Sugar Plum Fairies were a

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

and pop band from

Fyresdal Fyresdal is a municipality in Telemark in the county of Vestfold og Telemark in Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Vest-Telemark. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Moland. The municipality of ''Moland' ...

Vest-Telemark The Vest-Telemark traditional district of Norway comprises the upper and western areas of the larger region of Upper Telemark in the county of Vestfold og Telemark. The region consists of six municipalities: Fyresdal, Tokke, Vinje, Nissedal, ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

, formed in 2000, who released one

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

. The band plays pop music influenced by the

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

tradition of their native

Telemark Telemark is a traditional region, a former county, and a current electoral district in southern Norway. In 2020, Telemark merged with the former county of Vestfold to form the county of Vestfold og Telemark. Telemark borders the traditional ...

, using folk instruments like the Norwegian

hardanger fiddle A Hardanger fiddle ( no, hardingfele) is a traditional stringed instrument considered to be the national instrument of Norway. In modern designs, this type of fiddle is very similar to the violin, though with eight or nine strings (rather than ...

and

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

alongside

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 ...

and

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

, as well as brass instruments such as the

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

and

euphonium The euphonium is a medium-sized, 3 or 4-valve, often compensating, conical-bore, tenor-voiced brass instrument that derives its name from the Ancient Greek word ''euphōnos'', meaning "well-sounding" or "sweet-voiced" ( ''eu'' means "well" ...

. The band perform songs in their native

dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of Linguistics, linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety (linguisti ...

. On 2 June 2009, the band announced on their

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

page that they were on indefinite hiatus.

Members

* Øyvind Berge - vocals, guitars, bass * Merethe Jørgensdottir Reinskås - guitars, accordion, trumpet, piano * Birgith Jørgensdottir Reinskås - euphonium, synthesizer * Torbjørn Strånd - drums, percussion, bass until 2005 * Tor Christian Tovslid - drums * Gro Elisabeth Valebjørg Galambos was a part of the original line-up, but quit prior to the recording of their debut album. * Sarah Corbisier has been a recurring member of the band's concert line-up since 2006.

''Fivrelddans''

Sugar Plum Fairies' album, ''Fivrelddans'' ( en, Butterfly Dance) was a spin-off from a concert production entitled ''Fivrelddans & filosofi - Haakon Lie i ord og tonar'' composed and performed for the Olsokdagane i Fyresdal festival in 2004. The album was co-produced by Torbjørn Kittelsen and Jørgen Eide Kittelsen in Largostudio,

Rjukan Rjukan () is a town and the administrative centre of Tinn municipality in Telemark, Norway. It is situated in Vestfjorddalen, between Møsvatn and Lake Tinn, and got its name after Rjukan Falls west of the town. The Tinn municipality council grant ...

, Norway in April and May 2005, and released independently through the band's own label Spun Sugar Music on 10 December 2005. The record received several good reviews, and some airplay in Norway and abroad. The tracks "Andre Dugurdskvildi", "Fridtjof Nansen" and "Strålefall" were minor Norwegian radio hits. The album contains music put to the poems of writer

Haakon Lie Haakon Steen Lie (22 September 1905 – 25 May 2009) was a Norwegian politician who served as party secretary for the Norwegian Labour Party from 1945 to 1969. Coming from humble origins, he became involved in the labour movement at an early ag ...

, who is also from the band's hometown of Fyresdal. There were guest appearances on the album by Sarah Corbisier (

viola The viola ( , also , ) is a string instrument that is bow (music), bowed, plucked, or played with varying techniques. Slightly larger than a violin, it has a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of ...

) and Magne Berge (

Hardanger fiddle A Hardanger fiddle ( no, hardingfele) is a traditional stringed instrument considered to be the national instrument of Norway. In modern designs, this type of fiddle is very similar to the violin, though with eight or nine strings (rather than ...

). The song "Storlivisa" and the poem "Hjuringvise" featured in the original stage production, but were not recorded by the band. "Fløytarvisa hans Aslak smed" was not a part of the original stage production.

Track listing

Unless otherwise stated, all words are written by Haakon Lie with music by Øyvind Berge. # "Fivrelddans & filosofi" (H.Lie / M.J. Reinskås) # "Tid er pengar" # "Fyrste dugurdskvildi" # "Jolekveld" (H. Lie/Ø. Berge/M.J. Reinskås) # "Fridtjof Nansen" # "Andre Dugurdskvildi" # "Voggesong" (H. Lie/M.J. Reinskås) # "Sylvet" # "Tridje Dugurdskvildi" # "Fløytarvisa hans Aslak smed" # "Stogetaket" # "Einsemd" # "Fjorde Dugurdskvildi" # "Strålefall" # "Fivrelddans & filosofi - reprise" (H. Lie/M.J. Reinskås)

Other appearances

In 2006 Paul Bernard, Norwegian rapper, hip-hop artist & producer, sampled the band's song "Jolekveld", and the resulting collaboration "Depend" was released online under the name Paul Bernard feat. Sugar Plum Fairies, as part of Bernard's album ''Unfinished bizniz - a collection of dreams and grey stones'', with a live version included on the Paul Bernard and The Fat Fucks DVD '' Live at Lost Weekend''. In 2007, the band appeared with

Sigmund Groven Sigmund Groven (born 16 March 1946 in Heddal, Telemark) is a Norwegian classical harmonica player, today considered one of the world's leading classical harmonica players. He plays with a large number of the world's leading musicians and orchestr ...

and Tore Reppe as invited guests of Norsk Munnspillforum (The Norwegian Harmonica Association) at a concert in Moland kyrkje in Fyresdal. In 2008 the band was included on the October Party Records compilation album ''Norwegian Wood Music For China vol.5''.

Solo appearances by band members

Øyvind Berge contributed vocals and songwriting on the track "Ser Du Stjernene?" on Paul Bernard's album ''Unfinished Bizniz - a collection of dreams and grey stones'', and also sang on "Fat Fucks' Theme", part of the incidental music for Paul Bernard and The Fat Fucks' DVD " Live at Lost Weekend". In 2012 he released his debut solo album under the name "Sir Øyvind Berge & His Imaginary Orchestra", on Norwegian label Valiant Sounds. Merethe Jørgensdottir Reinskås is a member of the Oslofjord Brass ensemble and appears on their album ''OfBit''.

Discography

* 2005 ''Fivrelddans - Haakon Lie i ord og tonar'' (Spun Sugar Records) * 2006 "Depend" (Påls kjøkken) (''Paul Bernard feat. Sugar Plum Fairies'') (Internet only release) * 2008 ''Norwegian Wood Music For China vol.5'' (October Party Records) (Released exclusively in China)

Awards

* 2006 - The Fyresdal Municipality Culture Award

References

External links

Largostudio
recording studio at

Sugar Plum Fairies in Norwegian Bandindex
{{Authority control Norwegian pop music groups Norwegian folk musical groups Norwegian country music groups Musical groups established in 2000 2000 establishments in Norway Musical groups disestablished in 2009 2009 disestablishments in Norway Musical groups from Telemark