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Making Denmark
Danish fiddler Harald Haugaard and singer Helene Blum
have launched their own label. Chris Nickson hears
their masterplan.
T
hings change; they move on gaard & Høirup for a decade, a founder of
and develop. Last year, shortly folk-rock ensemble Serras, and, perhaps
after Danish fiddle/ guitar duo most importantly, director of the folk music
Haugaard & Høirup released programme at the Carl Nielsen Academy
their album Rejsedage/ Travel-
for five years, a time which saw the music
ling, word came through that they were
flower and grow in Denmark. All that, and
calling time on their musical partner-
he’s just 33 and one of the world’s top fid-
ship. They’d arguably been Danish folk’s
dle players. It’s not a bad start.
most successful export, taking the music Breaking up the duo, he insists, was
as far as Japan, where they had a dedi- “very undramatic. We talked of taking a
cated audience.
break, but decided to stop. I’m very proud
But new things arise from the ashes,
and happy with it artistically and personally.
sometimes more than might be expected.
I was 23 when we started, and there are no
For Harald Haugaard, it’s not just his new
bad feelings. It was more than a full-time
solo debut with Burning Fields, but also
job, and you need something else.” From
the chance to work with his wife of four
there, “I decided it would be natural for me
years, singer Helene Blum. Even more than
to make my first solo album, to get on the
horse. I’ve been piling up small composi-
that, it’s been an opportunity for them to
tions for the last few years, deciding what
establish their own label, Pile House
to record and who to record it with. We
Records, to release their discs.
met in my house and started to rehearse.
Haugaard has been one of the linch-
The first day in the studio was like standing
pins of the recent folk revival in Denmark. on a bridge – you’d either learn to fly or hit
He played with Sorten Muld on their the water softly. I’d had success, but under
ground-breaking electronic/ acoustic your own name it has to be good – chal-
albums of the mid-1990s, was half of Hau- lenges are to be met and cleared.”
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