Arna Rennan 5959 Koski Road Duluth MN 55804 (218) 525-4534 arnarennan@msn.com Work Samples Audio: Bakvendte Visa Truls Med Bogen "E' Ska Na Sulle" To hear the work samples, Windows Media Player is required. If you do not have it installed, you can download it for free here: Download Windows Media Player

Arna Rennan Norwegian music Arna's parents emigrated from Norway in the 1950s, imparting to her their world of music and culture. She later studied art and lived in Norway fifteen years. Most recently, she returned to study at the Institute of Folk Music in Rauland, University of Telemark, Norway, for which she received a Jerome Travel Study Grant. Her repertoire includes a wide range, from ballads from the Middle Ages, stev (four-lined poems sung in free rhythm), work songs, immigrant songs, and much more. Her songs reflect history, folklore, religious beliefs, universal themes, and comical frankness. In addition to singing, she plays the guitar, accordion, seljefloyte (overtone flute) and langeleik. She has also recorded a CD titled "Nordic Shores." Arna is available as a solo performer or with an ensemble. Available: Most anytime, no mileage restrictions Space: 6 by 6 ft., sound system with two microphones for large groups Fee: Negotiable, mileage additional

Additional Information:
Arna's early training in Norwegian folk singing came from her parents, who emigrated from Norway in the early 1950's. Her parents sang around the house, and from her mother, Arna learned lullabyes, children's songs and Christmas carols in the Trønder dialect. Most of the friends of Arna's parents were Norwegian immigrants who also liked to play and sing traditional music. As a result, Arna was also exposed to old-time dance music and immigrant songs at a very young age. Arna began performing at a young age, too. At the age of five, she sang in Norwegian for her local Sons of Norway. Through trips to Norway, Arna became fluent in Norwegian, and she maintained these skills by attending a Norwegian language camp, eventually becoming a counselor and leading group-singing sessions.

Later, Arna returned to Norway for thirteen years. She pursued an education in the visual arts, but never lost her interest in Norwegian traditional culture. Her favorite place was near Jotunheimen, where she made friends and was invited to homes, and attended local dances. Arna's course of study included voice training. Because of her rapidly expanding interest in traditional Norwegian vocal folk music, Arna avidly followed the folk music broadcast over Norwegian radio featuring songs and dance tunes taken from Norwegian archives.

Traditionally, Norwegian vocal folk music is unaccompanied. Melodies and lyrics are expected to have enough interest on their own to engage an audience. Because it is unaccompanied, in Norwegian traditional singing there is great latitude for dramatic renditions of songs. The oldest term for Norwegian unaccompanied singing is kveding, but there are varied kinds of unaccompanied singing, such as lalling, calling out to someone else; cow calls; and extemporaneous four-line poems set to appropriate melodies. Much of Norway is so urbanized that kveding seems like a relic, but in more remote places, it remains as a part of everyday life.

As Arna's interest in Norwegian tradition increased, she sought out acknowledged masters of specific song forms. She received useful feedback from Kirsti Kinsarvik, and Anne Gravir. In her last year in Norway, Arna studied Norwegian vocal folk musc with Frode Nyvold, Ragnhild Furholt and Agnes Buen Garnås.

In Norway, there is a great awareness of the country's cultural roots, and it is possible to pursue graduate-level formal study of Norwegian traditional music. Arna has attended the Institute of Folk Music in Rauland, a division of the University of Telemark. There, she broadened her approach to Norwegian folk tradition by learning folk music from different districts of Norway. She also plays the seljefløyte (willow flute), and traditional dancing.

Performing Norwegian traditional music is different in the United States than in Norway. In the United States, unaccompanied singing is not as common as in Norway, and Norwegian singing is both a little startling and refreshing, because it is sung in free rhythm. However, Arna adapts her repertoire, sometimes translating some of the verses of her songs into English to help audiences appreciate the centuries-old tradition she represents.