
SNOWFLAKE TRIO
Sun Dogs
Philippe Cousin
Nuala Kennedy, an Irish woman from Dundalk in the northeast of the republic, but who lives in Edinburgh, is used to lots of experiences.
As the different bands and albums that mark her career. (Oirialla, The Alt, Fine Friday...).Ten years ago she met two Norwegian musicians in her hometown. Immediately it was a musical crush that led them to perform as a trio on many stages. Strangely enough, it was not until 2019 that they produced their first album called Sun Dogs. Alongside Hardanger fiddle player Vegar Vårdal and accordionist Frode Haltli, Nuala revisits Irish, Scottish and Norwegian traditions.
Just as each snowflake is different, the repertoire of this friendly trio explores diverse and varied fields and songs. Thus are associated a Norwegian lullaby composed by Edvard Grieg and a piece written by a poet from the island of South Uist in Outer Hebrides. Or a poem by the Irish writer F. Ledwidge with a song about Norwegian emigration.
A reference to Ireland, the standard The Butterfly popularized many years ago by Planxty is next door with a Scandinavian polka. And then two songs by Nuala, The Green Lady and A Face for Scuba, while the album ends with a sean-nós song Ur Cnoc Chéin Mhic Cáinte, itself preceded by a lament of Norwegian folklore. The music of Snowflake Trio is deeply rooted in Norwegian and Irish traditions but it is also very open. Many improvisations are performed alongside jigs, reels, halling and Scandinavian waltzes. This first album of the trio develops a delicate and complex playing. The assembly of pieces at first glance at the other side of the world, reveals in fact a striking cohesion.
Ta:lik Records TA177 – www.snowflaketrio.com