News From Kakafon Records

Kakafon Records was established in Gothenburg, Sweden, in June 2010 but has it’s home today is the small village Siljansnäs, Dalecarlia.

Reflecting innovation as well as traditions the label releases words and sounds deriving from folk music. Sounds that have taken winding roads all around the world.

Born, raised, visiting or at last settled down in the Swedish soil.

Instrumental music, songs and poetry. Original, traditional, experimental.

Here are featured some of their latest news – it is not all west coast, but dig into it!

MEJRAM • MEJRAM

“The bridge between Gothenburg and Nashville is called Mejram! American roots music and swedish folk merge when this group now releases their debut album – a carefully wrapped folk-pop package filled with personal stories dressed in strings, bows, clavier, percussion och rich harmony singing. After three years in the shadows the band now emerges into the sun with what makes Mejram Mejram – four skilled young musicians, two languages, an infinite amount of feelings and great creativity. During many hours in moderately rickety rooms, with yellow curtains and terrible ventilation, ten songs have slowly and carefully been created, to later be recorded by Henrik Cederblom in Studio Epidemin (Gothenburg, Sweden). The orchestration is wide and consists of many kinds of stringed and bowed instruments, piano, drums, percussion and not least steady singing harmonies. With personal stories filled with anger, happiness, sorrow, hope and relief, Mejram leads the listener through life’s peaks and valleys in a compact crawl-up-in-a-comfortable-armchair-format of 41 minutes.”

NAVARRA • I LJUSNINGEN

Navarra is folk music with a nerve of city pulse and a longing for morning light. It’s energy-laden folk groove and a gentle comfort on a rainy day. They are known as innovators of their genre and as a fiery live act, creating an almost magical atmosphere between band and audience. I ljusningen (At dawn) is the band’s third and much-awaited album. It gives us folk music with Navarra’s unmistakable energy and joyous interplay but there are also songs that really stretch the concept of folk music. A sister from Somalia, music from the deep forests of Värmland, telephone salesmen and a longing great as the moon all have a natural place when Navarra’s music takes shape. Lyrics with a deep and personal imagery are given color and form in accurate compositions. Arvid Kästel’s groovy folk music piano and Erika Risinger’s virtuoso violin playing rest firmly on a creative and confident drum play by Carl Johan Groth. Sofia Kunze’s warm voice naturally weaves into the whole with nerve and expressiveness. At dawn, just as the sun breaks through the veil of night, we find Navarra’s magical world.

ANNE KALMERING & STAHLHAMMER KLEZMER CLASSIC • VAYTER

Anne Kalmering’s voice resembles no other. Her warm, humorous and soulful interpretations of songs in Yiddish and Ladino have made her a central figure of the unique Jewish-Swedish cultural heritage. Together with critically acclaimed Stahlhammer Klezmer Classic, she now releases their debute album Vayter. Stahlhammer Klezmer Classic has its roots in Stahlhammer Klezmer Orchestra, which existed in Krasnik, Poland from 1920 to 1939 with violinist Semmy Stahlhammers grandfather, uncles and friends. Semmy continues the family tradition with new members.
The album Vayter shows the width of the klezmer music – Jewish folk music meets chamber music and cabaret in suggestive and playful arrangements. The music is reminiscent of a culture that was close to being destroyed, but still lives on. Vayter means “ahead, forward” in Yiddish – and is a tribute to all those who has walked this path with their songs and music.

ELLINOR & LEONOR • ÅRSRINGAR

With the unusual combination of five-string cello and fiddle, Ellinor & Leonor vitalise and give new life to Swedish folk music. In “Årsringar”, the duo present traditional tunes from South Dalarna in stylish and lilting arrangements enriched with improvisation and influences from chamber and world music. The duo have chosen to call their second album Årsringar (Growth Rings) in celebration of significant Swedish folk musicians that have gone before. Retaining a respect for the traditional, the duo relishes in the spontaneity of artistic freedom to playfully develop and express the material through different genres. Thanks to Leonor’s way of playing her five-string cello, the melody wanders between the two instruments, leaving room for improvisation. Ellinor and Leonor are also much appreciated dance musicians which can be heard in the lively triplets of Hins Anders polska, the energy filled hagervals “Karusellen”, as well as in their rendition of majestic polonaises and melancholic polskas.

IDA&LOUISE • SHTOLTSE LIDER / PROUD POEMS

A hundred years ago, the Yiddish Culture was blooming, and there was a great movement of women poets who were driven by powerful, artistic visions. In the years after the second World War their works were forgotten, but thanks to feminist groups in the 1980’s, the works were rediscovered and translated into English. A new generation of readers could now enjoy the poetry around the world. In Shtoltse lider (Proud Poems), the duo Ida&Louise gives new life to this treasure of poetry. The duo has interpreted poems by five of the yiddish writers, by composing new music to the lyrics. “We want to build a bridge between a hidden cultural heritage and innovative female artists from the past and the future. Between languages and cultures, poetry and music“, says Ida&Louise. In their compositional work, Ida&Louise has found their inspiration deep within the lyrics, and their ambition is to create a close and moving connection between music and texts. On this album, the duo adds voice harmonies, glockenspiel, whispering and cello to their own, symbiotic sound, as well as an old recording by the poet Rokhl Korn, reciting her own poem. The poems can be read in Yiddish and English in the booklet of the CD.

KAJA • ORIGO

Origo is a celebration of life and death, the journey and eternity. Kaja, the trio that just stepped into its teens, unleashes their distinctly personal approach once again to embrace a broad emotional range with a creative mélange of influences.They still have their roots in Klezmer and other Eastern European folk music, but they’ve branched out and their latest album even features influences from pop, Afro and electronica. In addition to violin, accordion and double bass, the trio also treats us to cutting-edge guest performances on scissors (!), synth bass, percussion, kalimba, grand piano, live electronica and saxophones. A 12-minute long suite nestles with a deadly waltz, a dramatic unplanned road trip, vibrant Afro beats, and a trolley trip in. All with the cinematic chamber music sound of Kaja.

https://www.kakafon.com/in-english-19809454