Village Party. Live review from Festspillene i Nord-Norge from iHarstad: Kvelden er komplett og kostholdsplanen røk
iHarstad's reviewer (and now party animal) Tommy Vandalsvik let loose at the "Village Party" during the Festspillene i Nord-Norge.
Tommy Vandalsvik: This is one of the nicest things I've done in a long time.
/--/ We get to play spoons and dance with a stick, and there is both hide and seek and blindfold. There are humorous elements, musical elements and dance elements. And you never quite know when it will go from one to the other.
A lot of it seems spontaneous, but it is probably well planned. They get the audience involved in a lot of things, without saying anything. Communication happens through movement and togetherness. This is my group right now.
As the show nears its end, it is hard to realize that 90 minutes have passed. We just want more. And finally waffles are served. I go out and devour a waffle, and eventually another. The evening is complete, and the diet plan is gone. But I get to dance my way through.
This was fun, when is the next party?
Live review from iHarstad: Anne and the audience were thrilled.
There was a full house, warm words and brilliant feedback when the Målselv-based fiddle player Johanna-Adele Jüssi and her trio recently visited Fårebygget in Kvæfjord.
Lasse Mellingsæther: "I couldn't think of a better way to spend an hour or so on a Sunday than this lovely gift package of a concert. The mood report from Gaupdal is unmistakable - it's GOOD! (and it's nice at Borkenes too...) Devilishly nice music written and performed by eminent people. It's dynamic, it's brilliant and incredibly atmospheric all the way through, and the genre mix with folk music as a starting point from several Nordic/Baltic (?) countries, mixed with a wonderful electro-acoustic vibe is delicious - all in a very well-played symbiosis between the three. And as if that wasn't perfect enough, there's improv and a clear jazz aspect every now and then, so we even got some strong improvised solos included. Kudos also to Fårebygget for accepting such treasures! People in Harstad city must also hear this."
Anne Semb, manager of Fårebygget Gallery, was also enthusiastic: "Yesterday's concert with Johanna-Adele Jüssi, Christo Stangness and Bendik Lund Haanshus was an adventure. The marriage of skilled musicians!"
She described the concert as both beautiful, raw and inspiring.
Live review from Brønnøysunds Avis: "Traditions-trio from the Lynx Valley with their own newspaper"
Torstein Finnbakk: "The good atmosphere prevailed from the first bow stroke when the Johanna Adele Jüssi Trio started their concert in the Assembly Hall on Friday evening. /--/
They also have their own municipal slogan in Gaupdalen: "It's free to dream!" It was Johanna Adele Jüssi who led the show, with her fiddle, together with her excellent friends Bendik Lund Haanshus on guitar and Christo Stangness on double bass. We who almost filled the Assembly Hall on Friday evening were not only treated to a concert, but to a coherent musical work where time, place, tradition and the present were intertwined in an expression that was both deeply personal and wonderfully accessible to the masses. /--/
We were treated to a melancholic memorial song like "Nær solen", but also the completely loose like in the closing song "Polska fra Helvete" (Polska from Hell). The trio has alternated between school concerts and evening performances. On Friday evening we were able to attend concert number 104 in an Assembly Hall where the organizers unfortunately had to turn off the heat pump, as it disrupted the electronics. But it hardly mattered, because intelligent and not least unbridled rhythmic music warmed sufficiently, together with the fact that the Christmas star was still shining in the window - and we wrote the thirtieth day of Christmas, both in Brønnøysund in Gaupdalen."
Brønnøysunds Avis: From a dream to a concert milestone in Southern-Helgeland
Matti Riesto: "Lynx Valley is not on the map, musician Johanna-Adele Jüssi "invented" it in a dream. In Sør-Helgeland, her trio is completing a hundred concerts of jazz-folk music from the place."
Vol.no: Live review from Sortland Jazzfestival
"Greetings from the Lynx Valley"
Ingmar Wahlberg: /--/ It was an hour with room for absurdity, melancholy and virtuosity.
