For over 35 years, Mary Barthelemy, Olav Nyhus, Bent Jacobsen and Eirik Heggstad have performed local folk music for a variety of audiences here in Røros.
It was legendary fiddler Annar Gjelten (1934-2003 Brekken) who called attention to the rallar* music tradition in the Røros area when, in 1982, he started “Rallarkvartetten” [The Rallar Quartet]. Now a quintet, “Rallarlaget” [The Rallar Gang] includes versatile fiddler Ole Jørgen Tamnes, from Brekken, who has solid roots in the local fiddle tradition, and is Annar’s able successor.
This gang carries forward the folk music tradition, performing songs, ballads and dance tunes associated with the workers’ culture around mining and railroad construction.
Eirik: song and fiddle, Mary: mandolin, fiddle and flute, Bent: harmonium, Olav Nyhus: zither, fiddle and song and Ole Jørgen Tamnes: fiddle.
These musicians will also perform Tuesday evening in Martnan, at Kaffestuggu Café, but then as Kåppårlaget [The Copper Gang], with Ole Anders Feragen, bass, and Arnfinn Sundt, guitar.
The museum concert is in cooperation with Røros Museum and the Folk Music Archives for the Røros area.
Tickets
This concert is included in the entrance fee to Røros Museum’s Smelthytta.
*THE RALLAR
The culture and tradition of the rallar - associated with the development of the railways in the Nordic countries in the decades around 1900 - has its roots in the workers’ culture of old mining communities. The term refers to traveling construction workers, specializing in drilling, blasting, work with picks and wheelbarrows, teamwork and survival in the tough life at railroad construction sites. They also took work at mines. These workers developed their own culture with a large treasury of songs and ballads that reflect a tough but robust social life. Their itinerant lifestyle made stable romantic relationships difficult, and unhappy love is a common theme in ballads, as is reference to harsh working conditions, though often with a humorous undertone.