Roraima was written as a commissoined work for the festival Oslo World 2020. The work reflects themes such as solidarity and ecological vulnerability, and draws inspiration from the creation myth of the Yanomami people as expressed in the book The Falling Sky by Yanomami shaman and spokesperson Davi Kopenawa. The music also includes field recordings from the Amazon rainforest by soundscape ecologist Bernie Krause and sound artist Stephen Vitiello.

The album booklet also contains text excerpts from Less is More (a Financial Times book of the year 2020) by economic anthropologist Jason Hickel. In Less is More, Hickel proposes a complete restructuring of our economic system in order to bring it back into balance with the living world. To accomplish this, according to Hickel, we have to build a new kind of relationship between humanity and nature.

Roraima recieved world wide critical acclaim upon its release in February 2022, and the album was awarded the German Record Critic´s Award (Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik) that same year.

Musicians:

Trygve Seim - saxophone

Frode Haltli – accordeon

Helga Myhr – hardinger fiddle and vocals

Håkon Aase – violin

Tanja Orning – cello

Per Oddvar Johansen – percussion

Sigurd Hole - double bass

EXCERPT FROM ALBUM LINER NOTES
Roraima is the northernmost state of Brazil. It is home to the Yanomami and several other Indigenous peoples, and like the rest of the Amazon basin it is also home to an incredible diversity of animal and plant life. While listening to field recordings from the Amazon for the first time, I was surprised by how densely packed the whole sound spectrum was; a perfectly executed orchestration literally teeming with life. It took some time getting accustomed to this intense quality of sound, but after a while I settled into a more relaxed mode of listening. Suddenly, a bird cut through the dense wall of sound repeating a simple phrase with a very distinct tonality. This phrase, which I later learned was performed by the red-billed toucan, reoccurs in many of the different movements throughout the musical work "Roraima".

"Roraima" is both a celebration of the soundscapes of the natural world, an expression of grief as many of these sounds fade away – and a prayer. A prayer that world leaders will finally listen to the voice of our planet as it begs us to change our course. The growth imperative of our economic system wreaks havoc on all of nature, and will ultimately lead to our own demise.

However, there is another way to be found. The ancient wisdom of Indigenous peoples gives us clues to a completely different approach to interacting with nature. We should listen to what they have to say.

– Sigurd Hole, February 2022