Nikkei shinbun 2010-17/5 (mon)“The mysterious sound - lingering in Scandinavia”.(art.: Rio Yamase)
Covered in mother-of-pearl workmanship and arabesque ornamentation, this violin is abeautiful peace of handiwork. The instrument descends from the Hardanger area in thewest of Norway. While played the resonance is long and deep with a touch ofmelancholy attached to the sound. One might say that listening to the tones of the violin
brings forth images like the shimmering northern lights profiled against the night sky.
8 years has passed since I started playing this instrument that even influenced theNorwegian composer Edward Grieg. In Japan I am the only professional performer.
Grieg got ideas to his music from the old Hardanger Violin, which had 8 or 9 strings.
When I read his biography 11 years ago, this particular word, “Harding Fiddle” (or themore easy to understand) “Hardanger Violin”, got my attention: “How did it reallysound?” This was something I was determined to find out.
“The long lingering sound and the beautiful costumes”
I became interested in Norway more than 20 years ago. Because I was so fortunate tohave a piano-playing sister that married a Norwegian, I got the opportunity to perform
Scandinavian music with her. At the same time I was deeply absorbed in studying about
Norwegian composers. It was around that time I got knowledge about the Hardanger
Violin. When I got hold of a CD and listened to it I realized that the tuning was different
from the violin and the resonance was considerably longer. This was a very strange
timbre and tone quality. I went around to different music stores in Oslo in an attempt toactually be able to try to play the real thing, but the Hardanger Violin was not displayedin any of them. In fact the storeowners told me “we’re better off not dealing with folkmusic”. There seemed to be a fixed perception among them that the instrument was outof date or something. Eventually, I got hold of the real thing 3 years later. It happened at
an event at the Norwegian embassy in Tokyo. Decorated with a dragonhead it has abeautiful design. And it has more than 2 times the strings of a violin. Even if only one
person is playing it, it sounds like 2 or 3 players playing together.
At that time I got lessons and advice from the famous Hardanger Violin player HallvardKvåle, that was visiting Japan at the time. One might say that this opened some doors
for me.
In the news: “A Japanese is studying”.
When learning to master the Hardanger Violin you do not use a score. I travelled manytimes to Hallvard Kvåle and learned directly from him, by ear. Hardanger is a beautiful
region dens with apple trees and crystal clear rivers and having a Japanese coming thereto study was something really out of the ordinary. When I participated for a month in aseminar I also got in the local paper headlinesー“Rio Yamase from Japan is studying
Norwegian folk music”—that stirred up quite a fuzz in the local community. The nextday, whether I was walking down the street or doing shopping, I could feel the stare of
the locals. In Norway, reserved people are common. They don’t stare in a direct manner
but rather glance carefully while speaking in a tiny voice: “Good luck, hang in there”. Ina modest way very kind people encouraged me.
When I actually started playing the instrument I understood the reason why there wasno score attached to the music. The different turns and ornamentation in the playing
technique were so detailed, and the rhythm varied from triple measure to fifth measure.
Therefore the complicated nuances are very difficult to take down into writing.
Opinion is divided on the matter regarding the origin of the Hardanger Violin. The
oldest existing violin was built in 1651, but there are reasons to believe that it existed
even before 1600. It seems to have been used in wedding ceremonies as anaccompaniment to folk dance.
Concept melodically derived from “Morning Mood”.
In “Morning Mood”, a part of the Peer Gynt suite made by Grieg, who eagerly gatheredfolk songs, the song begins with a melody similar to playing on the sympathetic stringson the Hardanger Violin. “The white nights of summer” As a regular visitor to theregion, Grieg got to hear this melody while drinking together with fellow musicians.
They would continue the party till the break of dawn, and when drowsing in themorning sun Grieg would come to hear the tuning of the fiddle. And as the saying goes,when hearing these intervals “Morning Mood”, a melody being able to express thechilly morning air of Scandinavia, was born.
While continuing with my frequent trips to Norway I also started to introduce the violin
in Japan and released an album containing original material. The famous animation
director, Hayao Miazaki, discovered this CD and in 2006 I was appointed to write andperform the music of the short-animation movie “Mon-Mon the water spider”. The
same year I also performed with the Hardanger Violin on the animation film “Talesfrom Earthsea” by Goro Miyazaki. It is a blessing if I can be able to continue with suchpromotional activities like this.
Desember last year I started the “Hardanger Club”. I also do teaching, but with an
instrument with an average prize of 11 000 dollars I also have a rental service. For thetime being I have 12 students out of which 5 of them have already started performing on
their own. Through the Hardanger Violin I want to promote Norwegian culture in alarge scale.