The lyrics are used on everything from Salvation Army candles to Christmas beer from Lofotpils. Last week, NRK Nordland named Trygve Hoff's well-known song Nordnorsk julesalme "the song of the times from Nordland." - It is the soundtrack to Northern Norway at Christmas. There is an unearthly divinity about the song, says Anne Nymo Trulsen in Hekla Stålstrenga.
/ 13/12/2018 / Kristian DugstadThe Northern Norwegian Christmas Carol was introduced by Trygve Hoff in the children's TV series "Lyset i mørketida" in December 1985. When the band Hekla Stålstrenga decided to arrange Christmas concerts, this was the only song they knew they had to include.
– It is the soundtrack to Northern Norway at Christmas. There is an unmistakable divinity about the song, says Anne Nymo Trulsen in Hekla Stålstrenga.
The band has one of eight TONO-registered versions of Hoff's Christmas carol, in addition to the original. They are currently playing Christmas concerts in churches across the country, and Nordnorsk julesalme is song number three on their setlist.
– Every time I start the first line, I see people lower their shoulders and start smiling. It's really an adrenaline rush, because I see the anticipation and I know how much the song means to people – including me.
Listen to Anne Nymo Trulsen from Hekla Stålstrenga about the Northern Norwegian Christmas carol here:
It's been seven years since Pål Moddi Knutsen made his interpretation of the Christmas carol. The artist and songwriter from Senja in Troms says that it was pure coincidence that he came across the song.
– It was never part of our Christmas canon at home, so the song was completely unknown to me growing up. In high school, I was a music teacher for a group of mentally disabled people, and they were the ones who taught it to me.
He is certain that these circumstances have influenced his version of the song, which has over 1,4 million plays on Spotify.
– The fact that I learned it like that probably also makes my version a bit tougher than the original. I had no basis for comparison, and I don't know sheet music either.
– It is not an exaggerated tribute to anything and it makes no promises. It is just a small prayer for hope in the dark times, says Moddi about the Northern Norwegian Christmas hymn. Photo: Jørgen Nordby
Like Trulsen and Hekla Stålstrenga, the Northern Norwegian Christmas Carol has a special meaning for Moddi. He otherwise finds Christmas carols to be quite meaningless.
– I've never been particularly religious, and "The elf sits in the barn" doesn't work in a Senja context. We have neither elves nor barns.
He admits that he has never really enjoyed Christmas. What he describes as "the kind, pleasant, semi-melancholic Toten atmosphere" doesn't appeal to him.
– But the Northern Norwegian Christmas hymn did. It is not an exaggerated tribute to anything and it makes no promises. It is just a small prayer for hope in the dark times.
The Northern Norwegian Christmas carol is in the air like never before. In 2015 the song turned 30, and this year it was named "Song of the Ages from Nordland" by NRK Nordland. Music publisher and one of the rights managers, Odd Steenberg of Norsk Noteservice, says that they send out sheet music for piano, choir, marching band and big band all over the country.
– It just grows and grows. The text has been used on everything from Salvation Army candles to Christmas beer from Lofotpils. It was also included in the new hymnal in 2013, under the name "Bless the day over the fjord."
Anne Nymo Trulsen believes this has helped ensure that the song has been rediscovered by younger generations.
The story continues below the picture.
However, Moddi believes that the Northern Norwegian Christmas hymn is more than just a hymn. Despite not being religious himself, the text resonates with him.
- God is he who lives in the books. While Our Lord is he who steers the fjord. He is in the wind and in the weather. And that is how I experience it in the Northern Norwegian Christmas hymn. It is not about salvation and the gospel, but about something much more down to earth.
It is precisely this ability to draw the divine down to earth that makes the song special for Trulsen in Hekla Stålstrenga as well.
– God symbolizes light and hope in the text. It is something that watches over Northern Norway during the dark and Advent seasons. When you have that with you, it becomes easier to face the darkness.
Listen to Moddi about the Northern Norwegian Christmas carol, huh?r:
