Photo by: Garm
Official press release:
For the past three decades, Garmarna have won equal praise from metal heads and folk lovers. On their seventh and most recent album, the Swedes continued to weave traditional medieval tales with rock, pop, dance and other modern-day inventions, alongside executive producer Christopher Juul from Season of Mist labelmates Heilung. In 2021, Förbundet was nominated for Folk Album of the Year by the Grammis. Now, four years later, its opening song is taking home a different award.
Today, Garmarna are proud to announce that “Ramunder” was selected by The John Lennon Songwriting Contest as the Session I Grand Prize Winner in the World category. The prize package for this award includes a Taylor acoustic-electric guitar and more than $4,000 in recording equipment.
Garmarna, who were selected as a finalist by the same contest in 2021 for their song “Dagen Flyr”, says:
“It’s a great honor to receive this award. John Lennon and The Beatles pushed the envelope on what you can do in just about every field of the music business. Throughout our 35 year career, we’ve always aimed to do the same by mixing traditional Swedish ballads with contemporary influences. We always try to stay curious and bend the rules, with feet firmly planted in the ballad tradition”.
While they’ve always pulled from the darker chapters of Swedish folklore, “Ramunder” claims the crown as Garmarna’s most chilling tale. Reimagined by razor-sharp acoustics, distorted grooves and a stomping drum beat, the opening of Förbundet sets a rather bloody scene with the tale of a warrior that destroys his enemies purely for the sake of his own enjoyment.
However, “Ramunder” isn’t all doom and gloom. Anders Norudde saws his moraharpa with devilish delight. The Swedish multi-instrumentalist, composer, carpenter and violin-maker is a member of Hedningarna, the fellow groundbreaking Swedish folk band who were an early inspiration for Garmarna.
Next year, Garmarna will face the Session II Grand Prize Winner in a public vote to determine the overall winner for the World category.