Sigrid Moldestad knows that music can change the world. The composer, communicator and folk musician has always written music with a message. It is no exception when she releases the single "Song Til Deg" today. - It is a song of thanks to those who stand by you, whether it is a party and fun or boring and ordinary everyday life.
/ 08/11/2019 / Kristian DugstadName: Sigrid Moldestad
Current with: Song For You
TONO member since: 2003
Who is really Sigrid Moldestad?
Haha… yes, you can wonder about yourself sometimes too. I am a woman, a young girl, an old lady and a small child all at once. I really feel that all these sides are with me in one way or another. I think one should get wiser with age, and one does, but at the same time I keep falling back into a state of something unchanged in me. I use these feelings subconsciously in music and lyrics, I think.
A slightly more practical answer; I am 47 years old. Female. Mother of teenagers. Living in Bergen. Nordfjording, Tradition Bearer, singer, songwriter, lyricist and full-time musician.
Tell us about your musical background?
I grew up on a farm in a beautiful small village called Breim. This is where my musical journey began. I was drawn to music at an early age. Both through my family with a grandfather who played the fiddle, and my mother who was, and is, active in singing and revue. I bought a proper microphone with my first savings. I have always composed, written and enjoyed communicating. I gradually entered the fiddler culture and found it to be wonderfully safe and playful. Here you were taken seriously as a person and were allowed to stand in music on an equal footing regardless of age. I liked that! But it actually took a long time before I realized that I was going to become a musician. It was kind of not on the agenda to live as a folk musician when I was going to study. But gradually music took me, more than the other way around, and after a few years in music school. NRK P2 and NRK Sogn og Fjordane I gradually quit my permanent job, moved to Bergen and started as a freelancer in 2000. I didn't know there was any other way out. Especially after studying in the very first class at what was then called “Spelemannsskulen”, now the folk music study at the Ole Bull Academy in Voss.
Education from the Ole Bull Academy, long experience from a number of folk music projects and several Spellemann awards in Folk Music under your belt. Do you have a solid foundation in folk music?
Yes! That's where I'm rooted. Knowing that gives me a sense of security in everything else I do that I feel I can't do. It's good to have that root deep down, because as a musician and songwriter, etc., you sometimes go around wondering if what you're doing is actually justified. If I have a "right to be here" among all the other talented people. That doubt often comes to me and then it's extra good to know that that root is so strong.
You also draw elements from other genres, and seamlessly weave your music together. How genre-conscious are you as a composer?
I am incredibly unconcerned with genre, and make the music that comes to me. It has unconscious elements in it from many directions and some people think they hear one thing or the other. For me, it is a way of telling stories and moods. I sometimes want people to listen to my music without thinking that I am “really” a folk musician. Although, I understand that the traces of the traditions I carry with me resonate extra in what I create. I am just proud of that.
Folk music is largely about preserving and continuing tradition. Composition is about creating. How do you find the balance?
Yes, there is a knife edge that you “bear” with when you have been given a tradition to manage. I am very aware of that responsibility and want to be faithful to what I have been allowed to learn from my masters. In that image, I can be both strict and partly conservative. But that being said, it is precisely that strictness that makes you want to break out and express yourself. In composition and songwriting, I don’t think about any responsibility or that I have to defend or explain anything. Then I want to pass on my own expression and my music. I actually feel more and more secure in that role division there.
You're releasing a new single today, "Song Til Deg." What is it about?
It is a song of thanks to those who stand by you, whether it is partying and having fun or boring and ordinary everyday life. Perhaps the latter most of all. The song is meant to be an honest and simple thank you for everyone around you holding on and existing. -and a little thank you for being here in this strange but so wonderful life. Never ceases to amaze me that I became me, etc. So I thank you that life found me too.
You are concerned with what you say to the world in your music. Whether it is about women's struggles and oppression or love and warmth. What role does music play as such a space for expression?
It's amazing that music can speak to us with so many different messages. I really believe in the universal language and power of music. I know that music can change the world and I believe in it. I think that this space for expression can be used for everything it's worth.
What does it take for you to write a song about something that interests you?
