This CD-DVD celebrates forty years of this Danish trio’s folk music. Their waltzes, polkas, mazurkas, and Danish selections show their interest in dance music. They mix the conservatory approach to preserving and playing older songs with their love of the dance floor, and this live recording captures this ambiance.That being said, the twenty-one tunes proved rather monotonous. “En pige vanked’” with its more expressive tone evoked the Appalachian fiddle tunes that carry a more emotional depth. Yet this ability to capture the heart of the song was fleeting.
Nearly all the songs rely on similar times and instrumentation. This may be the result of the live setting or the needs of the dancers for a certain set-list, but for a listener removed from the venue, the cheery, lighthearted tone seemed to weigh down this record, which needed ballast. While it may fit the dance floor, it does not make for enough variety for a listener needing more range in melody and emotion.
The appeal of this record may therefore be best appreciated by devotees of the Danish dance genre. On the surface, it resembles British folk dance music, and this may please those who favor a very consistent, evenly pitched, carefree delivery of perky tunes on keyboard, fiddle, and accordion. But the casual vocal outbursts and giddy pace seemed more disconcerting than diverting after so many tracks with so little variation.
(It has not gone up there, possibly due to my downbeat nature, but I wrote this review for "CDRoots.com" and their "RootsWorld Bulletin" site, the great online magazine and store for world music.)
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