Lysøen - Hommage à Ole Bull

Nils Økland and Sigbjørn Apeland, in a Performers’ Note: “We don’t claim to improvise as Bull did, but we use many of the same themes that he used, and – as with him – our improvisations are often based upon Norwegian folk music. We also want to perform his melodies in our own way (…) Like Bull, we are influenced by our contemporary music. We also consider ourselves as parts of a long chain of composers and performers who have integrated elements of folk music in their improvisation and compositions, from Edvard Grieg via Eivind Groven, Bjarne Herrefoss, Jørgen Tjønnstaul, Geirr Tveitt, Jan Johansson, Don Cherry, Jan Garbarek, Arild Andersen, Frode Haltli and Karl Seglem.”

“Lysøen: Hommage à Ole Bull” marks an ECM debut for Sigbjørn Apeland. Sigbjørn holds a position as organist in Sandviken church, Bergen, and collaborates with musicians within a wide range of genres, especially church music, Norwegian folk music, electronics and improvised music. He has also composed/perfor...