Fact of the Month: Sigmund’s discography

Sigmund Groven is not only a master harmonica performer and a versatile composer, he is also an experienced recording artist. His discography now counts 30 albums, starting with Så spiller vi harmonica in 1975. That means a new album almost every 18 months for nearly 45 years!

Sigmund’s records span a variety of genres, purposes and musical formats. His back catalogue include soundtrack for TV and movies, music to poetry, collaborations with some of the finest musicians in Norway, recordings with major orchestras, evergreens and popular hits arranged for the harmonica, and of course several albums with his own compositions.

One example is Musikken inni oss from 1981, where Sigmund shares the stage with Arve Tellefsen, arguably the most famous violinist in Norway. Tellefsen is in his own right a prominent artist, having appeared with the Royal Philharmonic, the London Philharmonic, The Hallé, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, BBC Welsh Orchestra, the Liverpool Philharmonic and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and that’s only from his UK career. Musikken inni oss, meaning “the music inside us” offers nine original compositions by Sigmund and three folk tunes.

Coincidentally, 1981 was Sigmund’s most busy year in terms of records. That year he released two other albums, also collaborations, as he teamed up with poet Ove Røsbak and singer-author Geirr Lystrup for two albums based on poetry. On Kom sol på alle mine berg, meaning “let the sun shine on my mountains”, Sigmund Groven set music to lyrics by the poet Halvor J. Sandsdalen, with Geirr Lystrup singing and Sandsdalen performing 10 of his own poems. Sandsdalen, who often is compared to great poets like Jakob Sande, Vidar Sandbeck and Alf Prøysen, often used the population and nature of his home county Telemark as basis for his writing, which makes the link to Sigmund’s home area complete.

Many of Sigmund’s catalogue albums are still available from Grappa.

See Sigmund’s full discography on the discography page.