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[miko2]

Today's Song: Bendik og Årolilja by Gåte

Back when I first got into Swedish and Finish folk-rock bands like Garmarna, Hedningarna, Hoven Droven and Värttinä, I wondered why all of these bands came from Sweden and Finland, and none of them came from Norway. One theory I had read was that Norway's coastline, with its thousands of fjords, made for isolated communities that bread individual musicians (fiddle players for example) more than it bread full groups.

(Another theory is that when two or three musicians in Norway band together to form a group, it instantly morphs into a black or death metal band. Well, okay, that's not a real theory, but it might explain some things.)

Then on Thursday while doing my song of the day for Norwegian folk metal band Lumsk, I noticed a comment from someone that they were a "bad copy of Norwegian band Gåte". Not "if you like Lumsk you should check out Gåte", although that's exactly how I took it. I don't know why people are like this -- it's as if they want their favorite band to be the only band in the world that plays music anything like that, and anything similar is stealing from their favorite band or is awful because it's not done exactly like their favorite band does it. Hey, if I like a band's sound I'm happy when someone else does something similar! I wish there were a thousand bands like King's X, or Värttinä, or Yat-Kha!

But anyway, no, Lumsk is not like Gåte, except in that they both mix rock with Norwegian folk melodies. Gåte does not hold the worldwide patent on either Norwegian folk or the idea of mixing folk with rock. Gåte was probably inspired by the likes of Garmarna, who were inspinred by the likes of Steeleye Span, who were inspired by earlier folk artists and rock musicians... you get the idea.

But! What we have here with Gåte is not really a folk metal band like Lumsk, but a folk-rock band -- the Norwegian counterpart to Garmarna and Hedningarna that I'd been looking for years ago. Like those bands they sometimes play very hard, but aren't really a metal band. And Lumsk, of course, like metal bands sometimes do, has become softer and more polished with each relese, so yes, the two bands sometimes sound similar. But that's not a bad thing, they're both very good bands! ^_^

They're both on iTunes too!

Gåte -- Bendik og Årolilja
Gåte - Sjå Attende

GÅTE at myspace