means ‘fiery guitar music’, and Tråd simply means ‘Traditions’.
On the album you will find a blend of new and old traditional songs and tunes arranged for and played by a duo with guests. The guests are the Danes Kristian Bugge (Violin), Charlotte Andersson (Saxofon, vocals), Clara Tesch (Violin, vocals), Mads Kjøller-Henningsen (Wooden flute, hurdy-gurdy, percussion, vocals), Louise Nipper (Vocals), and the Finnish musicians Arto Järvelä (Violin) and Tapani Varis (Jews harp, flutes, doubble bass, vocals).
Tral, Tråd & Traditioner contains 12 songs and tunes and can be purchased on Cd via this website: www.folkshop.dk. You can get it as a digital album on Bandcamp: https://miaguldhammermortenalfredhirup.bandcamp.com/ . Finally you can also just write me and we can arrange for me to send it to you what ever way you want it: mortenalfred@gmail.com. You can pay using Paypal or Danish mobilepay.
We will be presenting the album at the Danish festival Musik over Præstø Fjord on the 6th of August 2021. Everybody is of cause very welcome!
Visiting the Danish Vest coast, here posing with the little but beautiful Hirtshals Lighthouse in the background.
Finally it is summer, the nights are long and light and people has started leaving the cities to enjoy their summer holidays at the countryside.
A couple of days ago our little folk music trio, Jensen, Bugge & Høirup, handed over a video to the people behind the Finnish Kaustinen Folk Festival. This year their festival will be partly virtuel , and we are happy to see that organizers around the world finds alternative ways to present their festivals, in stead of cancelling one more year. And they are ready to pay for these unique video recordings. Fantastic!
Mette Kathrine Jensen Stærk, Kristian Bugge and me myself performing at Nordic Folk Festival at Livø in the beginning of July. That was a party – and the rain was pouring down for hours and hours!.
The day after we recorded video material for the people behind Kaustinen Folk Festival, we performed at the new little Nordic Folk Festival. This was happening on the small island of Livø in Limfjorden, in the very north of Jutland. Despite hour long cloud bursts we had a great time. It was wonderful to ‘max it out’ in front of a real live audience, listening and dancing as they were. Thank you so much!
In July and August we will be playing at Den Fynske Landsby, an open-air-museum with houses from the 19th century. Here we will be singing song and playing music from that time, but we will also be showing how we are inspired by this music when we compose our own music in the 21. century.
Right now my favorit guitar, my Willam ‘Grit’ Laskin, is being worked on. It is being adjusted, getting new fredges and tuners. This is just great cause that means that it will be fit for fight when I perform a Cd release concert together with Danish singer Mia Guldhammer at Musik over Præstø Festivalon my 60th birthday, on August 6th.
This is Solle from Copenhagen Guitars. He is one more time working hard on fixing my old guitar, getting it ready for yet another busy season .
On this occasion we will release our debut album, Tral, Tråd & Traditioner, which we have been working on since sometime last year. The album contains 10 Danish songs and 2 new tunes, performed by us as a duo, as well as by us with good guests from Denmark and Finland. We are so much looking forward to this! .
But right now it is time to enjoy the summer, and that is exactly what I am doing. The weather is typical for a Danish summer. My two sons are happy, and I am happy that we now can start to get around in Denmark playing our music. I am looking forward to meet you during the summer!
We just shot a video for Nisswa-Stämman, a Scandinavian folk music festival in Minnesota. From down on the left: Kristian Bugge and Clara Tesch, above from the left: Morten Alfred, Mia Guldhammer and Mads Kjøller-Henningsen.
It is springtime and everybody is talking about quick tests, corona passports and reopening the country. Right now I am deeply involved in the mixing of the debut album Tral, Tråd & Traditioner, featuring the Danish singer Mia Guldhammer and myself, plus a few fantastic guest musicians.
At the same time I am collecting some of the tunes that I have composed during the years, in order to release my own music book, so that the tunes might get played by many more people. I have made a good deal with the small but well respected publisher Edition Switzer. The tunes in the music book will be commented in Danish and English.
Acctually, quite a few of my compositions, tunes like Ingelas Vals, Bjørnekæden, Ringen ogGæstebud, has been recorded and performed by a large number of musicians around the world. From the US and Canada over Switzerland and Germany to Australia, England and Finland. That makes me very happy.
Last weekend Mia and I did shoot a 30 minutes long video concert on request from the lovely ‘Scandinavien’ folk music festival Nisswa-Stämman, which is actually happening virtually from the small town Nisswa in Minnesota, USA. Joining us as special guests we have three great musicians from Denmark, namely violinist Kristian Bugge, violinist Clara Tesh and flute, bagpipe and hurdy-gurdy player Mads Kjøller-Henningsen.
