HABBADÁM
music from a small Danish island to the whole world

Out in the Baltic Sea, south of Sweden, north of Poland, lies the small, rocky Danish island of Bornholm. Known for its unique natural beauty and for its hospitable inhabitants, Bornholm's 588.5 square kilometres are home to 42,558 people. Bornholm is famous for its fine clocks, its blown glass and its outstanding pottery made from local clay, as well as its culinary specialities, in particular the island's smoked herring, which are eaten on bread, with a raw egg yolk and chives on top, and a good glass of snaps alongside. Less well known is the vibrant, diverse and exciting living folk music tradition on the island of Bornholm.

The Danish trio Habbadám are exquisite exponents of the Bornholm music tradition, a tradition with strong roots in Scandinavian, Baltic and Celtic music. The trio was founded by violinist and singer Ditte Fromseier Mortensen, who was born on Bornholm, and who has studied both classical musik and folk music in Denmark and in Ireland. The others are soprano saxophonist Hanna Wiskari, from Sweden, and guitarist Sigurd Hockings, who grew up with a Danish mother and an English folk singer father.

Ditte Fromseier Mortensen began playing violin at the tender age of four, and has since taken courses in classical music and in folk music. She is an honours graduate of the Carl Nielsen Academy of Music in Odense, and has a Master of Arts degree in traditional Irish music from The Irish World Music Centre in Limerick, now known as the Irish World Academy of Music & Dance.

Hanna Wiskari studied soprano saxophone at the Gothenburg Music Academy and the Royal Swedish Music Academy in Stockholm. Sigurd Hocking is a graduate of the Folk High School in Bolnäss in Sweden, and took his Masters at the Carl Nielsen Academy of Music in Odense, the first folk guitarist ever to graduate there.

These, then, are the three young musicians who comprise Habbadám. The name is a local pronunciation of Habro Dam, a pond near Olsker on Bornholm, and the music has beautiful melancholy qualities, though often rhythmic and with a fine swing. The songs are traditional with titles such as Kockijn aa Trina Arrist and Vaggeviza. The themes are universal, the dialect almost incomprehensible even for people from mainland Denmark. The intensely tight ensemble play from these three top-class musicians makes Habbadám one of the strongest elements on today's Danish folk music scene.

Bornholm Music

Habbadám's repertoire consists of traditional Bornholm music and songs, spiced with their own compositions and selections Hanna Wiskari has brought from Sweden. The lion's share of the music stems from a treasure trove of a score of Bornholm music manuscripts Ditte Fromseier has ferreted out in various museums and collections. Many of them had lain untouched for years, and it was not until Ditte started playing through this vast collection of material that she realised just how special the music actually is.

”The music came to mean something quite special to me. I was already in close collaboration with Sigurd Hockings and he suggested that we bring in Hanna, whom we had played with previously. We met up one fine autumn day in Copenhagen to try it out, and the music worked from the word go. Habbadám was launched.”

The autumn of 2004 sees the start of Habbadám as a trio. They record a demo and play some concerts in Denmark, then abroad. In December 2007 they release their first full album Folk Music from Bornholm, and, in March 2008, the album wins a Danish Music Award as Danish Debut Album of the Year. During these years the trio play in Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Italy, Scotland and New Zealand.

In 2011, Habbadám toured in New Zealand and released their second album, Still Young, this too comprising traditional Bornholm folk music, a tradition which this band is virtually alone in representing internationally.

”It has been incredibly exciting to follow the growth of the band from the start until now, finding new facets developing in our music,” relates a delighted Ditte Fromseier and continues, ”The music we have dug up is primarily dance music, and has been used at parties and other celebrations through the years. Today, not many people play the music but there is a Bornholm Fiddlers' Convention who play the music for their dance evenings. In Habbadám we work together on the tunes, trying to let the arrangements grow naturally out of playing them rather than structuring and designing them. We have chosen to include more songs than on the first record. The Bornholm song tradition is actually a whole adventure by itself. There is a fantastically rich collection of dialect songs, love songs, humourous songs, lullabies and so on.”

Out into the world with the music, songs and stories

Like most other Danish folk bands, Habbadám have been obliged to face the fact that the Danish folk scene has relatively few venues and those that exist find it difficult to draw audiences to organised folk concerts. It is as though folk music in Denmark brings in those who want to participate actively. The music has to be good to sing along to, drink beer to or dance to. Naturally, Danish bands are able to provide straight listening concerts. But to be able to find enough concerts to make a living at it, you need to play abroad as well as at home. This is true for Habbadám, too. Ditte Fromseier Mortensen:

“We have been amazingly well received all over the world. We have seen people drawn into our universe, relating to our music wherever we play. It happens in Sicily, the Scottish Highlands, in New Zealand. We love playing together and we are working hard at making our mark on the market so that we can get out and play even more concerts. We have had wonderful experiences playing both little clubs and huge festivals, and it is vital for us to go on doing that.”

Habbadám marches on, indeed. If you get the chance to see them at your local folk music venue or festival, go along, and invite you friends, too. A unique musical experience awaits you. You can hear the stories and songs about the Flowersmith Lars Ibsen, who sewed the pages of his music collection together with violin strings, about the singer Per Cheese, who got his name because his mother had once stolen a cheese, and about the man who should never have married the old hag for her money.

Translated by Rod sinclair

Relevant links:

-       Habbadám: www.habbadam.dk  

-       Habbadám: www.myspace.com/habbadam

-       Danish Roots: www.danishroots.eu

-       Bornholm: www.bornholm.dk

-       Danish Folk Counsel: www.folkemusik.dk