by Anthony Shaw
Helsinki Morrisers, or a small group of them, recently returned from a 4-day weekend dance event at the Folk Dans Sang Festival just outside Oslo.
You don’t have to be a morris dancer to know that the offer of an expenses paid trip across to the far side of Scandinavia was one temptation too many for this writer to ignore.
It all came about as the result of a quick internet search for a Scandinavian morris group. Actually, make that a search for Nordic morris groups since the writer’s home is a Nordic country, but not officially on the peninsula of Scandinavia, though I don’t quite see how Denmark qualifies when Finland does not. If one can call a few taps on a keyboard a search, it was conducted in rather a hurry when the main international act at a small festival, some dancers from Oxford, cancelled at short notice. It was in fact carried out by a lady of English origin but who had lived all her adult life in a rather special corner of Norway – within commuting distance from the centre of Oslo, the comfortable but rather remote suburb of Nesodden.
The fact that the commute to ‘town’ is a 25-minute ferry ride suggests already a degree of uniqueness. The area, a sharply pointed peninsula, pointing directly towards the centre of Oslo, was inhabited long before the capital was established and until modern times was an agricultural area serving the growing capital. Regular ferry services across the 8 kilometres route into town started to change the makeup with spacious residences becoming more and more common as the twentieth century progressed.
Nowadays it is a community with a very specific identity, tied to the nation’s capital but with a sense of history that Oslo itself surely envies. The lady behind the computer search, Ann-Turi Ford, had in fact been born in England, but had spent her formative years in Nesodden and maybe as a result of her initial separation from her roots personified this strong sense of place. Through her interest in Norwegian song, she had stumbled on the songs of local collector Samuel Hellen (1813-1892) and spent 5 years researching the book she has published on him. So, she has a sense of perspective and at the same time a deep commitment to the area, and beyond this to the history of her country.
A very folky festival
As a singer of traditional songs and the leader of a local folk group, Ann-Turi was familiar with a network of like-minded folk song enthusiasts in the area and had long dreamt of the idea of a weekend festival of local artists. What singer hasn’t sometime entertained just that dream?
The location was never under question, a library and community centre of just the sort that every country in broader Scandinavia has in quantity. A large, elegant concrete and steel structure, including a long cafe area with a small stage, large meeting or activity rooms and ample lobby space for people to mill in. The day before the main event saw some pre-publicity in the local shopping centre, our small group of morris dancers stepping up to alternate with some local traditional Norwegian dancers and their musicians – a noisy and colourful attention raiser!
The day itself started at 11.00 with a double series of workshops, one for children and the other for adults- storytelling, local history, song and instrumental music and finger-puppets! Given the proximity to the shopping centre it was almost a captive audience, with a lot of lively children charging around the lobby when released from the workshops, and artistic adults with intriguing bundles and music cases wondering where their program was to take place. Payment for the workshops was very small, but a small party of the organising committee sat ready to deal with any interlopers – though in fact those who interloped were encouraged to stay and check out the day’s programme.
The evening schedule started early, again prioritising family participation, and was focused in the cafe area, where tables and easy chairs made for a relaxed atmosphere. The roster included individual unaccompanied and accompanied singers, small bands, an excellent small choir and some dancers. All were limited to a 12-minute slot, making for quick turnarounds organised by an accomplished sound person and his assistant. Helsinki Morrisers briefly took the stage for four quick dances and like the others were quickly superseded by the next act!
The British connection
The evening concluded with a special local phenomenon, a chain dance led by a singer relating a story as he danced, or more accurately shuffled one step right and two to the left in an ever-mutating wobbly circle. In fact, this was a ‘stordans’ or ‘kjempervisedans’, a long ballad with parts repeated in a chant by all the dancers as they moved in an erratic circle. And this song-dance told the tale of a band of Scottish mercenaries, on their way to join the Swedish army and led by George Sinclair who were routed by Norwegian fighters at the battle of Kringen in 1612.
British connections with Norway have been a lot more supportive in more recent years, not just the cooperation in fighting the Germans in the Second World War, but deep military and political links in the current century as well. Personal links too have helped develop Nesodden as a focus for a number of British residents, settled in Norway partly as a result of the oil wealth and partly as examples of the very old links between the countries of Northern Europe. London was built using Norwegian wood shipped into the Surrey docks on Scandinavian ‘duffer schooners’, and on a more personal note, Nordic nannies and au pairs have helped raise countless English children, me being one!
English was the lingua franca for the Helsinki Morrisers, and it was hard to find an adult who did not understand when spoken to. The songs sung in the pub session were frequently in English, and the tunes played by the session musicians were often Irish or British. Even the rolling green countryside as well as the wet weather during our weekend sojourn was familiar, a sodden autumnal Norwegian environment but a very Nesodden event.