Nordic Music Days Festival brings chilling folklore tales to life

This year, the Nordic Music Days Festival was held in Glasgow for the first ever time, making its Scottish debut. We went along to The Legend of Kuokkamummo, a performance that combined Finnish storytelling and Scottish music.

Photo: The Legend of Kuokkamummo live performance featuring Tiina Hautala, Chris Stout, Catrionia McKay, Alistair MacDonald and Marko Hautala.

Words and photo by Molly Adams.

The Nordic Music Days Festival was founded in 1888 making it one of the world’s oldest festivals for contemporary classical music. And this year it was held outside of the Nordic countries for only the third time in its long history.

This year, it was held in Glasgow for the first ever time, making its Scottish debut. It featured over 200 musicians and composers from Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland – and of course, Scotland. 

Lasting for six days throughout Glasgow, the event welcomed a range of performances from the likes of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Red Note Ensemble, Hebrides Ensemble, Drake Music Scotland, Scottish Ensemble and many more. 

The festival celebrated a collaboration between Nordic and Scottish musicians and artists to create a unique cultural experience shining a light on the rich musical talents from the region.

Speaking about the festival more widely, Alistair Mackie, CEO of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra said: “The truly remarkable thing about this project, which has been supported here in Scotland for this special edition by Creative Scotland, is the number of partner organisations who are working together, pooling resources and facilitating each other’s performances in order to share a common artistic goal and conversation. So many are contributing to the project and looking towards future collaborations and partnerships throughout the Nordic region.”

The theme of this year’s festival was Word of Mouth – aiming to promote the sharing of stories, knowledge, and ideas through the festival’s array of installations, workshops, exhibitions and performances around the city.

Interested in seeing this theme unfold in the form of live music, I found myself drawn to the Centre of Contemporary Art for an evening performance of ‘The Legend of Kuokkamummo’. 

The ensemble combined storytelling by Finnish horror writers, Tiina and Marko Hautala, with musical performances by Catrionia McKay (clarsach), Chris Stout (fiddle) and Alistair MacDonald on the electronics to bring to life the haunting tales of the figure; Kuokkamummo.

The tale reflects traditional folklore stories of the character Kuokkamummo or ‘Granny Hatchet’ – a villainous character who hides in the darkest corners of the Suvilahti forest, patiently awaiting unsuspecting children lost in the dark to claim their lives.

The performance was a truly immersive experience. The darkly lit theatre was complimented by Stout’s skilful fiddle technique that included crackling sounds on the wooden section of the instrument to replicate the echoing sound of forestry crunching beneath one’s feet. It transported the audience to dark depths of the Suvilahti forest.

The story offered a captivating collaboration of both Nordic and Scottish heritage, with the storytellers narrating in both Finnish and English.

Catriona McKay's use of the clarsach (traditional Scottish harp) created a further chilling and transformative performance that provided the tale with a further sense of horror and movement. It also acted as a symbol of the festival’s creative Nordic / Scottish collaboration.