01	Saltarello IV						02:25
	02	Kallarhjonets Lilla Van						02:31
	03	Jungfrun I Buren						03:42
	04	Lussi Lilla						03:33
	05	Barnarovet						04:33
	06	Femton Ganger						03:29
	07	Herr Olof						03:36
	08	Lindormen						02:48
	09	Fortune Plango						04:19
	10	Linden Bar Lov						06:19
	11	Meie Din						02:37
	12	Gift Med Nacken						03:13

Tva Fisk och en Flask


the musicians:
Umer Mossige-Norheim - vocals
Stefan Grapenmark - percussion
Sebastian Aberg - percussion
Gustav Esters - percussion
Olof Oberg - guitar
Marcas Oreglia - violin, vocals
Jan Liljekvist - violin, flute


THE MIDDLE AGES GOES ROCK'n'ROLL WITH TVA FISK & EN FLASK

At a sunlit table by the window at Snovit Restaurant two members of the group Tva Fisk & En Flask are seated. It was also here that the band had their release party for their new cd last Saturday. A strange name for a band you might think, but then again you've got to have a name, say Jan Liljekvist and Marcas Oreglia, and this particular name seems to come from some internal joke within the band, and a great love for food.

Apart from Janne and Marcas, who both play the violin and were those who started the band in 1994, the group consists of four more members: Umer Mossige-Norheim, vocals, and Jan Erixon, percussion, a former member of Dirty Old Men, Zen, and Trad, Gras & Stenar. From the group Astmakoren came Stefan Grapenmark, percussion, and Olof Oberg, guitar.

Had there been such a concept you might well describe Tva Fisk & En Flask's music as medieval rock'n'roll. Because even though the group gets its material from collections of 13th century music among other sources, they themselves use the term rock'n'roll to describe their music. It is probably no coincidence that this record was produced at Sunlight Studio by Thomas Skogsberg, a well-known heavy metal producer who has worked with Entombed, The Hellacopters, and Backyard Babies among others.

Much in the same way as the members of Tva Fisk & En FLask seem to have a taste for food, they seem to have a taste for just about any kind of music. They have played in rock groups, participated in a performance of Carl Orff's choir music, played folk music, played with punk groups, and they have performed live to Tolkien-inspired roll-playing in the woods. Only young singer Umer Mossige-Norheim has a purely classical background, including opera and choir-singing.

-We consider ourselves a rock group rather than a folk music group. The concept of folk music feels a bit stale, as if you're trying to keep alive something that's been long dead, says Marcas Oreglia. -I try to play the violin in the same way that I played the electric guitar with my rock groups. Technique must stand aside for aggressiveness and attack, Janne Liljekvist explains.

The band has a somewhat split attitude towards both medieval music and folk music, or rather towards other performers of medieval music and folk music. -The folk music Mafia criticizes Umer's singing technique. They think that this is not the way to sing this kind of music, and that you should sing like Lena Willemark for instance. You can't pay attention to that kind of critique. Umer is the star of this band and is very important both to our sound and our scenic appearance, Janne says.

We are not trying to play this music as it might have sounded in those days, but as if the material were written today. We do not play to bring out the medieval music. We sample songs and play rock'n'roll. Or, to cite Orup, we go through the musical historic archive and collect material here and there. But I think that is the way musicians have done things always, Janne explains.

Both Janne and Marcas believe that groups like Nordman and Hedningarna have made way for bands who play medieval-inspired music, even though none of them wants their music to be compared with that of commercialized Nordman.

We want to get away from all this medieval and folk music stuff. We're so tired of runes and things like that that people keep connecting our music with. We want to look sober and classy in contrast to everyday life and our music, Janne says laughing. Which would explain why the band is dressed in dark suits on the cover of the cd, and why Umer wears long black gloves and a feather boa on stage.

Their dreams, though, are the same as for most other bands. They have played mostly in Stockholm and its surroundings, and now they want to get out and play in the rest of the country, which they hope the new record will lead to.

