Kvarts

KVARTS, today one of best-known Norwegian folk music groups, with a unique profile. Kvarts stands in the crossfire between the traditional and the experimental, playing a wide variety of instruments and expressing joy in music making. The group’s CD’s and concerts have received high critical praise in newspapers, music magazines and radio. The members’ musical backgrounds range from classical to contemporary, via bluegrass and blues to folk music. This allows them to experiment and improvise without weakening their bonds to traditional folk music. The group have been supported since 2003 by Arts Council Norway’s funding for performing groups at a high artistic level.

Their first recording, called Kvarts, was released in spring, 1999, and received a Norwegian Spellmannspris award in 1999, and their second was nominated for the same award. Steinsprang, Kvarts’ fourth CD also received a Norwegian Spellmannspris award in 2006. The group has been contracted to compose several larger works and to perform these with other musicians, dancers and actors. Kvarts has participated in most of the large folk music festivals in Norway and Sweden and has performed for a variety of audiences both at home and abroad.

Jo Asgeir Lie (accordion),
Øystein Rudi (fiddle, hardangerfiddle),
Tom Willy Rustad (doubblebass, two-row accordion, flutes and guitar)
Erlend Styve (vocal, guitar)

Performances: Soloists with The National Broadcast Orchestra (KORK, 2007, 2009 and 2010), Concerts with the Hemsing Sisters (2009, 2010) Istambul (2007), International Grüne Woche, Berlin 2003, 2004 and 2005, Folk Alliance Conference, Jacksonwille, Florida (2002), Millennium Stage, Kennedy Center, Washington DC (2002), Musicians for NRK-TV, The 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, USA, Several performances for TV and radio, Førde International Folk music Festival, The Norwegian Folk Music Week, Ål, Hallingdal