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My story
I grew up in a family with a big heart for music, in Fræna, Hustadvika municipality. Both my parents played instruments (Liv Haldis Rypdal Kvernberg on fiddle, cello and nyckelharpa, and Torbjørn Inge Kvernberg on piano, organ and flute), and they guided my siblings and me into music, practising and performing across a variety of genres. Today, two of my three siblings have music as their job, like me. My youngest brother, Ola Kvernberg, is a well-known jazz violinist and composer, and my older sister, Kari Johanne Kvernberg Dajani, is a high-level classical pianist and a pedagogue at the renowned Edvard Munch videregående skole. My oldest brother, Trond Kvernberg, is our biggest fan.
Throughout our childhood, we were privileged to have highly skilled and committed teachers at the public cultural school, and we were trained in both piano and violin from an early age. At home, our mother also trained us in traditional music, especially by delving into the tunes of our grandfather, her father Peter L. Rypdal (1909-1988) from Tresfjord. She also formed a ‘spelemannslag’, a folk music group for us as kids, called ‘Stølslaget’. We travelled around with our fiddles and our tunes, performing in the local society.
When I was ready for high school, I chose Molde Videregående and a specialisation in music. Here I also had to choose a main instrument, and I chose the violin. After high school, I had a wonderful year at Voss Folkehøgskule (gap year school), where I received dedicated training in Norwegian folk music and the hardanger fiddle for the first time, with master Leif Rygg as my teacher. My heart was now sold to traditional music, and I went on to study folk music at the Norwegian State Academy of Music / Norges musikkhøgskole.
From 1999 to 2003, I studied folk music, with fiddle and hardanger fiddle as my main instruments. Among many teachers, I had Professor Sven Nyhus, Einar Olav Larsen, and Håkon Høgemo. I must say I also learnt a great deal of importance from my fellow musicians in the groups Tindra and Majorstuen: Irene Tillung, Åshild Vetrhus, Synnøve S. Bjørset, Andreas Ljones, Gjermund Larsen, Tove P. Hagen, Ragnhild Furebotten, and later Anders Löfberg and Bjørn Kåre Odde.
The formation of the groups Tindra and Majorstuen was, overall, very important in shaping me as a musician, with all the different skills this requires. Here I also had a playground to test and learn to compose and arrange, and I am very grateful for what I had with them all. Also, the years performing together with singer Unni Boksasp led me into new fields and ideas, including microtonality and other perspectives on traditional music and how to arrange it in the present times.
I use the folk music traditions in many different ways. Performing it as a soloist in its original form is a very natural part of my life as a musician and performer, on both violin and hardangerfiddle, and as a folk singer. I also use it in different ensembles, where it is sometimes arranged in very traditional styles, and at other times I stretch the frame and mix it with other impressions and genres of our time.
Since I started delving more into the world of composing music, I have begun to feel freer from the so-called constraints of musical genre. I embrace music as a whole more and more, and choose to use the ingredients of traditional music, more or less, from tune to tune and from project to project. I also experiment a lot with what I am already familiar with across different genres, and try to learn and seek other ways of creating, playing, enjoying and experiencing music. I often find it meaningful to include a theme or an engagement from another field, such as love and concern for nature, political engagement, interest in mythology, art, etc.
Nowadays, I work on many projects at the intersection of traditional, classical and contemporary music, f.ex together with accordionist Kristina Farstad Bjørdal and the brass quintet NyNorsk Messingkvintett.