straight from scandinavia  On Saturday, Oct. 11, the young acoustic folk music group, Frigg (pictured above) will play music rich with the folk heritage of their native Finland and Norway, with added touches of American Appalachian and country and western. The concert will take place at 7:30 p.m. at Chandler Music Hall on Main St. in Randolph. For tickets, call the Chandler box office at 728-6464. They will also be sold at the door.

Frigg: A New Generation of Nordic Folk Music at Chandler Oct. 11

Frigg will appear at Chandler Music Hall in Randolph Saturday, Oct. 11 at 7:30 p.m.

This seven-member group is at the crest of a new wave of interest in Finnish fiddle music. Frigg comes with a rich folk heritage from Finland and Norway, creating an exciting new sound by combining their folk traditions with bits of country western, American Appa­lachian and Irish Folk music.

Named after the Norse goddess of love and fertility, Frigg is comprised of three young Jarvelas, two sons and a daughter, from Finland’s most famous fiddle family, and two Larson brothers, who are members of a comparable Norwegian Har­danger fiddle clan.

“The joke is that if your name is Jarvela, you were born with a fiddle in your hand. So they always ask, ‘Are you one of those Jarvelas?’” explains band leader and bass player Antti Jarvela. Like many people in this Western region of Finland, he carries the surname of the village in which he was born. But Frigg isn’t interested in simply rehashing traditional tunes. Their newest album, “Economy Class,” presents the groove and swing of original music with unexpected melodies and rhythms.

While listeners of bluegrass and Celtic music will find some similarities in Finnish and Norwegian string music (two of the founding band members hail from Verdal, Norway), the melodic twists and turns are a reminder that things are just different up north where the sun disappears for months at a time. Frigg takes this one step further with the energy of a rock band and off-kilter rhythms and missing beats that accentuate the unexpected reserved-meets-over-the-top sense of humor common in Finland.

When these outstanding young musicians join forces, the traditional sounds from their respective cultures are supercharged with creative arrange­ments and the additions of mandola, dobro, cittern, double bass and guitar.

Frigg was chosen as “The Band of the Year” in 2003 at the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival. The band has been creating a phenomenal buzz among fellow musicians and listeners, dazzling audiences in the U.S. and Scandinavia with their musicianship and inventive interpretations of traditional Nordic folk music.

The band’s albums include “Frigg,” their 2002 debut album, and “Oasis,” released in 2005. Sue Thompson from Acoustic Guitar called their last recording “…one of the most exciting recordings to come out of the flourishing Nordic folk-music scene in recent memory.” The band’s performance on Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion” received a rousing reception, with the audience calling for an encore.

This CD-release tour is their fifth tour of the U.S. They say they love the way American audiences respond, noting “it’s very different than back home.”

Reserved seat tickets can be ordered by calling the box office at Chandler at 728-6464, between 3–6 p.m. weekdays or via e-mail at tickets@chandler-arts.org. Chandler Music Hall is wheelchair accessible.

While at Chandler, everyone is urged to view the photographs by Senator Patrick Leahy in an exhibit entitled “World Leaders” in the Chandler Gallery.