Fjarill

Biography

What an enormous risk for a small German record label to release a Swedish pop album with ethnical elements from both Sweden and South Africa! Not many people would have had the guts, but when Michy Reincke heard Fjarill’s music for the first time, he just knew he had to release the music of Aino Löwenmark and Hanmari Spiegel. While Aino hails from Sweden and Hanmari from South Africa, both now live in Hamburg. And everybody involved in the project have had more than their just rewards. From it...

What an enormous risk for a small German record label to release a Swedish pop album with ethnical elements from both Sweden and South Africa! Not many people would have had the guts, but when Michy Reincke heard Fjarill’s music for the first time, he just knew he had to release the music of Aino Löwenmark and Hanmari Spiegel.

While Aino hails from Sweden and Hanmari from South Africa, both now live in Hamburg. And everybody involved in the project have had more than their just rewards. From its onset, Fjarill’s first album "Stark", released in December 2006, reached more fans and listeners than could have ever been hoped for. Queen Sylvia of Sweden even insisted seeing them perform when she visited Hamburg in October 2006. Through consistent positive press reviews more and more people’s attention was called to Fjarill. "Der Spiegel" sung their praises; important newspapers like "Die Welt" and the "Hamburger Abendblatt" were crazy about their novel style. "Klangtip des Monats" from the magazines "Stereoplay" and "Audio" is but one of the many distinctions they were awarded. Even the radio stations in Germany took unusually brave steps: In the past year both the "NDR" as well as "Radio Bremen" have made live recordings of Fjarill’s concerts. The "mdr" described their songs as "The musical proof of the beauty which lies in simplicity, the perfection of all things natural and the power of the essential".

The journey of these two women started thousands of kilometers apart, in two very different places. In Hamburg, these two roads joined. One prominent point on this journey is the album "Stark". Others include the many humour filled, highly acclaimed concerts. Now their latest work is released, with the fitting title "Pilgrim" (Pilgrim means the same in Swedish), with Aino once again singing in Swedish.
Contrary to what one might expect, not speaking Swedish is an advantage, because while listening to the music and reading the translation of the lyrics, there is, like on a pilgrimage, so much to discover; things often hidden by the word-games of a familiar language. Fjarill doesn’t want to be understood. They want to be felt

The music on "Pilgrim" is a musical lost-and-found with elements from both Sweden and South Africa, joined together by traditional Anglo-American and European pop music. Coupled with their lightfootedness, it exudes an overwhelming, inescapable charm. After hearing early versions of the tracks, record boss Michy Reincke was enthralled: "I doubt if anyone with a connection to Fjarill’s sentiment would have ever heard anything more beautiful. In the title song "Pilgrim" we hear, through the vocals and the violin, an entire nomad tribe embarking on a journey." Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.