/--/ The tunes are folk music-inspired, but know no borders. Here there are tones from the Swedish forests, long bows that transport us beyond the sea and the (mountain-) plateaus, and tools from the sudden dynamic throws of post-rock and the open improvisation of jazz. /--/
The stories and the jokes between the songs never cross over into the parodic, but contribute to establishing a nice and heartfelt connection between the musicians and the audience. Songs like "Vegetable Mazurka" (a homage to the result of the carrot seeds) whizz away in a virtuoso interplay, while songs like "Fred" show a far more thoughtful side to the trio's expression.
I would love to take more trips to Gaupdal.
All About Jazz:
Live review of Northern Expo 2024
Ian Patterson: /--/ "Storytelling is a stage craft that can draw in an audience before a note is played, and Jüssi fully demonstrated her charms in this regard. It was interesting to hear and observe afterwards just how impressed—how seduced—delegates had been by the stories that framed the music. Still, the most arresting stories were in the music itself, which spanned folksy reel, graceful waltz and, on "Salmetone," ethereally cinematic soundscapes. On this latter tune, Jüssi's spare lyricism glided over fuzz- toned bowed bass and guitar atmospherics.
Handsome heads and pretty melodic contours were the norm, though looser, improvised passages arose here and there, as on "Plan B." Curiously, a Scottish- tinged ode to a departed friend that brought tears to more than one set of eyes in the audience was more graceful ballad than lament. A darker, more melancholy lyricism pervaded "Russia on the Other Side," which invited a compelling solo from Stangness of brooding character, and fiery intensity from both fiddle and guitar.
The musicians received a standing ovation, and once the applause had faded, the trio offered the gentle "Alt blir bra," where gentle strum and tip-toeing pizzicato made for the softest of landings. /--/
DN Helg: The New North
Live review of Northern Expo 2024
Audun Vinger: /--/ There was still no doubt as to who made the biggest impression. Johanna-Adele Jüssi is a folk musician from Estonia who has lived a nomadic existence in many pig-infested areas for the past nine years in Northern Norway. At the festival, she played with guitarist Bendik Lund Haanshus and double bassist Christo Stangness, and one of the trio's performances was in an old community hall on the fairly deserted island of Fleinvær - an hour's boat ride from Bodø. /--/
This concert was not only the most beautiful thing I have heard in a long time, it was a truly spiritual and profound experience. I turned around for a moment, and saw a large proportion of blasé industry spectators with wet eyes, totally gripped. And this early in the day - you don't see that often.
Johanna-Adele Jüssi plays a distinctive mix of Estonian and Nordic folk music, with elements of vice pop and more experimental approaches. You don't need a lot of prior cultural knowledge, this is immediate music that hits right at the roots. /--/
When Jüssi puts down the fiddle to sing in the captivating "När solen" it is as if time stands still - remarkably beautiful. With just the right amount of explanatory interlude, she managed to manifest feelings of longing, people she has met and natural phenomena. The music is mostly speechless, but you can clearly imagine it in your ears. In this respect, it is not terribly far from how one joiks out tributes to people and nature. This is how musicians from Swedish Sápmi and Estonia also feel as good representatives of Northern Norway, or as the arctic revolver journalist Arne O. Holm said in a lecture: "I don't believe in borders".
Album review: Songlines
Fiona Talkington: "/--/ Here she found musical soulmates in Bendik Lund Haanshus (guitars) and bass player Christo Stangness who delight as much in Nordic dance tunes as in ancient hymns finding layers and textures that transport the listener somewhere quite new.
/--/ Jüssi's fiddle and viola playing are warm and brilliantly engaging in all the styles explored here. /--/"
Musikklivet on NRK:
Beyoncé and the black country music
Paul Arvid Jørgensen: /--/ "And the album "Slåtter fra Gaupdalen IV" has been rated a roll of the dice 4 by our folk music reviewer who admits in retrospect that it is perhaps an album for a clear fifth for this grunge rock from the Johanna-Adele Jüssi trio, it grows on you." /--/
Musikklivet 9th of April 2024
Album review on NRK: Grumbling Grunge-folk
/--/ The first three albums are hugely impressive, condensed expressions of power. The Estonian fiddle player Johanna-Adele Jüssi, who lives in Målselv, is good at combining traditional elements from Estonian, Northern-Trøndelag, Shetland and other northern European folk music.
