Wardruna is a Norwegian musical project whose mission is to fuse ancient Nordic traditions and natural soundscapes with a contemporary aesthetic. Their music is deeply oriented toward nature and animism as they draw sounds not only from traditional historical instruments, but also from ambient elements like trees, stones, water, bones, and fire. Leader Einar Selvik, who you might remember from his time in Gorgoroth, tells us, “When I walk into a forest, I open my senses and listen for whatever nature cares to tell me.” Selvik hunts for songs among trees, air, rocks, and sea. Wardruna, of course, is an entirely different experience from Gorgoroth, but one that is equally enthralling and engaging.
Rooted in research and reverence for ancestral traditions, Wardruna does not strive to merely replicate the past. Instead, they recontextualize it, “sowing new seeds while strengthening old roots,” to speak in timeless terms. They brought these traditions to a North American city with many (albeit highly different) traditions of its own, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia is a city that is far cry from anything even resembling Norway, Wardruna’s home; however, it is a city that has a great respect for bands that come from the cold and desolate lands under the Northern Sky.
The diverse ensemble took the nearly sold-out house through sixteen musical pieces of wonder and awe. The main emphasis was on their latest release, Birna, with “Hertan” and “Lyfaberg” as the highlights. The majority of the performance, however, featured songs from 2013’s Runaljod-Yggdrasil. Lots of interplay between Einar’s deep vocals and Linda-Fay Hella’s more ethereal tones was the keynote of the experience. This was all supported by a wealth of novel percussion and horns – though not the type of horns one might be accustomed to in this particular music hall, which usually features music of the more classical genres.
Fan favorites were “Solringen,” “Raido,” and, of course, “Helvegen,” the funeral song that really put Wardruna on the map. The crowd was a very eclectic mix of urban world music fans, folk enthusiasts and a large number of folks wearing their Norwegian black metal gear. People I spoke with came from wide and far to witness the experience in the heart of Center City, Philadelphia. A seated show, Selvik and company clearly spent hours on simple yet breathtaking visuals and lighting to complement the sounds.
