They ain’t just yodeling Dixie.
Scandinavian vocal quartet Åkervinda will perform traditional Swedish and Danish folk tunes at the Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Bay Ridge on Aug. 10. They sing four-part harmonies a capella, but this is no sunny barbershop quartet — their haunting tunes are populated by mythological figures and are as dark as a February afternoon in northern Norway, one vocalist said.
“Most of the Nordic folk songs are about nature, relationships or superstitions, very often with characters that reoccur in different contexts in various songs,” said Lise Kroner. “We are drawn to the melancholy of it, and the dramatic stories that often are song in minor modes.”
The songs are not sung in English, but many of the themes translate, she said.
“In our repertoire one of the common themes is the relationship between mother and child — and songs that deal with female matters, such as unwanted pregnancies, moving in to a new family in an arranged marriage — but also simpler themes as love, longing and lust,” she said.
The singers, who hail from Sweden and Denmark, met studying jazz in a Swedish conservatory, Kroner said.
The four found a shared love of folk music and chants, adapting them and drawing on their jazz training to create more lush and complex harmonies than typically found in Nordic folk, she said. And the group leaves room for improvisation, Kroner said. The musical free-styling is most associated with jazz, but it is common in Scandinavian countries, where folks literally ad lib tunes until the cows come home, Kroner said.
“Improvisation is also used in the traditional folk music, but as ‘kulning’ — a very high-pitched and very loud sound used mostly by women to call back the cows from the mountains,” she said.
The group gets its name from a Swedish wildflower — in English, the plant goes by the less melodious name “field bindweed” — known for its wide-reaching roots and speedy propagation.
The Monday night show, organized by Brooklyn’s Scandinavian East Coast Musuem, will be the first time Åkervinda has sown the seeds of its music in Bay Ridge, which was once home to the largest Scandinavian population outside of Norway, Sweden and Denmark.
The quartet plans to soak in some sights while visiting the historically rich neighborhood, Kroner said.
“None of us has ever been to Bay Ridge before but we are very much look forward to visit,” Kroner said.
Åkervinda at Bethlehem Lutheran Church [6999 Fourth Ave. at Ovington Avenue in Bay Ridge, (718) 748–5950, www.scand
