Morten Alfred Høirup on Tap: Our Interview

Join us for an interview of Danish composer, musician, and journalist, Morten Alfred Høirup. We find out what the folk music scene is like in Denmark and how state-sponsored radio funding is somewhat dependent on the political views of the current government. Morten also describes his work as a composer for film, especially on esoteric topics like animals (he's composed for Animal Planet, for example). What kind of music does he write to accompany a squirming snake or a jumping frog? Listen and find out!

We finish with a live recording of the guitar-duo, Høirup and Dornfeld, playing a delightful medley of Ingela's Vals (by Morten Alfred) and Meget Gammel Vals fra Vendsyssel (traditional).

Links

Morten Alfred Høirup's website proves that he's a very busy and multitalented fellow!

Selections from Morten's albums can be heard on his Bandcamp site.

He currently has played together with Mia Guldhammer, Ruthie Dornfeld (as in this podcast), in the trio Jensen, Bugge, and Høirup, with his father Fin Alfred Larson, and the American Cafe Orchestra.

Videos of Morten's many collaborations are here.

Morton is a regular contributor to Radio Folk Denmark, such as in this recording on the 2020 Danish folk music scene (in English).

Morton hosts Radio Denmark's Folk Live 30-minute podcast series (in English) showcases Danish and Nordic roots, folk, and traditional music bands performing at festivals and venues, like for example the famous Danish Tønder Festival. There's 20 great podcasts here and counting.

Morten produces his own podcast called Katten i Saekken about the Danish folk scene too (in Danish). As I understand it, "katten i sækken" (or cat in the bag) is an expression similar to "a pig in a poke", or something that is of dubious quality, but also possibly something quite good. A clever way to express the constantly emerging miljø of music.

Morten's 2022 book of sheet music called Ingela’s Waltz - 25 New Danish Folk Melodies contains, as the title says, 25 self-composed melodies. You can order this from Edition Svitzer and have it shipped to you for about USD $28/150DKK/€20.00 (as of July 2022), as I did. The title song, which I adore, is the same one played in this podcast episode. You can also audition the melody on the Edition Svitzer site ... just click on the play button (forward arrow) in the bar as seen in the picture below. The sheet music comes with the melody in standard notation and guitar/accordion/concertina/piano chords.

Click on the right-arrow (play) button to hear Ingela's Waltz on the Edition Svitzer site.