May I introduce you to these fine ladies - if you haven't met them already that is? From the beautiful land of Norway - they are 'Katzenjammer' - Anne Marit, Solveig, Turid and Marianne. They can perform! Between them they play around thirty different instruments, ranging from drums, trumpet, keyboards, balalaika, guitars and everything - and I do mean everything in between! Not only that - they swap instruments tune by tune and belt out jazz, folk rock and the odd ballad too!
Last weekend, they played their only concert scheduled for the UK this year - awww - fantastique - see for yourself ........... (the video is NOT last weekend at Cambridge sadly, but live in Norway).
So very wild are Katzenjammer (literally cats' howl) that I couldn't bring to mind any faery-art that reminded me of them - it seems their look and feel is unique! That said though, brilliant Scandinavian faery-tale illustrator John Bauer painted the moment when young Solveig was captured by trolls - below ....... (I reckon she'll just play that trumpet of hers and they'll soon let her out!) .............
Illustration for 'The Changelings' from 'Swedish Folk Tales' by John Bauer 1913
Made me think about the stunningly quiet scenery and gentle folk-music of their native Norway and wondered if perhaps they are changelings themselves! Loved it there .....
Thinking about the essential wildness and high-octane energy of their music brought the work of consumate contemporary fairy artist Brian Froud to mind. May I leave you with a portrait of the Katzenjammer Backing Group - they remain behind scenes, are BIG admirers of the girls although small in themselves - and just add to the general cacophony!
Characters from 'Faeries' illustrated by Brian Froud
Books can be bought from the offical 'World of Froud' section at Amazon
No comments:
Post a Comment