/--/ Jüssi has a marked and personal energy in her playing. On this album, it comes out through a resilient bowing, something you can hear on the many songs with wild arpeggio sequences. It adds a lot of movement and intensity and gives the music a good drive.
There is also something about the way she uses the arpeggio technique that reminds of the propelling music of Philip Glass.
It makes me think that several tracks on this album would be suitable as film scores. It kind of has a narrative quality.
The album experiments with different sounds and has a constantly changing temperament, but the consistent, fairly deep sound ties the album together well.
I also think that several of the songs evoke associations with grunge, partly because of the distorted guitar playing of Bendik Lund Haanshus and the deep humming from the double bass strings of Christo Stangness. Together, they give the music a rawer, distorted and grainy sound.
On songs with more rebellious undertones, for example from the guitar amplifier, the similarity to Nirvana or Pearl Jam is actually not too far away - and when the grainy playing is made convincing, it works very well.
I would like to hear more of grunge folk. /--/
Album review: World Music Central
/--/ Together with her Trio, she presents a charming, elegant, and timelessly crafted mix of old and new tunes, drawing from the mythical Lynx Valley, a utopian realm conceived in her dreams. The trio skillfully intertwines captivating traditional music influences with improvisation, dreamy ambient music, and chamber music sensibility. /--/
Interview: Waterwaves Radio
"Johanna is a beautiful musician. A violinist and singer songwriter. The spirit of Estonia and Scandinavia, the resident of a beautiful place that she created, the Lynx Valley. A lovely show with special guests music from Altan from the new album Donegal and Stephen Kearney, Semi finalist in the International songwriting competition, with the song For the Love of Lili. /--/"
Album review: Folkemusikk
/--/ The Lynx Valley has since last album acquired both a fiddler's club, a local newspaper and its own carrot variety, so there is reason to believe that the mythical valley will continue to flourish for many years to come.
Album review: Kultivatorpodden
/--/ Even the ugly becomes beautiful here! /--/
Kultivatorpodden, 11th of March 2024
Album review in Lira Musikmagasin:
/--/ The tunes and arrangements are constantly lingering between the exciting extremes of quiet grandeur and intense rawness, but always with a sophisticated assurance and technical skill of the participating musicians. /--/
Folkebladet: Despite bad weather — Kråkeslottfestival delivered
/--/ And Johanna-Adele Jüssi, the multinational fiddler who has settled in Målselv and plays her own beautiful tunes together with the solid guitarist Bendik Lund Haanshus and the creative bassist Christo Stangness. She has created her own musical universe with Gaupdalen (the Lynx Valley). Not least, her stories between the songs are almost worth the ticket price alone. /--/
Rana No: Magical Walk in the Lynx Valley
/--/ One of the things that is so much fun about festivals like the Smeltedigelen are the musical surprises you sometimes get when you experience new and unknown artists you have no relationship with, but who completely blow you away. This year it was an Estonian violinist named Johanna-Adele Jüssi who gave the undersigned that experience. /--/
From the stage, she tells about Gaupdalen, a beautiful place she found in a dream. In Gaupdalen she came home, where her musical wanderings found a resting place, and the result was some of the most incomparable new folk music the undersigned has heard. /--/
"I wake up and don't remember why it was so special, but the warm feeling was there." We have no doubt about that, because she spreads the warm feeling to the audience with her music. /--/
With her on stage, she had two outstanding musicians Bendik Lund Haanshus on guitars and electronics and Christo Stangness on double bass, and together the three appear as a particularly well-coordinated, playful and dynamic trio. /--/
Folkebladet: That's how Kråkeslottfestivalen was opened / Danced Senjapols in the Middle of the Crowd
Lira Musikkmagasin: Greetings from the Valley
Johanna-Adele Jüssi has found her musical home in a fictional place.
