Nordman

Swedish music duo that mixes folk music, pop and rock. The duo consists of the singer Håkan Hemlin and the songwriter and nyckelharpa player (key harpist) Mats Wester and was in Sweden style-forming in the genre ethnopop in the mid-1990s. They met in a studio in Hjorthagen, Sweden 1991. Håkan was there with his hardrockband Bye Bye to make a demo for a promo. Mats had experimented with mixing folk music and pop and was looking for a singer for his project. He asked Håkan if he was interested, and he was. In 1993 they got a record contract with Sonet Grammofon. In February 1994 the first single ”Förlist” was released. The album "Nordman" was released in late April the same year. After only 4 weeks the album sold gold (50.000 copies at the time). The second single "Vandraren" went straight to number one in the charts, and stayed there the whole summer. During the summer the album also sold platinum (100.000 copies), and before the end of the year, triple platinum. Two more singles were released, "Laglöst Land", and "Ännu Glöder Solen". On November 27th 1995, the second album "Ingenmansland" was released. Over 100.000 copies were sold in advance, meaning platinum before it even was released! The third album "Här och Nu" was recorded in 1997, and released in November the same year. Even this album sold over 100.000 copies in advance. In January 1998 all work was aborted and Nordman took a break. The reason was Håkan's drug-abuse, which he himself didn't admit he had. Seven years later, February 2004, Håkan calls Mats and tells him his drug-using days are over, and they get together again. After a while Mats gets his trust back, and they start writing songs again. After the summer they decide to "reincarnate" Nordman. The new album "Anno 2005" was released on April 27, 2005.