”Kystnært” is an artistic collaboration between the award-winning Finnish/Danish/Swedish folk music group Floating Sofa Quartet (FSQ) and the Norwegian fiddle player Guro Kvifte Nesheim. In the project, traditional musicians from four Nordic countries meet together to delve deeply into their common musical traditions from their coastal regions.

The beginning of this project emerged during the Showcase festival Folkelarm in Oslo 2021 when the young Norwegian star violinist and Hardanger fiddle player Guro Kvifte Nesheim stepped in for violinist Clara Tesch in FSQ. Meeting the FSQ sparked Guro’s inspiration to explore the repertoire from the coastal areas of Agder in Southern Norway. This is a repertoire she has been familiar with throughout her upbringing.

Floating Sofa Quartet has worked with Nordic folk music across national borders for ten years. The vision has always been to bring together the cultural heritage of the Nordic countries and create music that both preserves a tradition but also renews it. The band received the prize ’Folk Album of the Year’ at the Danish Music Award in 2019 for their album ”Neighbourhood”.

Guro Kvifte Nesheim – Hardanger d’ amore, Violin
Mads Kjøller Henningsen – Wooden Flute, Swedish Bagpipes
Clara Tesch – Violin
Leija Lautamaija – Diatonic Accordion, Reed Organ

Devil Among the Sailors / Svinge Kjersti / Itämeri-sottisit / Ola Dyrmyrs riler / Snikkarvalsen / Norske polsker fra Bornholm / Reinlender etter Gustav Olsen Berge / Tveitesmeden Lorens / Tarald från Korpo / Bjønnen / Sisuleeraus