Lira Musikmagasin, Sunniva Brynell. Spring 2022
Lira musikmagasin: Album review
/--/ There is breadth and closeness in the soundscape and the making of the music, which creates a depth in the music. Melancholic and romantic melodies and arrangements that put emotions in waves, and playing skills that make the foot start to stomp. The traditional and modern mix makes Slåtter fra Gaupdalen a wonderful record. /--/
WDR: New Nordic Spring
/--/ The Lynx Valley does not really exist, it is a fantasy place that the violinist Johanna-Adele Jüssi visited in a dream. But the Estonian musician makes it real in her music. /--/
Lira musikmagasin: Lira Lyssna våren 2022
This Estonian violinist has been based in Norway for some time, but the "Lodjursdal" she plays songs from on this quite fantastic album actually doesn't exist - it came to her in a dream and became a way to stage a new, completely unique musical tradition. /--/
Justin Petrone Blog: Impressions from the Harvest Party
Folk music is repetitive music, and from this repetition, one can extract or achieve serenity, provocation, insight, inspiration, or true ponderous burdensome boredom. I appreciated Jüssi’s music because she knew when to begin and end her songs. Each one was a well-crafted knot, perfectly tied up.
Harstad-tidene: Johanna-Adele Jüssi with her Trio at Sama Aktivitetssenter – Beautiful and Varied Music
Folkemusikkpodden & Folkemusikk.no:
The Valley Within You
/--/ Gaupdalen (The Lynx Valley)! Where should I start? I was born and raised in Estonia, and have lived in many different places: Germany, Shetland, Sweden, Denmark, Finland - and southern, central and northern Norway. I play music from many different traditions, and I like to compose myself. So I've had a little trouble finding myself as a folk musician. Especially because, I think, when living in Norway, it is most legitimate to play music from where you come from. But what about me, then? /--/
Intreview with Anders Lillebo, transcribed by Audun Stokke Hole published Autumn 2021
Nye Troms: Jüssi releases a dream-based album "Tunes from the Lynx Valley" on Thursday
«Gaupdalen (the Lynx Valley)» is not a place you can visit in reality. But the music from there has been immortalized by Målselv-inhabitant Johanna-Adele Jüssi on her new album. /--/
Lira Musikkmagasin: Album review
Feather-light and Sensitive Equilibrist
/--/ Her sensitive and equilibristic violin playing makes that I can already now, without hesitation, name her violinist of the year. /--/
Album review in FolkWorld #50: Johanna-Adele Jüssi, Kiilid
"Jüssi is a great violinist and together with her fellow musicians she has created a beautiful acoustic folk album in the best Nordic/Baltic tradition. Sounding fresh and sparkling, this is a musician to follow closely in the coming years."
Album review in The Strad: Duo Jansen/Jüssi, Mängleik
"With performances that feel spontaneous and yet are noticeably well-crafted, Jansen and Jüssi breeze through frequent shifts in pace and texture. From off-kilter unison tunes to high ornamental melodies over an open-string drone accompaniment, their playing is always varied and inventive."
Editors highlights of Womex 2010: Blink's (unofficial) performance at Forum
"In particular a very sotto voce performance on the 'grassy hillock' at the centre of the Forum (in reality a mound of pallets covered over with rolls of real grass!) by the young Nordic folk quartet Blink was especially enjoyable."
Sakala: The Warm Flight of Dragonflies in the Middle of the October Snow
I remembered the simplicity. Not everything has to be hugely complicated to be deep. The presence of the performers in the moment and the way the ensemble stayed together made the evening enjoyable. The music was performed acoustically — sincerely and intimately. /--/
I will end with a sentence by Johanna-Adele Jüssi:
"The title track of the record, "Dragonflies", is a story about dragonflies with dark blue wings, the most beautiful of them, who fly above the iridescent water in the sun and remind you that you should be very careful with your dreams: the biggest of them tend to come true!"
Album review in FolkWorld #47: Blink
"It’s a remarkable debut album by four young musicians, top quality music and a kind of journey through the typical styles and sounds of Northern Europe in open minded, fresh and modern acoustic musical arrangement."
Album review in FoolkMagazine: Duo Jansen/Jüssi, Mängleik
"The duo's music flows airy and free, between beautiful and creative ornamentations and a strong melodic sense, drawing an intimate, arcane, luminous and austere charm at the same time, as is the case with traditional Nordic music, made up of rapid and irregular instrumental passages. It feels like we have Jo and Johanna-Adele in front of us in the flesh playing, such is their communicative grasp." (Photo: Lieve Boussauw)
Album review in New Folk Sounds: Duo Jansen/Jüssi, Mängleik