-It also feels as if this type of music could make a hit abroad. We want to get out there and tour, Janne says with emphasis.

Ylva Wallin, Tidningen Sodermalm, April 13 1998idningen Sodermalm, 980413


TVA FISK OCH EN FLASK
Tva Fisk & En Flask Sometimes you just feel it at once. Like a trembling. Like a premonition of something big about to happen. Like when I found the debut album of Tva Fisk & En Flask in my hand, staring at me saying: Play me! Play me!!! So I did and a dull vibration spread with increasing force through my body. What I heard was the salvation of Swedish folk music.

The salvation from all that I believe Swedish folk music to have become, a dainty folklore picnic with Sunday coffee on the grass. Tva Fisk & En Flask is not dainty. They are obstreperously rugged. So much so that a record dealer in the folk music business left the band's release party after one song, because "it was too loud, smoky, and a menacing atmosphere
-They're probably not used to going to that kind of concerts. I think we play for a rock'n'roll audience rather than a folk music audience, Janne Liljekvist muses.

-We're trapped between the two main groups of preferences, Marcas Oreglia says, speaking about the record companies. Those who produce folk music didn't think that we sounded like a folk music band - for example they criticized Umer's singing: "She doesn't sound like Lena Willemark - you can't sing like that!" And the rock music companies didn't think that we sounded like a traditional rock band. -Only NonStop Records were interested, but they had no money so we had to pay for the recording of the record ourselves, Janne tells us.

Both Marcas and Janne play the violin and Umer's last name is Mossige-Norheim. Together with Olof Oberg, acoustic guitar, Stebbe Grapenmark, 'cow drum', and Jie Zelf, percussion, they create music that, in its energy, feels closer to old English folk rock groups than to e.g. Garmarna. But no one in the band has a background in traditional folk music. When the foundation of Tva Fisk & En Flask was laid in 1994 Marcas had recently played with Rotlosa, a group that played mainly folk-inspired ballads. Umer had sung mostly classical music, and Janne had tried classical violin after a few years as a guitar player in the rock group Shoutless. Marcas and Janne met through their mutual engagement in a production of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana with Dramatiska Ensemblen.

-It was only when I met Marcas I realized that you can play the violin in virtually the same way that you play the guitar. And now I can play after any number of beers! I couldn't do that when I played classical music, Janne recognizes. Typical of Tva Fisk & En Flask is that they give way for an almost ritual power in their music. It is as though something gets into the music and starts living a life of its own. -That sounds absolutely wonderful! Umer exclaims.
-Precisely that kind of condition, when the music has a life of its own, usually comes about when we have live jam sessions, Janne tells us. Jie is very hard to control, he won't stop playing. Then we have to do something. In Visby, Gotland, during the annual Medieval Week where we have played on several occasions, we sit down by the wall by the sea, and we have jam sessions, playing the drums. We play John Coltrane songs on the flute accompanied by percussion. Then when we get tired of that or crash out, Jie walkes along and continues by himself!
-Then there is this thing about the name, Tva Fisk & En Flask (=Two Fish & One Pork) - where does it come from?
-Have you read the Bible? Janne asks.
-Yeah, but wasn't it bread Jesus handed out - not pork, right? -In the common edition, yeah. In the Apocrypha he satiates the priests with two fish and one pork chop.

It may not sound like a delicacy. But it is. At least musically.

Peter Sjoblom, Magazine Groove, nr. 24/1998


LIVE-REVIEW

Having a good time to 800-year-old groove
The Medieval Days in Gavle were kicked off with a performance by Tva Fisk & En Flask at Sjomanskyrkan, Friday night. The band's music is, as the members themselves say, music to "sing, dance, and have a good time to". And a good time we have, even though the music is close to 800 years old.

