Norwegian band Gåte was founded in 1999 in Trøndelag, the area surrounding the ancient west coast harbor city of Trondheim by violin player and keyboardist Sveinung Sundli, who recruited his sister Gunnhild as singer.
Sveinung’s violin and Gunnhild’s folk song technique “kveding” brought to the sound a firm base in traditional music that was complemented and contrasted by modern bass, drums, and electric guitars. The resulting folk-rock attracted music fans.With the self-titled EPs “Gåte” in 2001 and 2002, and their debut album “Jygri” (2002), the band exploded onto Norway’s music scene. Their records and celebrated wild live performances won them the Norwegian Spellemannprisen (Norway’s most prestigious music award) for best new band and they stormed the charts.
With their second album “Iselilja” (2004), Gåte started to gain international recognition, but singer Gunnhild Sundli moved on to pursue other successful career paths. The band went into a hiatus at that time, but with their massive national success, they still managed to enter the charts with their live album “Liva” (2006) while in hiatus.
During their absence, the reputation of Gåte kept growing as no other band was able to fill the gap they had left behind. When out of the blue the band announced a tour and returned in 2017, venues sold out rapidly. With their third studio album, “Svevn” (2018), they again underlined their exceptional status and musical prowess,
In 2020, the band chose to go back to its roots to dive into the rich traditional music history Norway has to offer, taking away keyboards, electric guitar, and rock drumming. Instead, Gåte added archaic percussion and used acoustic instrumentation. Gunnhild Sundli, whose exceptional vocals played a major role in catapulting the band to stardom in Norway, stripped out some of the technical complexity from her singing style and placed emphasis upon folk attitude and expression.
In May 2021, Gåte released the EP “Til Nord” (“Northward”), an epic collection of tracks revisiting some of their own classics and adding a new track.
The lineup in 2021 included: Gunnhild Sundli on vocals and violin; Magnus Børmark on guitar, vocals, percussion; Sveinung Sundli on Hardanger fiddle, organ, vocals and percussion; and Jon Even Schærer on percussion and vocals.
Discography:
Gåte, EP (2001)
Jygri (Warner Sweden, 2002)
Iselilja (Warner Sweden, 2004)
Liva (Warner Sweden, 2006)
Svevn (Drabant Music, 2018)
Til Nord, EP (Indie Recordings, 2021)
Nord (Indie Recordings, 2021)
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.