Hild Sofie Tafjord (born 4 January 1974) is a Norwegian musician, horn player and composer active on the scenes of jazz, experimental music, noise, improvisation and live electronic music.

Hild Sofie Tafjord
Born (1974-01-04) 4 January 1974 (age 50)
Langevåg, Møre og Romsdal, Norway
GenresJazz, experimental, improv, electronica
Occupation(s)Musician, composer, improviser
InstrumentFrench horn
LabelsSmalltown Supersound
Warner
Jester Records, plus3db records

Career

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Born in Langevåg, Norway, Tafjord studied music at Toneheim folkehøgskole together with Maja Ratkje before continuing at the University of Oslo and the Norwegian Academy of Music.[1] There, Tafjord and Ratkje joined cellist Lene Grenager and trumpeter Kristin Andersen to form Spunk,[2] an ensemble that would leave a substantial mark on the Norwegian music scene.[3]

Together with Ratkje, Tafjord also made out the duo Fe-mail[4] (from 2000), and the trio Agrare[5] (with the dancer Lotta Melin). Since 2006, she joined Grenager, flutist Bjørnar Habbestad and bassist Michael Duch to form Lemur,[6] a quartet and composition collective. From 2009 she became a regular member of the Berlin-based ensemble Zeitkratzer.[7] Tafjord has also performed in numerous configurations of Trondheim Jazz Orchestra.

Tafjords has been described as a sonic innovator on her instrument.[8] Key works in her catalogue include her two solo albums KAMA and Breathing, as well as Mural I and Mural II, both large works for brass ensemble premiered at Tectonics festival in Glasgow in 2015[9] and Only Connect in Oslo in 2016.[10]

Discography

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Tafjord appears on more than 130 albums.[11]

Solo

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  • 2007: Kama (Pica Disk)
  • 2014: Breathing (+3 dB) With Spunk:

With Spunk

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  • 2009: Det eneste jeg vet er at det ikke er en støvsuger (runegrammofon)
  • 2001: Filtered through friends (runegrammofon)
  • 2002: Den øverste toppen på en blåmalt flaggstang (runegrammofon)
  • 2005: En aldeles forferdelig sykdom (runegrammofon)
  • 2009: Kantarell (runegrammofon)
  • 2013: Das Wohltemperierte Spunk (runegrammofon)
  • 2014: Adventura botanica (runegrammofon)
  • 2014: Spunk feat. Joelle Leandre. Live in Molde (plus3db records)
  • 2016: Still eating gingerbread for breakfast (runegrammofon)

With Lemur

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  • 2008: IIIIIII (plus3db records)
  • 2010: Aigean (plus3db records)
  • 2016: Mikrophonie (plus3db records)
  • 2016: Parish of Lemur (plus3db records)
  • 2020: Lemur + Reimhold Friedl (sofa)
  • 2022: Critical Bands (aurora records)

With Zeitkratzer

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With Trondheim Jazzorchestra

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Other

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Collaborations

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Tafjord has collaborated with artists such as composer and multiinstrumentalist Zeena Parkins, guitarist Fred Frith, electronic musician Ikue Mori, the electronica-duo Matmos, saxophonist Mats Gustavsson, Wolf Eyes, saxophonist Evan Parker, vocalist Jaap Blonk, drummer Kjetil Manheim from Mayhem and poet/playwright Øyvind Berg. Her first solo album Kama was produced by noise artist and producer Lasse Marhaug, the second, Breath, by Bjørnar Habbestad, also from Lemur. In addition to a long ling of ad-hoc collaborations, she has performed with 'Crimetime Orchestra', 'No Spaghetti Edition' and 'Norwegian Noise Orchestra'.

References

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  1. ^ "SNL article on Hild Sofie Tafjord". Store norske leksikon. snl.no. Retrieved 2024-08-15.
  2. ^ Spunk
  3. ^ Kleveland, Guro (2020-09-22). "Spunk 25 år". ballade.no (in Norwegian Bokmål). Retrieved 2024-08-29.
  4. ^ Fe-mail
  5. ^ Agrare
  6. ^ Lemur
  7. ^ "Hild Sofie Tafjord". www.zeitkratzer.de (in German). 2020-04-30. Retrieved 2024-08-29.
  8. ^ "Hild Sofie Tafjord: Breathing album review @ All About Jazz". All About Jazz. 2014-06-24. Retrieved 2024-08-29.
  9. ^ "Hild Sofie Tafjord: Mural". BBC Music Events. Retrieved 2024-08-29.
  10. ^ "Only Connect 2016: Hild Sofie Tafjord". nyMusikk. Retrieved 2024-08-29.
  11. ^ "Discogs.com entry on Hild Sofie Tafjord". Discogs.com. Retrieved 29 August 2024.
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