Fronted by a lovely lady from the Faeroe Islands, Anna Katrin, graced with the unique gift of being capable of mesmerising the audience with her captivating voice and stage presence, the five-piece (mainly) from Danemark employs ancient instruments yet are capable of seamlessly integrate electronic trickery and samples. Juan (from Switzerland/Equador) and Anna Katrin were so kind to tell us more about their project while they keep quite busy travelling the world spreading the well-being of their infecting music

DARKLIFE: How did you enjoy Geneva then? Tiny place for the gig, but great character and a spellbound audience, including me... Did I see it right???

JUAN: Yes, even thought our ambition looks at big stages, we love to play close to the audience and build up the atmosphere and the energy with them. And the folk in Geneva were really up for that… We love that.
ANNA KATRIN: I agree, and was surprised of their openness and great energy on a Monday evening. I really enjoyed l’Usine, and hope it’s gonna stay as an alternative music place.

DL: You seem to be on the road quite a lot and, in fact, the live performance is the best and most immediate way to appreciate your fascinating music in my opinion. How do you enjoy performing live?

AK: To perform live is always an invitation to let the music happen in the moment, inspired by all the elements that are present in that specific place. For that reason it’s also possible to discover new things in songs that are played hundred of times.
J: We like the things here and now, so every concert is quite different, depending of the atmosphere and of the audience present. The experience to play for very different kind of audience gives the ability to create an unique evening every time. But the audience is as much responsible for that magic!

DL: You certainly seem to be having a great time and have the capacity to transmit that positivity to the audience... What makes you so positive in a world filled to the gills by negative events?

J: Most of our material is traditional ballads from the North of Europe, they often tell about the dark side of life and musically we also like to explore the shadows of sounds. But we explore the dark to find light, if you want to see it in that way. To be positive means to find the hope in every situation.
AK: Positive or negative? Working with music I see it like working with energy. And for me I search to find into the energy of the numbers. Expressing anger is not only bad, it’s also a great load of energy, and daring to uncode energy from positive or negative, mostly makes happy.

DL: I noticed your performance has many parallels with street performing acts. Do you also perform in the streets or in rural locations from time to time?

J: We actually started to play together as a party medieval band, totally acoustic and in the middle of the people. We brought this immediate and warm way to perform with on to the clubs and festivals stages. But we still like to perform in the nature or in the streets of the cities from time to time.
AK: Yes, we can perform everywhere… and we like the challenge and fun to meet different people, cultures, styles…

DL: Let's get to the project history: tell us all about the genesis of VALRAVN, including the origin of the name...

J: As I said we started as a medieval band with the name VIRELAI. Then it came the time to bring something new, first we decided to focus on the Nordic ancient music and then we started to add some electronics to give a larger sound and more musical possibilities. We choose then a new name: VALRAVN (pronounced valraun) is a figure from the Nordic mythology, it is a man who has been transformed and spellbound into a raven beast. It is said that he can break the spell only by drinking human’s blood…Then we met Christopher who produced our first album and is now with in our live act as “machines master”.

DL: It's clear that your roots play an important role in the way you communicate and the music that animates you. So, what does it mean to you being from the North (although not all of you are...)?

J: The most important thing in all this it is “roots”, more than “Nordic roots”. Since we are from or live in the North we like to explore the roots from here. It is about where we come from and who we are, we need so much of that in our days! Than there is just something special with the Nordic atmosphere, something magical and mysterious, which inspires to explore new sounds and possibilities.
AK: For me it’s also to shine a light on the actuality of the roots of every culture. Basically we are not that different wherever we come from.

DL: In fact, can you describe with your own words what your main inspiration is for your compositions?

J: Roots, nature, love, misunderstood love, mystery, underworld creatures, passion and all what make us feel alive.
AK: ……burning hearts.

DL: How did you come to the idea of integrating modern electronic elements with traditional content. Several contemporary artists seem to be doing this these days, with mixed results overall. What do you think modern technology can add to the ancient and immortal? Can they co-exists in harmony for years to come or is one going to annihilate the other at some stage?

J: Our concept is to combine the primitive with the futuristic, to open up the possibilities and destroy the borders between past and future. The two extremes melt actually really good. If you noticed we have neither electric guitars nor drum set, we avoid all what is 20th century. Everybody heard the same sounds and combinations 1000 of times, for a rock band it is really hard to create a new sound. The immortal melodies and story can be immortal only if they are actualised and combined with what is of our days, so they can be present here with us instead of just in a history book.
AK: The past and the future will always exist in man. The tradition and heritage will always be there somewhere and the urge to experiment and develop as well.

DL: As traditions play a main role on the way you express yourselves artistically, is this also true in your private lives?

J: We are all deeply interested in traditions, but we live here and today, so we avoid nostalgic retro extremisms.
AK: We are in 2008 with every thing it includes.

DL: What do you think of entire nations throwing their traditions and cultural heritage down the plughole in the name of globalisation?

J: Knowing and respecting another culture is only possible by knowing and respecting your own traditions.
AK: Globalisation, Normalisation. Who decides?

DL: Your plans for the next few months or years?

AK: Develop and share our music.
J: Play as much as possible for a lot of great people. Refine and improve our music and live act, especially the integration with the electronics. Make new numbers which will lead to a new album for 2009.www.valravn.net

(Photos © Valravn)