It all begins with guitar player Olof Oberg building an atmosphere with his acoustic guitar where the E string is pitched down to D and forms a powerful bass note. Soon he starts pumping in a Pete Townsend-manner, no cautious finger-play there. This kind of groove hasn't been heard in a twelve-string guitar since Roger McGuinn played with The Byrds.

Two violins tag along and the cool blond Umer comes up on stage and sings the group's Swedish, sometimes German, lyrics, which are sometimes hard to discern in the rattling sound mix.

One of the band's roll-models is Folk & Rackare, and that makes Umer the equivalent to Karin Kjellman, albeit a sexier and more ardent version. The other half of Folk & Rackare, Ulf Gruvberg, would then be violin player Marcas Oreglia who sings a macabre song where the jester of the group, Janne Eriksson steps forward with a jew's harp adding suggestive roars after each murder. Otherwise he plays percussion, mainly the tambourine and the jembe (a type of bongo drum) from Mali which is said to have belonged to a real medicine man.

Janne keeps mostly in the background and clowns about in leather trousers and a hat, a true rocker who is also a member of legendary Dirty Old Men.

Tva Fisk & En Flask are not musically as precise as Hedningarna, Anitas Livs among others, but they compensate this with one heck of a groove, even though they lack the force of an electric bass. They get along just fine with Stebbe Grapenmark's rumbling 'cow drum'.

This whole concert breathed rock'n'roll, in spite of the material, and you could only wish for a larger and more exhilarated audience. This might be something for a City Party tent where you can have a beer in your hand.

(Grade: four ears out of five)
Par Widmark, Arbetarbladet Gavle, June -98


LIVE-REVIEW

Tva Fisk & En Flask: Live, The Arvika Festival, The Apollo Tent, 2000
The name "Two Fish & En Flask" (=Two Fish & One Pork) sounded too sissy to miss. So we went to the Apollo Tent, where we, much to our surprise, caught sight of a scantily clad lady dancing to folk music. The prospects for this to be a good concert looked bad at that time, little did we know that we were to have the time of our lives. The tempo was gradually intensified and the groove was so hot that we just had to get closer to the stage and feel the atmosphere, there was certainly no lack of that. Folk music mixed with punk has worked for groups like Dia Plasma and mixing folk music with rock is something which Hedningarna does well. Tva Fisk & En Flask also does this extremely well. Two violins, one acoustic guitar, one percussionist, and one person playing a big bongo drum - all this together creates an amazingly groovy sound. During the songs in which a flute replaces the vocals there is simply no chance of keeping from dancing. After the concert I immediately bought the group's record, what better credits can the band get? The only thing you may want to criticize is the way that the vocals sometimes drown in the sound of the violins, but like I said this only happens occasionally, and the overall impression is still good.

David Magnusson, webmagazine Intro



CD-REVIEWS, "TVA FISK + EN FLASK"
Yummy:
I hope this somewhat strange name for a group won't scare away potential listeners. That would really be a shame because this group is among the most vital and pleasurable things that have happened to Swedish folk music in a very long time.
The seven members of the group play with an impressive ardour and frenzy that really is captivating with traditional folk music and medieval ballads played in a totally new and refreshing style.
The singer, Umer Mossige-Norheim's characteristic and piercing voice is the centre around which the eminent musicians weave highly suggestive, strongly rhythmical, webs of music. Lively, natural, and from time to time strongly urging you to dance.
The group's sound quite a bit resembles the 70s group Folk & Rackare, but more up to date and with all the energy and expression of rock'n'roll. A bit like Garmarna but with a distinctly stronger feeling of presence, go, attitude, and dynamics. A part from that there is a liberating lack of the kind of pretentious elements with which many folk music groups disarm the primal force of the genre. This is just the way, alive and imaginative, that the Swedish heritage of folk music should be held in trust.
(Grade: four ears out of five)
Sune Liljevall i Arbetarbladet Gavle, 980508


