Album Notes

New CD Fladdermus First Flight $15

Fladdermus is a trio featuring Michael Cowan, Darren Knittle and Marilee Cowan from Portland, OR USA. We play mostly Swedish music on nyckelharpa, cello, guitar, violin and string bass We augment our repertoire with a small button box, various percussion instruments and vocals.

Twenty-one tracks are included on thid first CD, gathered from traditional and contemporary Swedish folk music, plus a couple of Fladdermus original compositions and two tunes by Bart Brashers, who helped found the American Nyckelharpa Association. There is also a rendition of The American roots piece, as "Big Rock Candy Mountain Snoa". There are suggestions for dances for all the tunes.

Guest musicians: Donna Knittle & Gavin Knittle from Portland, & Irene Myers from Seattle.

People are saying about First Flight:
"Spirited, Eclectic"
"Variety, musicality"
"I think the playing is excellent...I get the feeling that this is favourite songs sung by people
who really cherish them...Eva Rune, Swedish recording artist.

TRADITIONAL SCANDINAVIAN MUSIC WITH A MODERN ATTITUDE!

We have played together for about six years. In the first few weeks when we were practicing on a hot summer night, we were also trying to come up with a name for our new band. The windows were open to let in fresh air and a bat flew through the house and into our practice room. It fluttered about the room for a few seconds and then, to everyone's surprise, landed on the tip of my cello bow before it flew out the open window. It seemed the band's name had been chosen and we called ourselves Fladdermus, which means "bat" in Swedish.