This is our first concert together in public, so we are of cause looking forward to see how the the Americans like the show. The virtual concert is on June 11, 7 pm CDT. Here is the link to Nisswa-Stämman on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nisswastamman And this is their website: http://www.nisswastamman.org/
2020 became a strange year, and I think that this was the first time in 35 years that I have not been on tour outside the borders of Denmark. Photo: Henrik Jansberg
It is early on New Years eve 2020-21, in my oven a Moroccan tagine is simmering with a delicious vegan meal that I am looking forward to eat a little later in the evening, in the fridge I have a bottle of København Kombucha brewed on Oolong tea, which is going to be my champagne, and on Spotify the Milanese mezzo soprano Cecilia Bartoli is singing Rossini.
My youngest son Carl Alfred moved to Valby with his girlfriend this fall, and he is now preparing himself for the last few months at Frederiksberg Gymnasium. My oldest son Svend Alfred was home for a couple of month in the fall, befor sailing via Poland to Berlin to work there. While I am writing this, he is on his way to Portugal to work on a little ships yard near Lisbon. Both boys are happy despite all challenges, and I am very proud of both of them.
As we all know it has been a strange year with political disturbance, and Corona virus all over the world, the latter resulting in a complete halt to nearly all travel and touring activity.
I think this i probably the first time in 35 years that haven’t been outside the borders of Denmark for a full year, and even thou I really don’t miss especially the airports and the flights, I still do miss getting around with my music, meeting my Danish as well as my international friends and acquaintances.
I have spend the time on developing, organizing, recording and editing podcasts about folk music, on composing and recording music, and on preparing on better times when we can get out performing our music again.
My main podcast is called Katten i Sækken (The Cat in the Bag) and it is about what is happening on the Danish folk and trad scene right now. It has been coming out every month since 2014, and it will continue in 2021, supported by amongst others the Danish genrer organisation Tempi, and the The Danish Arts Foundation. Thank you so much for that!
2020 was the year when singer and percussionist Mia Guldhammer and I was supposed to record our debut album at the small but exclusive festival Musik over Præstø Fjord, but the Danish festivals was cancelled, and now we are recording at Louise Nippers Soundscape Studio at Frederiksberg in Copenhagen, featuring a team of great guest musicians.
The video above we did record in November in a very old jail situated next to an old church at Kastellet (The Fortress) at Østerbro in Copenhagen. Vi are singing an old song called Hyttevisen, together with the lovely soprano saxophone player Charlotte Anderson, who is also going to appear on our new album.
This link will take you to our fund raising page on Indiegogo.com, where you will get much more info – we very much appreciate your support. Thank you so much!
We do expect to release our debut album during the spring 2021, an we are very much looking forward to that.
Now we are all waiting for the new year to bring happiness, hope and relatively normal conditions so that we can all get out playing, singing and dancing. And with this innocent but deeply felt wish for the new year, I bid you goodby and see you later out there where the music lives. Now it is time to eat my delicious meal. Best wishes!
A manipulated photo from my father Fin Alfred’s garden in Dragør. Photo: Jes Paul
After a crazy spring where the entire world was challenged by corona virus, and the Danish live music scene was put out of business, we now see the weirdest summer ever. In most of europe they have gained control with the virus, and things are starting to look like before the virus – but then it’s not really.
We don’t see many touring musicians crossing the borders during these months, and it is still not easy to get the organizers to take the chance and book the bands.
These days many are performing live on facebook, which is pretty much like busking in the streets in the old days. You play your best, people are passing by, and if they like what they see, and if they can afford it, they might drop a coin or two before before the go on out in the swarm of online offers from Danish and international musicians.
I myself did a concert like that not long ago performing with the singer and percussionist Mia Guldhammer, and the violinist Kristian Bugge. That was a pretty good experience and we played for an ‘audience’ spread out over huge parts of the western world, especially the US. Find and see the concert on our facebook page. Music starts about 8 minutes into the video.
Mia Guldhammer and I are still planing to record a live album featuring guests at the festival Musik over Præstø Fjord, but because of the virus we have been forced to wait for one year. That of cause is a bummer, but it is also a bit cool, because that mean that our concert and our recording wiil happen on August 6th 2021 – and that is the exact day that I turn 60, so that’ll be quite some party.
As soon as the worst part of the pandemic seemed to calm down a little, we restarted composing and recording videos. This video was we recorded in my living room at Frederiksberg, with two good colleagues, multi instrumentalistMads Kjøller-Henningsen and violinist Clara Tesch. The tune Mia and I composed together calling it ‘Polka Umulius’.
My old dad and I on a walk in the Danish nature.
Not long ago we visited my old father in Dragør, and there we were allowed to film an old song from the island of Fanø in his little cozy work shop. The song is called ‘Rundt på gulvet’ (Round the floor) and it was one of publisher Julius Strandberg’s hottest successes during the late 19th century.
