Scratch

The concept sisu was one that every Norwegian youth who skied in the 1960s grew up
with. Sisu was understood as 'hanging in there', putting out that crucial extra effort.
Sisu was tough as tree roots, enduring as a mountain, it was as amorphous as a frozen
waterfall, and it was clearly Finnish - we thought until it appeared as a percussion
ensemble in the 1990s. SISU still meant something powerful and unshakable, but it
also became associated with the aesthetic, ecstatic and extraordinary.
The SISU percussion trio emerged in part from the stimulating environment of the
Norwegian Academy of Music. During the course of the ensemble's first decade six
musicians have been members of SISU: now scattered across the country bringing
'The SISU Experience' to its most remote and perhaps unlikely areas. SISU plays on
boats, in gyms and theatres, while reaping in enthusiastic reports of their performances
abroad as well. And when SISU now makes its debut recording for Simax Classics, you
can rest assure it is not a mainstream release...
scratch! sets of with Rolf Wallin's 'balloon piece' by the same name, written for
balloon(s) (you know the kind!) and performed by SISU countless times both at home
and abroad. Live performances of Scratch have resulted in many frustrated sound
engineers, overwhelmed children in South Africa receiving balloons to participate in
the piece, and the satisfied grin of a Norwegian Minister of Culture commenting
'I knew the balloon would not burst!'. She had just experienced the piece live for the
second time...
Also Henrik Hellstenius brilliant Five Imprints of Time II is a part of this CD, together
with Rob Waring's gamelan-inspired piece Sikoté Sukán which was made after a long
period of study among the Balinese. No Illusion brings this exiting new release to a
striking end, leaving the listener with a good treat of the SISU Experience.