Ragnhild Furebotten

Ragnhild Furebotten (born 10 March 1979 in Saltdal, Norway) is a Norwegian fiddler, folk musician and composer, and former member of the traditional folk band Majorstuen and present member and founder of Hekla Stålstrenga.

Furebotten picked up the fiddle at the age of six, and started her formal musical studies when she attended the Music program at Kongsbakken Videregående Skole in Tromsø, at the age of 16, earning her Examen artium in 1998. This is where she first got in contact with guitarist Tore Bruvoll, with whom she has collaborated since. Later she joined Bruvoll at the Telemark University College (1998–2000). Furebotten got her diploma at the Norwegian Academy of Music (2000–2004), and during her studyies she was an exchange student at The Fyn Conservatory of Music in Odense, Denmark and there she studied under the guidance of the Danish fiddler Harald Haugaard among others. Now residing in Målselv she works as Regional Musician that Culture in Troms (2013), besides being a freelance musicianr.

Furebotten is a mediator of the Northern Norwegian "slåttemateriale" (traditional Norwegian fiddle music), a tradition she knows well, and interpret and express in a completely new and modern way. She is also a fiddler in the Northern Norwegian traditional folk music band Hekla Stålstrenga (established in 2005) who were "Ungkunstnere" (young artists) at the Festival of North Norway in 2006. The Norwegian Folk Music trio Fotefar was also established in 2005. Furebotten var ungkunstner ved Festspillene in Nord-Norge in 2006, samt tildelt Arvid Hanssen award for young artists. In the summer 2007 she made the commissioned work Fot for the festival Kalottspel, and was soloist for the prosjektet Arctic Subsircle the Music Festival of Northern Norway (2008).

Furebotten has released a series of albums with different musical constellations. Within the bvand Majorstuen she was awarded the Spellemannprisen in 2003 for the best traditional folk album of the year, for the debut album Majorstuen. She also partisipated on the albums Jorun Jogga (2004) and Juledrøm (2006) within Majorstuen until she ceased the band. They became the first Norwegian folk music band to receive the official showcase at WOMEX world music trade fair in 2007. The same year she released her debut solo album Endelig Vals within her own R. T. Trio including Frode Haltli and Gjermund Larsen. In 2008 she released the album Hekla stålstrenga together with Tore Bruvoll. Both albums were nominated for the Spellemannprisen in the class traditional folk and traditional dance music. For the solo album Never on a Sunday (2011) she was awarded Spellemannprisen 2011 in the class Traditional folk/traditional dance music, and in 2013 Furebotten appeared at the Oslo World Music Festival

• 2004: Spellemannprisen in the class Traditional folk for the album Majorstuen, within Majorstuen
• 2005: Intro-folk award within the band Majorstuen
• 2006: Arvid Hanssen award for young artists
• 2006: Ungkunstnere at the Music Festival of Northern Norway within the band Hekla stålstrenga
• 2011: Spellemannprisen in the class Traditional folk/traditional dance music for the album Never on a Sunday

Solo albums

Within Ragnhild Furebotten Trio

• 2007: Endelig vals (Ta-lik Records), within her own R, F. Trio including Frode Haltli & Gjermund Larsen

In duo with Tore Bruvoll

• 2008: Hekla Stålstrenga (Ta:lik), nominated for the Spellemannprisen 2008

With Helge Sunde, Anders Eriksson, Marius Haltli, Frode Nymo, Torben Snekkestad & Lars Andreas Haug

• 2011: Never on a Sunday (Ta:lik Records)

Collaborations

Within Majorstuen including

• 2002: Majorstuen (2L Records)
• 2004: Jorun Jogga
• 2006: Juledrøm

Within the trio Fotefar including Lena Jinnegren & Bendik Lund Haanshus

• 2009: Fest (Kirkelig Kulturverksted), featuring Håvard Lund

Within Hekla Stålstrenga

• 2011: Makramé (Ta:lik), nominated for the Spellemannprisen 2011
• 2013: Dyrandé (Ta:lik)

With others

• 2002: Klassisk Kalvik (DaWorks), with Finn Kalvik

With Brynjar Rasmussen

• 2011: Arctic Mood (Nordnorsk Jazzsenter, Finito Bacalao Records)

• Pettersen, Tomas Lauvland (24 October 2011). "Never on a Sunday – Review" (in Norwegian). Listen to Norway. Retrieved 2013-10-05. 
• "Fest – Fotefar & Håvard Lund – Review" (in Norwegian). Folkemusikk.no. Retrieved 2013-10-05. 
• "Tore Bruvoll Gitarist – Review" (in Norwegian). MIC.no. Retrieved 2013-10-05. 
• "Plateanmeldelse: Hekla Stålstrenga – "Dyrandé"" (in Norwegian). Verdens Gang. Retrieved 2013-10-05.