Bush Artist Fellowship Application
Music Composition 2007

Page Two
Accomplishments and Eligibility

Performance (partial listing)

"Huldre Halloween" 10/29/06 KFAI public radio live and recorded performances of Huldre material described in this fellowship. 90 min.

Discovering Origins/Building Traditions Series Creator and Producer
"Crossing the River" 9/06 Bryant Lk. Bowl Theater, Mpls. 9 performers
"How the Sap Does Rise" 5/06 BLBTheater Mpls. 18 performers
"Sun Salutation:" 12/05 Patrick's Cabaret, Mpls. 12 performers
"Crossing the River" 9/05 BLBTheater, Mpls. 10 performers
"Spring's New Leaves" 5/05 Varsity Theater, Mpls. 30 performers
"Embracing the Darkness Farewell" 3/05 BLB, Mpls. 10 performers
"Connected at the Core" 12/04 Cedar Cultural Center, 35 performers
"Remembering Valentine" 2/03 Bryant Lake Bowl Theater, 8 performers
"Threshold" 12/03 Cedar Cult. Ctr. 30 performers
"This Little Light of Mine" 12/02 Patrick's Cabaret, 28 performers
"Welcoming the Old Ones" 12/01 Patrick's Cabaret, 30 performers
"Yuletide Celebration" 12/00 Patrick's Cabaret, 24 performers
"A Yuletide Celebration" 12/99 Gus Luckys, Mpls. 20 performers
Original compositions for this series include choral, string quartet, rock, folk, gospel and chant as well as re-interpretations of traditional material and feature intergenerational casts.

Goddess Night Monthly series 2004 and 2005 Created and performed opening rituals and "Goddess Explorations" Minneapolis

Residencies, workshops etc.(partial listing)
2005 - 2006 Mpls. Public Schools "Huldre go Viking" and "Imani Series"
2004 Midtown Public Market, Minneapolis. Created and performed the "Imani Series", three operettas for puppets based on the Brazilian tradition of Literatura de Cordel, continual summer performances.
2004 - 2006 Various churches and organizations throughout the Midwest, staving, Huldre, and other Nordic Roots material. Minneapolis College of Art and Design, original curriculum 2000 - 2003.

Publications and Releases (partial)
2008 Llewellyn Almanac - articles "Music in Ritual", "Your Name in Runes", and "Balance in the Spring
The Norse Runes, a Human Journey, 2006 Seeking publication.
Little Rune Book, 2002
6 full-length releases of original urban folk and rock songs. I am also featured on a variety of compilations from 1990 to the present. Currently working on a CD of Nordic Women's Music (rough draft is my submission). Music Videos on mnstories.com, karitauring.com - publishing work and process since 1999.

Page Three
Artist Statement and Overview

* Glossary of italicized terms on page 5

Since 1999 I have written intensely for the "Discovering Origins/Building Traditions" series. These multi-media presentations explore the affects of seasonal change physically, in cultural traditions, and in the context of global meaning. My work is concerned with global interpretations of the feminine divine, women's place within, and the balance of our masculine and feminine natures on a personal and global level. Compositions for these shows have explored different mythologies surrounding seasonal change and evoke the psychological or emotional manifestations of the season. I write music for dance, video and other presentation styles. I love to create through the process of performance and my work has become more improvisational in the last five years.

In 2003 I began incorporating more Nordic Roots material into my productions and commissions. In collaboration on an interactive performance piece I recalled the Seið-kona* and created a chant based on Runes (Indo-European Norse alphabet I have been incorporating into performance and composition as well as teaching and publishing about since 1988). Karen Solgard, hardanger fiddler, added a Huldre Stille, Vivaldi, and turn of the century dance steps. It was a powerful coalescence of Nordic time and space, a coming together of Christian and pre-Christian elements that moved an entire congregation to participation.

Since then, the women of pre-Christian Scandinavia have been calling to me through Huldre, fairy beings in Norse mythology tracing to Lilith, the very story of Indo-European migration, the Seið-kona and Volva-kona, shamanic women of great renown who enjoyed equal status with men while having their own farms, work, income, and spiritual traditions. Norway was Christianized by the sword and colonized through violence perpetrated especially on women. As in other cultures the old ways were hidden and preserved within women's songs and stories. Cultures in post-traumatic stress disorder carry a phenomenon called Inherited Cultural Grief through the generations.

My contemporaries in Europe express the need to bring the ancient past into the present, healing the wounds of culture. These Nordic Roots groups inspire me. Yet, Norwegian Americans have been separated from the land that holds the history and pre-history of what needs healing. My Nordic Roots compositions bridge Old Norway and New America, traditional tunes and concepts and contemporary interpretation. They reveal the past, present, and future of my own Indo-European American experience and deep cultural healing. After performances of this material, my American audiences are deeply moved. They express feelings like relief from the cultural grief they have carried without even knowing it.

Page Four
Fellowship Plan

I will immerse myself in Scandinavian women's music: huldre, lullabies, working songs, khulning, the langeleik and lur and folk dances especially focusing on the regions Trondheim, Aurland, and Valdres. I will work with local musicians Karen Solgard, Andrea Een, Arna Rennan and Helen Loing and gain further contacts fro field research in the United States. Immigrant decendents who preserved this material are fewer and fewer. Tunes and tales were passed orally from teacher to student in keeping with the skaldic (bard) tradition. Just as dialect is localized, so are tunes, dance steps, and even rosemaling (women's decorative painting tradition). The same story will have different tunes and interpretations depending on where the skald is from.I feel a sense of urgency about this portion of the Fellowship.

