One of the world’s finest fiddle bands - Frigg from Finland - will head to Glasgow in January to embark on an eagerly awaited first tour of the UK.

Named after the Norse goddess of love and fertility, this freewheeling, feelgood septet have created their own captivating style of music – Nordgrass, fusing Nordic folk and American bluegrass. 

Frigg’s globetrotting has seen them complete six extensive tours of North America, together with tours of Australia, Japan, Germany, Austria, the Benelux countries, appearances in Malaysia, Spain, Portugal, France and this November, a second tour of Switzerland. 

Scottish audiences have already had a sneak preview back in 2009 when Frigg played the Shetland Folk Festival and then drove a wild crowd wilder when they performed in A Taste of Shetland at Glasgow’s Old Fruitmarket. 

They return to Glasgow to kick start their debut UK tour, showcasing their lively new CD Polka V.

They open their bid as part of the world’s biggest indoor winter music festival – the famous Celtic Connections – with a show at Glasgow’s Old Fruitmarket on Wednesday, January 30. 

Promising audiences “a hair-raising, voice-losing, heart-burstingly beautiful gig full of traditional Finnish tunes with Norwegian detours” Frigg will appear as part of a special double bill with young Mongolian band Anda Union (left) a big hit at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe. 

Tickets for the 8pm show, price £16 are available by visiting the box office at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, phoning 0141 353 8000 or booking online HERE. 

The Frigg tour will then move on to Lancashire for a show at Bury Met followed by gigs in Lincoln and Malvern, Worcestershire ahead of a finale at The Sage, Gateshead.

2013 Tour dates

30 Jan  GLASGOW The Old Fruitmarket Celtic Connections 

Double bill with Anda Union 

31 Jan             BURY The Met 0161 761 2216

1 Feb               LINCOLN North Hykeham, Terry O’Toole Theatre 01522 883311

2 Feb                MALVERN Colwall Village Hall 01684 540366 [email protected]

3 Feb                GATESHEAD The Sage 0191 443 4661

In 2004, American folk music magazine Sing Out! reviewed Frigg’s debut album, exalting them as “The second coming of JPP”, a reference to the legendary Finnish group that for 20 years had carried the torch for Nordic string bands. 

Now, with five successful albums, a folk music “Album of the Year” nomination and ‘Top of the World’ features in Songlines magazine, Frigg have firmly established themselves as the leading act on the Nordic scene.

Fast, furious and fun, the innovative young combo features the virtuosic talents of three members of the famed Jarvela family from the central Finland village of the same name in the municipality of Kaustinen - siblings Alina and Esjo Jarvela and their cousin Antti, the band’s frontman. 

The three are from the family’s fourth generation of famous fiddlers though Antii turns his hand to the double bass in this unstoppable, high-energy line-up.

Boasting several multi-instrumentalists, the four front-row fiddles and double bass are complemented by Petri Prauda’s cittern, mandolin, bagpipes and Jew’s harp and Tuomas Logren’s guitar and dobro. 

Drawing first and foremost on the folk music heritage of their homeland, their fjord and forest-imbued Nordic tunes are peppered with innovative infusions of world music styles from Celtic to Balkan and Americana, making for a truly distinctive, irrepressible and life-affirming sound. 

Don’t miss Finland’s finest fiddlers on this “limited edition” five-date UK tour!