I don't know for sure, but the times I've done it, it's because it's come from some source within me. Something has triggered a strong feeling and I have to express it somewhere. Often I write texts that just remain texts. I've always liked writing.
– I really believe in the universal language and power of music, Sigrid Moldestad
What socially conscious songs should be written today?
Well. The climate issue is one thing, but I think we are moving away from what it is to live naturally together and how the interaction between us and nature actually works. There might be something to be gained there, I think. Otherwise, one could write a story about truth. What is true and not in our days is increasingly a bit unclear. It scares me.
And what was the spark that made you start writing music in the first place?
I've been writing weird little songs ever since I was little. Loved dressing up and acting like a child. As an adult, something happened with the performance TAUS in 2007 when I dared to present the self-written song "Samuline" to my colleague Sigbjørn Apeland. I thought it was incredibly embarrassing, and if he had reacted differently that time, I might have crawled back into my hole and stayed there. But he gave me self-confidence and the spark to dare. He thinks what I had written was great. It meant an incredible amount and definitely gave a spark. After that, I dared more and more and Sigbjørn is still someone I present songs to at an embarrassingly early stage.
What does it mean to be a songwriter, composer, lyricist – a creator?
I feel a little shy about each of those words, actually. But that's who I am and for me it means an incredible amount to create and communicate. I really enjoy it and it feels like something I have to do. It also means really hard work. Lots of headaches, emotional swings and mental strength.
Do you have any equipment or tools that are indispensable in the writing process?
A notebook, pen, computer and, most importantly, an audio recorder. Preferably a phone. This is where the very first seeds of new songs, lyrics and ideas often come from. Sing in little snippets like that all the time.
"Song Til Deg" is the first song from an album coming in 2020. How far along are you in working on this? Can you reveal what direction it's taking?
We have recorded raw material for 4-5 songs in Duper Studio at Yngve Leidulv Sætre. Still writing material for the album and there is a lot left, but we are on track and I am very happy about it. Will have another session in the studio in a week's time and then there will be a longer session later this winter. The direction.. yes.. it is a bit difficult to say for sure yet, but I definitely love working in a band format and I really appreciate my band, so we are definitely exploring that direction.
In December you're embarking on a Christmas tour. What can audiences who seek warmth from the winter cold and darkness expect?
I have been doing the Christmas tour “Vintersong” for several years now. Every year with a slightly different line-up. This year I am bringing Roald Kaldestad (guitars) Kåre Opheim (drums/percussion) and Sigbjørn Apeland (keyboards/tree organ) in other words musicians I know well from the band. We will give the audience unique versions of Christmas songs and other winter songs that suit the season. I love doing these concerts before Christmas. It is a very special atmosphere for both us and the people who come, I think. My goal is to do unique concerts. No two are quite alike. And I am excited that we will stretch ourselves musically and find our unique versions of the songs. Then, as a traditional musician, I am of course excited that the best songs are often the oldest. The ones that have lived with us for a long time. They also have a big place in such a concert.
The story continues below the video.
What is your career highlight so far?
Oh. Hard to say. But I certainly reached some happy heights when I received the Spellemannsprisen 2007 for the album TAUS which was about all the female fiddlers from back home. A work that I still carry with me wherever I go. One of the coolest concerts I have done with the band was during the album release of “Vere her” in 2017 at the Parkteatret. It was so much fun!! A third shared highlight is when I have gotten to play with the Broadcasting Orchestra or with the chamber orchestra Ensemble Allegria. The latter I have done several concerts with. Fantastic!
Can you share your greatest music experience – as a listener?
I'm terribly bad at rankings like that. For me, it can be just as great an experience to sit at a competitive game and hear a simple fiddler play at 0400 at night as being at a big concert. But okay; Rufus Wainwright in Grieghallen was big for me. Emmylou Harris in my hometown Breim this summer was also special for many reasons. Not least because she was in my hometown. If I were to highlight another strong experience, it would have to be a concert many years ago with Elias Akselsen at the folk music days in Ål. It was so heartfelt and heartfelt.
Finally – Can you give us tips for one Norwegian artist you listen to every day?
I've been really enjoying the album "Skarbø Skulekorps" lately. Incredibly playful and fun, challenging and groovy. Check it out!