Never before have I heard of Tva Fisk & En Flask. But I listen to the 14 songs on their album and I am absolutely captivated. It is electrified folk music and medieval music in roughly the same genre as Hedningarna. Umer Mossige-Norheim's high, pure voice is delicious. The tempo is intensified by Marcas Oreglia and Jan Liljekvist, violins, and the tensions of the rhythm are lead by Stebbe Grapenmark, 'cow drum', and Jie Zelf, percussion. The group mixes traditional Swedish and German music with present-day rock technique without boundaries. The result is exciting, fun, and beautiful. It will be interesting to see the group's further advancement.
(Grade: four out of five)
Bosse Vikingson, Smalandsposten

They are supposed to be very good live, Tva Fisk & En Flask. I can dig that. Here medieval ballads are played by punk rockers. Tomas Skogsberg (The Hellacopters, Backyard Babies, Entombed) is the producer and singer Umer Mossige-Norheim is Playboy-naked on the cover. So it is rock'n'roll, like in "Mit ganzem Willen". They could do with a bit more pork to go with the fish, though (Tva Fisk & En Flask = Two Fish & One Pork). I would imagine that the meat shows better live.
(Grade: three out of five)
Annika Norlin, Lanstidningen, Ostersund, 24.04.98


Naked women wearing long black gloves and a feather boa might not be the first thing you think of when you hear folk music. But then again this doesn't sound at all traditional. The violins play with a vehemence resembling that of punk rock, and 'cow drum' and percussion rumble like in heavy metal. Above the passionate, ardent beat Umer Mossige-Norheim wields her icy, clear laser voice like a merciless sword. The Middle Ages suddenly feel uncomfortably close to the 1990s:
(Grade: three out of five)
Christer Olsson, Veckorevyn, no 19, 1998

Folk rock with appetite and ardour
Tva Fisk & En Flask is as unexpected as it is a welcome contribution to the increasingly drab Swedish folk rock zone. The music on their debut album, titled Tva Fisk & En Flask, shows that no costume is too modern even if the purpose is to dig deeply into the treasures of medieval music. Anything goes.
Just about every single track is permeated by appetite and ardour. Backing up the expressive singer Umer Mossige-Norheim is a well-reputed and highly capable male quintet, the members of which have all earlier played in different pop and punk groups. Because of this the material is loaded with the vital energy of rock music. Apart from violins there are guitar, percussion and 'cow drum'. This is not some kind of preserving enterprise, which the record company stresses, also Nordman is said to be a long way from Tva Fisk & En Flask. Satisfyingly, any likeness with other groups is difficult to find.
It is possible that Tva Fisk & En Flask will manage to establish themselves in the genre. The gang is furthermore presently on a short tour in Sweden. (Grade: four fish out of five)
Gert-Ove Fridlund, Hallandsposten, 27.05.98

Sometimes it just turns out so wrong when somebody tries to put life into tradition. Behind this strange group name are five gentlemen and one woman, who with violins, 'cow drum', guitar, and vocals attempt to really step on the gas playing medieval ballads from far and near. We've heard it before, but rarely this awkwardly and with such a complete lack of talent. I hope for their sake that the band is better live.
Peter Bornemar, Eskilstunakuriren, 19.05.98

Compared to what other Swedish folk rock bands of the 90s have got to offer with Hedningarna's latest sterile, machine-like 'yoik' and their music-academy-castrated followers, this completely acoustic band with its strange name is in a class by itself. They have more of the Devil in their music. The medieval ballads sizzle and shiver, the violins jam, and the guitars rattle. Furthermore the singer Umer Mossige-Norheim sings like a woman - not like a chit of a girl, which otherwise seems to be the Swedish ideal way of singing. I have really longed for, sometimes even yearned for, a band like Tva Fisk & En Flask. This their debut, so far from caution and tactfulness, is an ardent incantation in a world of folk rock characterized by neat rhymes.
Peter Sjoblom, Magazine Groove, no 23