Vikings inspire new album of lullabies by Gabríel Ólafs : NPR

Apr 21, 2024

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Gabriel Olafs stumbled into an antique bookshop in his home city of Reykjavik and found an out-of-print collection of melodies from the Viking era. The Icelandic pianist-composer has a new album featuring 10 pieces inspired by or adapting those tunes as "Lullabies For Piano And Cello."

(SOUNDBITE OF GABRIEL OLAFS' "SALMUR")

GABRIEL OLAFS: I have actually always been fascinated with the concept of lullabies because lullabies captures the essence of music, basically, emotional connection and, you know, in some ways relief. And also, lullabies as tunes always have to have certain qualities, which is, you know, catchiness and some sort of emotional axis when you listen to them. So I've always been really into lullabies and folk music. And then I stumbled upon this old book by this guy who was sort of a priest who went around Iceland and collected these very old Viking tunes that have sort of just been preserved by singing. You know, they didn't write sheet music down until early 20th century in Iceland. So the collection itself is a bit younger, but the melodies are ancient.

(SOUNDBITE OF GABRIEL OLAFS' "SALMUR")

FADEL: OK. Forgive my broad-brush stereotyping that I'm about to do, but I was listening to this music, and I had the sense of calm. But when I hear Vikings, I don't think calm. I think conquering, invasions...

OLAFS: Yes.

FADEL: ...Horned helmets.

OLAFS: Yeah.

FADEL: How did you find this genre of music, and what does it tell us about that era?

OLAFS: You know, a Viking essentially just means a person from Vik, which is, for example, Reykjavik, my home city. But the Vikings actually weren't only conquerors. They were also storytellers. Their main thing was trade and, you know, telling stories. Something that people generally don't know about my ancestors, the Vikings...

FADEL: Yeah.

OLAFS: ...Is that they were quite sort of into the arts, and they preserved art.

(SOUNDBITE OF GABRIEL OLAFS' "MAMMA")

OLAFS: I don't think anyone's ever sort of joined these two things - classical-leaning music and Viking-era themes. Yeah. It's really about honoring my ancestry. And also, it's a search for me.

FADEL: You're 24?

OLAFS: Yes.

FADEL: And the Vikings were around more than a thousand years ago?

OLAFS: Yes. Yeah.

FADEL: How did you bring this music into the modern day?

OLAFS: Yeah. So most of the album is just original material that I wrote, sort of inspired by this old collection, that old book that I mentioned. But some of them actually are adaptations of old folk melodies, which I arranged through my eyes and through my ears. I deliberately picked my two absolute favorite instruments that I have sort of a direct emotional access to. And that's piano - I'm a pianist, myself - and cello, which is, to me, sort of almost like the mother's voice in this album, you know, in terms of the lullabies concept.

(SOUNDBITE OF GABRIEL OLAFS' "BARNKIND")

FADEL: When I think of lullabies, I think of, like you said, a mother singing to their child. The cello in this case, you said, is like a mother's voice. Who are these lullabies for?

OLAFS: I'm closer to - emotionally to, you know, being a child than actually having one. Although some of my friends are having children at this point.

FADEL: Yeah.

OLAFS: I am dedicating this to family and to mothers. I am very close to my mother. But then I ended up sort of also dedicating this piece of music to my cellist - her name is Sigurdardottir - who is one of my dearest friends. She had her first baby while she was making this album with me.

FADEL: Ah.

OLAFS: So I actually think you can sort of hear her new motherly qualities in her playing, and I think it's absolutely beautiful.

(SOUNDBITE OF GABRIEL OLAFS' "BARNKIND")

FADEL: I'd like to ask you about "Bambalo," which is one of the album's singles.

(SOUNDBITE OF GABRIEL OLAFS' "BAMBALO")

FADEL: Tell me about what the title means and the links between this lullaby and Ireland.

OLAFS: Yes. Wow, great question. It's a very popular, very old Icelandic lullaby tune, and it's originally from Ireland. There is a connection between Iceland and Ireland because roughly half of the original Icelandic population was from Ireland and Scotland and England - and mainly Ireland. But this melody - you know, Bambalo means basically rockabye or lullaby in Icelandic, and it has a very haunting, yet beautiful lyric to it, which I obviously remove.

FADEL: I'm looking at the lyrics that you removed. Man, lullabies all have really weird...

OLAFS: Yeah.

FADEL: This is, my little friend I lull to rest, but outside, a face looms at the window. That's terrifying.

OLAFS: Oh, yeah. That's an iconic lyric, actually. I remember my mom singing this to me. My mother sang this...

FADEL: Really?

OLAFS: ...To me as a kid, and I was wondering what face this was referencing. Why would there be a face on the window?

FADEL: Well, "Rockabye Baby," the English lullaby, is also very scary. Rockabye baby in the treetops. The baby falls from the tree. Anyways.

OLAFS: Yes.

(SOUNDBITE OF GABRIEL OLAFS' "BAMBALO")

FADEL: It's very hectic at MORNING EDITION in the morning. And as soon as I sat down to listen to your music, I did feel a sense of peace. Thank you for that moment of peace today.

OLAFS: Thank you.

FADEL: That's pianist and composer Gabriel Olafs. His new album is called "Lullabies For Piano And Cello."

(SOUNDBITE OF GABRIEL OLAFS' "BAMBALO")

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