WARDRUNA TO HEADLINE FIRE IN THE MOUNTAINS 2025
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE BLACKFEET NATION, FIRE IN THE MOUNTAINS, THE NON-PROFIT THE FIREKEEPER ALLIANCE, AISA MUSIC AND BY NORSE MUSIC
NEW ALBUM BIRNA IS OUT 24TH JANUARY 2025 ALONGSIDE DVD/BLURAY LIVE AT THE ACROPOLIS
Norwegian-based world music collective Wardruna announce their participation at Fire In The Mountains 2025, not only as performing artists but as a collaborative partner with the Blackfeet Nation and the festival organisation (also alongside the non-profit The Firekeeper Alliance, AISA music and By Norse Music) with the goal of curating an experience with a positive impact on both the Blackfeet community and everyone who gathers on the festival grounds next July.
Fire In The Mountains is centred around the indigenous community of the Blackfeet Nation, Montana – connecting music and the natural world. It is set to take place in the heart of the Rocky Mountains on July 25 – 27, 2025.
Einar Selvik comments: “Wardruna is honoured to take part in this one-of-a-kind multi-cultural gathering on the sacred tribal lands of the Blackfeet Nation. Fire In The Mountains is a unique festival to begin with. Their wholehearted focus on the importance of connection to land and culture as well as personal growth as human beings, is something that resonates very much with the work of Wardruna. The festival’s newly formed alliance with the Blackfeet Nation further adds to its potential importance and depth.”
He continues, “For us, this will be so much more than a concert. It will be a chance to learn and share knowledge. A chance to constructively stand with indigenous needs. A chance to be part of a gathering which genuinely seeks to leave behind long-lasting positive footprints for the hosting land, its people as well as the attending audience and artists. Sustainability, by way of creating a multitude of positive synergies.”
A representative from the festival adds, “We are thrilled to create a truly special experience at Fire in the Mountains alongside Wardruna, By Norse Music, The Blackfeet Nation, and the Firekeeper Alliance. We started FITM nine years ago with the dream of bringing Wardruna to play at the festival in front of the Rocky Mountains. Our dream will finally be realised next year in 2025, ten years later, but now with a much deeper purpose and a much greater impact than we ever could have imagined.”
Wardruna will donate $1 per ticket sold of their recent concert at Red Rocks Amphitheatre, in Colorado, United States to The Firekeeper Alliance. This non-profit is committed to reducing suicide rates among the Blackfeet Nation and other Indigenous communities in Montana through culturally appropriate initiatives.
In addition to the performance of Wardruna, By Norse Music – the Nordic cultural platform founded by Einar Selvik of Wardruna himself, Ivar Bjornson (of Enslaved, the festival’s first ever guest curator in 2022) and Simon Füllemann of AISA Music – will be partnered with the event in 2025 to present a showcase of curated performances as well.
More news about the collaboration and music curation will follow soon. Wardruna’s performance at Fire In The Mountains 2025 will be in support of the recently announced album Birna, which will be released on January 24, 2025 via Music for Nations / Sony.
Tickets for the 2025 festival will be on sale Friday, October 11th at 10AM MDT / 5pm BST via www.fitmfest.com.
Birna album cover | Cover artwork by Øivind A. Myksvoll
Recently announced album, Birna – the she-bear in Old Norse – is a work of art dedicated to the guardian of the forest, nature’s caretaker, and her battles here on earth. Slowly driven out of her habitat by modern day societies, she has entered a stage of permanent hibernation. As a result, the forest is gradually dying, longing for its pulse and heart – its shepherd. Birna calls for her return.
The rhythm of the bear embodies the very circle of life: When winter approaches, it goes to sleep in its den – back to the womb; its pulse slowing, its body encapsulated in an intermediate death. The heartbeat of the dormant bear, around nine beats per minute, can be felt throughout the Birna album. “Dvaledraumar” (Dormant Dreams) and “Jord til Ljos” (Earth to Light), a two-song meditation creates a joint hibernation between animal and listener, and we return from the den of the bear more attuned, aware and contemplative of nature’s wonders, just in time for the freshly sprung buds. This cyclical process, so embedded both in nature and the worldview of older cultures, drives Einar Selvik’s every creative work.
This resonates in their vision of sowing new seeds whilst strengthening old roots. Einar Selvik, Lindy-Fay Hella and the rest of the group are truly creating something new through something old: They are not mimicking the past, but rather utilising it in crafting their contemporary, authentic and unique sound. Instruments and wisdom from ancient times, coupled with modern day soundscapes and recorded sounds of nature, provide a rare opportunity to tell us something valuable about ourselves. It works as a reminder that we are part of nature, not above it, and it offers a way of remembering, not for memory’s own sake, but to gain both new and forgotten insights.
