Lumsk is a Norwegian

folk metal Folk metal is a fusion genre of heavy metal music and traditional folk music that developed in Europe during the 1990s. It is characterised by the widespread use of folk instruments and, to a lesser extent, traditional singing styles (for exampl ...

band from

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...

. The band combines traditional

Norwegian folk music Much has been learned about early music in Norway from physical artifacts found during archaeological digs. These include instruments such as the lur. Viking and medieval sagas also describe musical activity, as do the accounts of priests and pil ...

and

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

with

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

and

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

. The group has both male and female vocals with violin, guitar and drums.

History

After having released a self-produced demo, the band released an EP called ''Åsmund Frægdegjevar'' in 2001 under contract with the record company

Spinefarm Records Spinefarm Records is a Finnish independent record label focusing mainly on heavy metal artists. It is a subsidiary of Universal Music Group. History Spinefarm Records was originally founded in 1990 by Riku Pääkkönen as a mail-order distrib ...

. The next year, the band moved to

Tabu Recordings Tabu Recordings is an independent Norwegian record label founded in 2003 in Oslo. It is owned by Tuba Records, a major Scandinavian independent music distributor. The label focuses on releasing products from the Norwegian metal bands. Bands si ...

and released their debut album, which had the same title as the previously released EP. The album was characterized by its blend of classical instruments and heavy metal. The songs make up a narrative about the saga of Åsmund, who in Lumsk's interpretation sails from

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

to rescue a king's daughter from a group of

troll A troll is a being in Nordic folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated areas of rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human bei ...

s. Several years later, and with a new vocalist, the band released its second album, called ''Troll''. The album was a departure in many ways from its predecessor - the band had gotten a new vocalist and guitarist, and as a whole the music was not as heavy or dark as on the debut album. There were also fewer songs, and together they did not compose one narrative, but were rather stories in and of themselves; stories which were based on

Nordic mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern period ...

and were written by the saga author Birger Sivertsen and his wife Kristin. The same year the band released the single ''Nidvisa'', which, in addition to the song ''Allvis'' from ''Troll'', contained a song written for the action group ''Give Us Back Christmas'' (''Gi oss jula tilbake'' in Norwegian) in protest against department stores' early

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

decorating. The profits from the sale of the single also went to the group. On February 26, 2007, Lumsk released their third full-length album, entitled

Det Vilde Kor ''The Wild Choir'' ( no, Det vilde Kor) is a poetry collection by Nobel laureate in literature Knut Hamsun. It was published in 1904 and is his only poetry collection. The collection contains existentialist, erotic and political poems. One of the b ...

. On this album, Lumsk have added music to Det Vilde Kor, which is a collection of poems written by the famous

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

poet

Knut Hamsun Knut Hamsun (4 August 1859 – 19 February 1952) was a Norwegian writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920. Hamsun's work spans more than 70 years and shows variation with regard to consciousness, subject, perspective a ...

. With this album the music departed from its folk metal sound and incorporated a calmer and slightly more progressive nature. In July 2007 Espen announced on Lumsk's website that Ketil and Siv Lena would be leaving the band due to a baby being born. They were replaced by Swedish musicians Håkan Lundqvist and Jenny Gustafsson. In 2009 Annelise Ofstad Aar joined the band, as a replacement for vocalist Stine Mari Langstrand, who also left in 2007.

Members

Current

*Espen Warankov Godø -

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

(2000-) *Eystein Garberg -

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

(2001-) *Espen Hammer -

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

(2002-) *Roar Grindheim -

(2012-) *Vidar Berg -

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

(2005-) *Mari Klingen -

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

(2020-)

Former

*Snorre Hovdal -

and

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

*Bjørnar Selsbak -

*Øyvind R -

*Vibeke Arntzen -

*Sondre Øien -

*Steinar Årdal - male vocals *Alf Helge Lund -

(1999–2005) *Siv Lena Waterloo Laugtug -

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

(2001–2007) *Ketil Sæther -

(2004–2007 - 2009–2012) *Stine Mari Langstrand -

(2004–2007) *Håkan Lundqvist -

(2007) *Jenny Gustafsson -

(2007) *Annelise Ofstad Aar -

(2009-2019)

Discography

Albums

*''

Åsmund Frægdegjevar ''Åsmund Frægdegjevar'' is a medieval Norwegian legend and ballad (classification: TSB E 145) with several variations all detailing the adventures of a hero by the same name who is hired by the king to rescue a princess. It is based on a forna ...

'' (2003) *''

Troll A troll is a being in Nordic folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated areas of rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human bei ...

'' (2005) *''

'' (2007)

Demos and singles

*''Demo 2001'' (demo, 2001) *'' Nidvisa'' (single, 2005)

External links

Official websiteOfficial MySpace
{{Authority control Norwegian folk metal musical groups Musical groups established in 1999 1999 establishments in Norway Musical groups from Trondheim