Tone Hulbækmo returns to her musical roots. On "Harpedåm," the Norwegian harp truly shines!

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It has been 40 years since Tone Hulbækmo released the album "Kåmmå no" with folk music from Østerdalen, the first recording featuring the Norwegian harp. "Somewhat historic!" says Tone Hulbækmo. At that time, the harp was used as accompaniment to vocals, in collaboration with flutes, fiddle, and guitar. On Today, Tone Hulbækmo releases her new album "Harpedåm," where she returns to her roots in Østerdalen in the form of a purely instrumental album featuring solo Norwegian harp—something that can also be said to be somewhat historic. Tone explains:

- As far as I know, this is the first album of its kind! The desire to create such an album, where I musically explore the landscape I come from, both physically and culturally, is realized here. The open, wide mountain world of Nord-Østerdalen is my landscape and has shaped me. I have selected material from my family tradition, tunes I learned from my mother and father. There is also material I have collected myself as an adult, learned from elderly people during my collection trips in the villages and mountain pastures of Nord-Østerdalen. Additionally, I have composed new material inspired by tradition, the landscape, and life.

"Harpedåm" was recorded in Tolga Church, a beautiful octagonal wooden church, a large, well-suited space with a lovely atmosphere for recording. Tone Hulbækmo has a strong connection to this space, with many powerful memories tied to when her father, Alf Hulbækmo, was the organist there. It has been an important space in her life, accompanying her through sorrow, joy, and especially music.

Tone's first encounter with the harp was a defining experience. When she began studying at the Institute of Musicology in Oslo in 1978, she met Sverre Jensen, a flamenco guitarist, early music performer, and, not least, an instrument maker and expert on ancient instruments. It wasn’t long before she joined his medieval music group Kalenda Maya. Jensen had built a replica of one of the harps preserved from the old, extinct Norwegian harp tradition. Tone received this harp, which would become defining for her musical path:

- I immediately fell in love and became captivated by the sound of the harp. I had never heard anything like it, a completely new sound world that evoked thoughts of the past, down through Europe, yet it was still Norwegian. When I then learned that Østerdalen was one of the areas where the tradition had survived the longest, I was completely sold. I took over the harp, the first one built in modern times, and since then, the harp and I have been together through thick and thin.

There are still many who are unaware that a folk harp tradition actually existed in Norway. Nine harps have been preserved, most of them from Østerdalen, the Mountain Region, and surrounding areas, but also from other parts of Trøndelag and Sunnmøre. Sverre Jensen made a replica of the harp from Selbu, and that is the one Tone Hulbækmo still plays to this day.

There are descriptions of harp playing in Nord-Østerdalen from the first half of the 19th century, but the tradition was nearly extinct by the mid-century. In fact, we have no exact sources on the tradition—what they played, how it sounded, how they tuned the harp. Hulbækmo sees this as an exciting challenge to engage in creative research. An invitation to "ask the harp": What can be done with you? Tone has explored the possibilities in terms of tuning, different scales, rhythmic patterns, and ostinatos. The fact that we don’t know exactly how the harp was played allows for interpretation and freedom to experiment with methods. From the beginning, Tone has therefore created her own playing style, her own technique, her own tradition. Over the years, Hulbækmo has used the harp in many contexts and the harp has accompanied her on tours and concerts across all continents. 

Tone has used the harp in various ways for years as if it were 'any other instrument,' with its own characteristic qualities that can be explored. She has used it to play in many genres, ballads, in the singer/songwriter tradition, in world music contexts, medieval music. She has composed instrumental pieces and used it extensively for vocal accompaniment. Tone concludes:

- Now the time has come to close the circle and return to the starting point, to the sources, and create a personal reencounter with them in 2025!

Tone Hulbækmo is a distinctive singer and lyric interpreter in folk music, ballads, and medieval music. In addition, she is a composer and arranger. She was the one who revived the extinct Norwegian harp tradition, and she is an accomplished performer on the pump organ and medieval lyre. She has received three Spellemann Awards (Norwegian Grammys): for her debut album "Kåmmå no" (1983), as a duo with Hans Fredrik for the children's album "Langt nord i skogen" (1988), and 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 several other solo albums.