Hulbækmo & Jacobsen familieorkester presents pols, groovy old-time dance tunes, and timeless mystique.

Tone Hulbækmo - harp, lyre, and pump organ
Hans Hulbækmo - percussion, jew's harp, saw, Hardanger fiddle, vocals
Alf Hulbækmo - piano, alto saxophone, harmonica, accordion, vocals
Hans Fredrik Jacobsen - flutes, soprano saxophone, two-row accordion, oud, kantele, bagpipes, vocals

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The family orchestra has a living musical family tradition spanning three generations, from grandparents to parents to grandchildren. Together, they have traveled the world, drawing inspiration from folk music across various cultures, encounters with people, and the songs and music they have picked up along the way. All of this is thrown into their musical pot, which is entirely their own. With folk music as the foundation, each member contributes elements from jazz, improvisation, blues, medieval music, and original compositions. This concoction results in a highly personal musical brew where elements from various genres can be recognized but presented in a unique rendition.

The performance, as usual, features a varied array of instruments. The album is a colorful journey with different sounds and instrument combinations that shift from track to track. A reinlender (Norwegian dance tune) leads the listener into a mysterious landscape with harp, kantele, harmonica, and percussion. Another track has a lively dance vibe but with an instrumentation evoking Arabic associations. A pols (Norwegian dance) begins with a meditative and beautiful solo on the pump organ, while a polka sparkles with life and energy. An atmospheric Nepalese song is transformed into a "gangar" (Norwegian dance) featuring a Norwegian lyre, tuned with blue notes. Not to forget the title track "Rundsnurrknurr," composed by Alf, where the musicians truly let loose in something that might sound like an eccentric, outlandish halling, yet still entirely danceable.

This is the Hulbækmo & Jacobsen Family Orchestra's second release following their debut, "På snei," in 2017. The latter was recorded at home in Tolga, but this time, they have been at Øra Studio in Trondheim. "Rundsnurrknurr" is released on CD, streaming services, and vinyl, the latter with fewer tracks due to the general space limitations of vinyl records.

Tone Hulbækmo is a distinctive singer and interpreter of folk music, contemporary songs, and medieval music. Additionally, she is a composer and arranger. She revived the extinct Norwegian harp tradition and is a skilled performer on the pump organ and medieval lyre. She has received 3 Spellemann Awards (Norwegian Grammy), for her debut album "Kåmmå no" (1983), as a duo with Hans Fredrik for the children's album "Langt nord i skogen" (1988). They also received a Spellemann Award with the medieval music group Kalenda Maya in the Open Class category in 1985. She was nominated again in 2020 for the children's album "Eg kan!" In the meantime, she has released numerous solo albums.

Flutist, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and arranger Hans Fredrik Jacobsen is one of the veterans in his field, having appeared in various capacities in Norwegian music for decades. For example, he was part of the winning team in the Eurovision Song Contest as a musician in Secret Garden. In addition to his long-standing collaboration with Tone, he has been widely used as a musician on over a hundred albums with many of Norway's most prominent artists. He also has several solo albums to his name, and his latest, "Svadilja," was named one of the top 10 releases of 2022 by music critics in both Dagsavisen and Klassekampen. His previous release, "Øre," was nominated for the Spellemann Award in 2019.

From an early age, sons Hans and Alf joined them on tours worldwide. Today, they are very active musicians on the Norwegian music scene. Alf Hulbækmo is a composer, arranger, pianist, and now employed as an organist at Røros Church. He gained recognition as a Jazz Fellow at the Molde Jazz Festival in 2019, where he performed his work "Skumringsbarda" with the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra. He has also created commissioned works for Vinterfestspill in Bergstaden and the Nidaros Cathedral Choir. He has released the albums "Jeg går og drømmer," Alf's musical settings of poems by Nils Yttri with Siril Malmedal Hauge, and "Lillebror," a collection of interpretations of Prøysen's songs with the group of the same name.

Hans Hulbækmo is a unique figure on the Norwegian jazz scene today – a drummer with a distinctive, open expression that has added color to bands like Atomic, Skadedyr, Moskus, Hanna Paulsberg Concept, Broen, Gard Nilssen's Supersonic Orchestra, Kim Myhr's Sympathetic Magic, and Flukten. The latter received the Spellemann Award in 2022 for the best jazz release, and he has been nominated several times for the same award, including with the group Moskus. Hans is also a composer, and in 2023, he released his first solo album, "Tilfeldig næpe," featuring exclusively his own compositions.