I will study Norwegian at Mindekirken in Minneapolis to facilitate discussion with field subjects in the US and Norway as well as for accuracy in diction, translation, and composition. Mindekirken is a key institution for networking along with Luther College and the Vesterheim Museum, both in Decorah, Ia where I have performed this material.

I will undertake the same field research in Norway, again concentrating on the regions Trondheim, Aurland, and Valdres. I will be able to share what I have learned in my research in the US. I will visit the University at Telemark where many recordings of folk artists have been archived.

I will visit the Stav Institute. Having incorporated eastern martial arts in my work for over 20 years I am excited to see how Nordic martial arts, dance, music, and spiritual traditions are connected. Iwill connect with my contemporaries such as Åsne Sunniva SØreide, Susanne Rosenberg and Tellu (represented by Minneapolis based NorthSide Music) for information and collaboration.

"ok verðr einhverjum ljóð á munni" [a chant comes to somebody's lips] I will deepen my understanding of the rhythm and rhyme styles specific to female speakers (seið-kona) in the Sagas and Eddas through the work of Dr. Judy Quinn (Cambridge), Prof. Else Mundal (U of Bergen) and others.

The culmination of my research will result in performance of new original compositions, performances, and a large-scale multimedia production including audio and visuals captured in field research. Some of the Fellowship money will be used for upgrades and compatibility of DVD and Mp3 technology essential to capturing field studies. CD/DVD products will be produced. I will publish scores , articles, and another book. Karitauring.com will continue to serve as a format for immediate publication of my work and process.

Page 5
Glossary:
Huldre: n. hool'dra. - Mythological women of Scandinavia often having tails of a cow or cat, animals sacred to the agricultural goddess Freya. They are credited with passing herding, churning and spinning/weaving techniques to human women and have been lumped into the general category of "Troll". Male form is huldu.

Huldre Stille - (also called Trollstilt) a combination of pitches C#, A, E, and A, sometimes DAD or DADGAD, corresponding to the tuning of a langeleik, a dulcimer style instrument played primarily by women. This tuning is complimentary to the hardanger fiddle (primarily a man's instrument) and many huldre tunes were preserved through the hardanger fiddle. A huldre slått is a tune attributed to a Huldre.

Huldre Eventyr - Stories and lyrics about the Huldre. The largest body of Eventyr was compiled in 1852 by Asbjørnsen and Moe. Stories link Huldre to the first Indo-European migration through Lilith. Women's sexuality, nature spirituality and psychic or supernatural abilities, taboo subjects in the new Christian ethic, are themes that run through Huldre Eventyr.

Huldre Lokk - kulning cow calling, a series of high-pitched calls to bring cattle from the field and wood back to the barn, the job of women in Nordic society. It is also a form of communication between herding women across field and fjord. Also used was the lur, (a wind instrument dating to the Bronze Age 1400 B.C.E.) made today with wood and birch bark, trees connected with the Goddess and women's shamanic practice.

Staving - The use of a stav or working stick such as distaff, herding crook, stirring stick, or even broom handle to keep rhythm for groups of workers especially in threshing, spinning and weaving. Stav a martial art using the stav and rune alphabet, preserved by the Hafkjold family.

Seið/volva-kona - A Shaman (kona meaning woman) of Scandinavian women's spiritual tradition. Ceremonies described in Tacitus' Germanica (circa 44 AD), Sagas and Eddas, as well as Bronze Age archeology being done in Scandinavia today reveals their honored position in all aspects of pre-Christian Nordic culture. These women were later called "Troll women" in Norwegian literature.

Page 6 Work Samples (mp3s)
Track 1 - "Holda's Spinning Song" April 2006, 4:31, recorded as a draft in one take for Huldre Project. Kari Tauring, vocals and guitar, Maren Amdal vocals, Ken Sherman fiddle. June 2006 Minneapolis

Track 2 - "Kari og Mari" March 2006, 4:52 Huldre Lokk from Valdres region, tune Tauring. Recorded in June 2006 for Huldre Project. Maren Amdal vocals, Kari Tauring vocals, guitar, cowbells and khulning.

Track 3 - "Komme Alle" December 2003 2:55 Staving Chant (tune based on folk traditional, mostly improvisational). Excerpt from commissioned interactive performance at Lake Harriet Spiritual Community, "The Nordic Way Yule Celebration" which included 5 chanters, 20 stavers, and hardanger fiddle. Total performance time 63 min. This version recorded in June 2005 includes vocals, Stav and Bodhran, Kari Tauring, Maren Amdal, Ken Sherman, and Matt Spillum.

Track 4 - "How Do We Honor You" September 2004 excerpt 1:40 Staving Chant, total piece 5:43, recorded live performance at Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis December 2004 for Kari Tauring and Friends Discovering Origins/Building Traditions show entitled "Connected at the Core" show length 95 min. Stavs, Bodhran, hand drums, goat toes, shakers, and Ektara, 2 vocalists and one chanter (8 performers to start, audience participated in the end including two stilters!).

Total running time 14:05

To Grants Main