16. April 2023 ///
[Translate to English:] Nordischer Klang
[Translate to English:] (c) Wally Pruß
Once again, the 32nd Nordischer Klang Festival brings music, art and literature to the Hanseatic city.
It is the fifth and most beautiful season for all enthusiasts of Northern Europe. This year Greifswald will again be transformed into a center of Northern European culture from May 5th to 14th. "As part of the cultural program within the Baltic Sea Council Presidency of the Federal Republic of Germany, der Nordische Klang 2023 carries a very special cultural-political significance," emphasizes Prof. Dr. Marko Pantermöller of the organizing association.
The festival will be opened musically by Aurelia Dey from the patron country Sweden. The multi-talented singer and actress and her 18-member band Avenue combine Afrobeats, reggae, traditional Nordic and Ghanaian music as well as dancehall to create Ghanaian-Nordic fusion and provide the festival with a danceable prelude. A first taste of the Nordic sound is already available a few days earlier, when Norwegian singer/songwriter Sarah Camille stops in Greifswald with her trio. Further, saxophonist Peter Wilgotsson (S) meets for a duet with Greifswald organist Benjamin Saupe. The audience can expect a program ranging from classical music to jazz and folklore. An equally colorful repertoire will be heard in the two chamber and orchestra concerts, which will be given jointly by the music schools from Greifswald and from the Finnish twin city Kotka. Musical diversity continues with Jeffrey's Reverie (N), a spirited quintet of international acoustic multi-instrumentalists led by American folk ambassador Jeff Wasserman. Gísli Magna & Band (IS) bring 1950s swing, chanson and jazz to Greifswald in Icelandic. Monique Mai (DK), accompanied by her guitar breathes new life into the folk and singer-songwriter tradition. The Norwegian duo Paper Crown combines carefully crafted guitar melodies with soulful vocals to create contemporary Nordic pop, representing Greifswald's Norwegian twin city Hamar this year.
The Swedish Jazz Night features the Landæus Trio, the musical ambassadors from Greifswald's Swedish twin city Lund. In addition, the 22-year-old Swedish jazz newcomer Stella Gustin convinces with charisma, swing and storytelling. In the folk night, Ævestaden (S/N) interpret newly composed and traditional music on old and modern instruments to create an open and atmospheric work of sound art. Contemporary folk whose roots are deeply rooted in the soil of the Karelian border region will be played by the two brothers behind Loimolan Voima (FIN). For the final festival it becomes equally playful and electrifying. Sofia Rubina (EST) promises to move both body and soul. The festival will then close with Norwegian folk rock: Gangar, inspired by AC/DC and Meshuggah, among others, rearrange the oldest Norwegian folk repertoire and deliver a stage show that will make it hard for the audience to keep their feet off the dance floor.
On the occasion of the anniversaries of the Sámi parliaments in Finland and Sweden, this year`s Nordischer Klang puts a special focus on the cultures of the Sámi indigenous community. These anniversaries will be celebrated with a double concert evening, a film screening, and a panel discussion with researchers and experts under the title Sámi cultures, sámi challenges.
"I am very pleased that art, music and science go hand in hand at this festival! On the one hand, this shapes the festival, on the other hand, it shapes the whole of Greifswald," explains the chairman of the association, Prof. Dr. Clemens Räthel. At the literary symposium, for example, researchers come together to talk about reading practices in the North from the 18th century to the present. Following this, Nordic Voices will focus on the fragility of Nordic nature. Texts by well-known Northern European women authors will be read to the accompaniment of music. During the festival, the cartography of Northern Europe and the pop cultural phenomenon of poetry slams in the Nordic countries will also be scientifically examined.
This year's exhibitions are devoted to illustrations of the Austro-Hungarian North Pole Expedition in 1872-74 and, under the title "Images that change the world", to works by the Swedish gender identity activist and photographer Tomas Gunnarsson. With the Kunstpause (Art Break), the Pomeranian Museum offers a special tour of Sweden's special role as a major military power in the early modern period. Together with the Czech Lectorate at the University of Greifswald, a Czech-Nordic literary evening searches for traces of connections between the Czech Republic and the North. With the black comedy Sick of myself from Norway and the Finnish youth film Girls Girls Girls, current Nordic cinema is also on the program. New this year: the festival has bundled its events for the youngest visitors under the name Nordic Children's Sound. Among other things, the children can look forward to an exhibition and readings about the children's book hero Willi Wiberg (Swedish: Alfons Åberg) or dive into the world of the whirlwind Hilja with the Finnish author Heidi Viherjuuri.
All further information about the festival and the individual events can be found in the program booklet and online at nordischerklang.de as well as on the social media channels Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, the YouTube channel or via newsletter. On the festival's own Spotify channel you can still find a taste of the upcoming concerts.