“The bear doesn’t need my help or any human traditional ornamentation to be its own powerful self. It is quite the opposite if one looks to past bear-traditions worth remembering. We learn, we dream of borrowing its traits and abilities. We fear, revere, and try to walk alongside but on separate paths. Respectfully, claim space and give space. However inconvenient it may be, further taming of the wild can never be the fruitful way forward. For me, it profoundly felt like the right time to give voice to the Birna, mother and shepherd of the vanishing woods.”
BIRNA TRACKLIST
1. Hertan [video]
2. Birna
3. Ljos til Jord
4. Dvaledraumar
5. Jord til Ljos
6. Himinndotter [video]
7. Hibjørnen
8. Skuggehesten
9. Tretale
10. Lyfjaberg [video]
Birna was written and recorded between 2021 and 2024.
Music by Einar Selvik and Lindy-Fay Hella. Lyrics by Einar Selvik.
Birna is performed by Einar Selvik, Lindy-Fay Hella, Eilif Gundersen, HC Dalgaard, Sondre Veland, John Stenersen, Arne Sandvoll.
The album features guest appearances by:
Koret Artemis (Choir), Jonna Jinton (vocals and field recordings), Hans Fredrik Jacobsen (willow-bark flute), Kenneth Lien (Jaw-harp), Iver Sandøy (backing vocals).
Mastered by Tony Lindgren at Fascination Street Studios.
Cover photo by Tuukka Koski.
Cover artwork by Øivind A. Myksvoll.
Biography by Oda Malmin
Along with the new album comes the recorded show of Wardruna’s unique equinox performance at the world heritage site Odeon of Herodes Atticus, Acropolis, Athens. The concert proved to be the pinnacle of an intense period of worldwide touring, ending the Kvitravn cycle in a remarkable way. Spanning over two hours, the show featured outstanding live performances of songs from the group’s discography, such as “Helvegen”, “Kvitravn”, “Heimta Thurs” and “Lyfjaberg” (that will be featured on the new album Birna).
Captured for all eternity by Kolibri Media, Wardruna now presents the DVD and Blu-Ray Live at the Acropolis, featuring the full show, additional interviews and impressions of the meet and greet at the Underflow Record Store.
Both the new album and the DVD/Blu-ray are available for pre-ordering here.
In support of the new album, Wardruna will embark on an extensive world tour starting on October 3rd at Red Rocks in Colorado (US). In the autumn of 2024 and the spring of 2025, audiences in North and South America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, the UK, Iceland and the band’s home country Norway will witness the awakening of the bear live on stage. More dates will be added soon.
REVISIT THE VIDEO FOR “HIMINNDOTTER” BELOW
Wardruna live in 2024/2025
USA & Latin America 2024:
09 Oct – Santiago de Chile, Chile – Teatro Caupolican
12 Oct – São Paulo, Brazil – Terra SP
Europe 2024:
07 Nov – Milano, Italy – Teatro Degli Arcimboldi
08 Nov – Zurich, Switzerland – The Hall
09 Nov – Paris, France – Salle Pleyel with special guest: Jo Quail – SOLD OUT
11 Nov – Hamburg, Germany – Laeiszhalle – SOLD OUT
12 Nov – Berlin, Germany – Tempodrom
14 Nov – Lyon, France – Amphithéâtre 3000
15 Nov – Frankfurt am Main, Germany – Jahrhunderthalle
16 Nov – Nürnberg, Germany – Meistersingerhalle – SOLD OUT
17 Nov – Wien, Austria – Konzerthaus
19 Nov – Brussels, Belgium – Cirque Royal – SOLD OUT
20 Nov – Halle, Germany – Händelhalle
21 Nov – Prague, Czech Republic – Forum Karlin
23 Nov – Utrecht, Netherlands – Tivoli Vredenburg – SOLD OUT
24 Nov – Utrecht, Netherlands – Tivoli Vredenburg – SOLD OUT
26 Nov – Düsseldorf, Germany – Tonhalle – SOLD OUT
Australia & New Zealand 2025:
23 Jan – Melbourne – Palais Theatre
25 Jan – Sydney – Enmore Theatre
27 Jan – Brisbane – Fortitude Music Hall
30 Jan – Auckland – Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre
UK & Ireland 2025 (with special guest Jo Quail):
17 Mar – Liverpool –Philharmonic
18 Mar – Birmingham – Symphony Hall
19 Mar – London – Royal Albert Hall
21 Mar – Bristol – Beacon
22 Mar – York – Barbican
23 Mar – Dublin – Olympia Theatre
25 Mar – Glasgow – SEC Armadillo
Norway 2025:
26 Apr – Oslo – Operaen – SOLD OUT
27 Apr – Oslo – Operaen – SOLD OUT
29 Apr – Trondheim – Olavshallen
02 May – Kristiansand – Kilden
03 May – Stavanger – Konserthuset
04 May – Bergen – Grieghallen
Europe 2025:
07 June – Reyjavik – Harpa
30 Jul – 03 Aug – Rasnov – Rockstadt Extreme Fest