October 8 - Bruremarsj frå Jämtland (Bridal March from Jämtland)

Today is a pretty special day - it's the day that Chris' sister Dawn will be married to her long-time partner Paula, and I am very excited for them. I met them pretty early in my relationship with Chris, during a family reunion I kinda crashed, and I have greatly enjoyed getting to know both of them. When Chris was being treated for cancer in February and March, I got to know Dawn a lot better, as she was there helping out quite a lot, and I don't know that I can put into words how much that meant to me - and how much I appreciate her as a person and family member. I have grown very fond of her, and I am thrilled that the now is able to marry Paula, and in celebration of that, I have taken a small slice of Scandinavian tradition to present as the song of the day.

The song I have picked is a very traditional Scandinavian tune - although it is in a very modern form. From what little I have been able to gather about bridal marches (or wedding marches), the musicians would play the happy couple all the way to the steps of the church (and in Norwegian tradition, that's where weddings indeed happened), but not further - partly because a lot of the old traditional music was composed for fiddles, including the Hardanger Fiddle, and they were, as "we all know," the devil's musical instrument and could not be invited into the church.

Now, I did say Scandinavian tune for a reason, as this originated in Jämtland, which used to be Norwegian territory until the Treaty of Brømsebro in 1645, when both Jämtland and neighbouring region Härjedalen were ceded to Sweden. This really is a region that highlights the interconnectedness of the Scandinavian countries, as it was ceded to Sweden by Denmark-Norway, which at that point were a union and would be until 1814, when Norway was liberated from Denmark only to enter a new union with Sweden. But Jämtland still is a region that is very close to Norway - Norwegians from the region of Trøndelag, which is where I grew up, frequently visit either to go shopping ar simply to spend vacation time at Östersund, the only city in Jämtland and home to the festival Storsjöyran.

The band Gåte falls neatly into a more recent Scandinavian tradition of modernizing traditional music that was started in Finland and Sweden by bands like Hedningarna and Hoven Droven. They are all from the Trondheim region, and their singer went to the same high school I did - only about 10 years later. They entered Norwegian music consciousness pretty quickly from their beginnings in 1999, shone very brightly, and then called it quits in 2005 (although they did reconvene in 2009-10). They released two studio albums, and Bruremarsj Frå Jämtland is from their first album, Jygri, from 2002. It is an instrumental - so there are no lyrics and the voice is simply being used as another instrument throughout, so lose yourself in the song.

But before I let you listen, I would like to remind you, once again, that this song is being played for a very special reason. I know that I sometimes start geeking out on all kinds of historical and musical information, and I get lost in it. Today, I will not do that. The bridal march is indeed played because of the wedding of Dawn and Paula. Congratulations to you both - and thank you for letting me be a part of it!