Mythical, Historical and Linguistically Complex Nordic Drama

Tobias Santelmann on set as King Olav the Holy. Photo: Lars Olav Dybvig

A new chapter in a multi-temporal tale

Nordic Noir has become a distinct style within the crime genre. Shows like The Bridge, The Killing, and more recently The Chestnut Man, have captivated audiences worldwide with their down-to-earth characters, cold colour schemes, Nordic fashion and haunting landscapes.

By Alyssa Nilsen

Crime shows often jump back and forth in time and space, with several locations and timelines intertwining, but none quite as expansively as HBO MAX’s Beforeigners. Taking place in Oslo, Norway, with reconstructed, ancient Nordic languages and the appearance of mythical and historical figures, Beforeigners presents Norwegian life, architecture, history and culture to the world.

A cross between TV series like Vikings, Game of Thrones and Nordic Noir crime shows, Beforeigners explores what might happen if people from the past suddenly show up in our time with no memory of how they got here. Flashes in the Oslo fjord, followed by people appearing in the water, kick off the series where ‘time migrants’ from the Stone Age, Viking era and the 19th century all have to integrate and learn how to co-exist in the modern world.

In the middle of it all, police officers Lars and Alfhildr have to navigate cultural structures, linguistics and personal problems to solve crimes. In addition, multi-temporal interactions, power struggles and religious clashes between heathen and Christian Vikings, Völvas, Luddites and modern man complicate the ordeal. Season two, which premiered in December 2021, also introduces a storyline revolving around the infamous British serial killer Jack the Ripper.

“But it’s not just entertainment,” says Norwegian actor Tobias Santelmann (known from among other things Exit and Atlantic Crossing), who plays Viking legend King Olav the Holy. “The creators of the show are also very elegantly shining a thought-provoking light on the deeper social issues that we still face today. And how, as a society, we choose to handle the larger problems and challenges in this world. They’ve just inserted it into a plot along with crime, Jack the Ripper,

Vikings, the Stone Age and 19th-century people. It’s pretty unique.”

The social criticism is handled with a solid dose of humour. King Olav has become a YouTube influencer, whose contemporary problems, in addition to reclaiming his name and title as King of Norway, consists of learning how to drive a car and understanding the concept of DNA.

The rebirth of Old Norse For the cast, however, one of the aspects that really set this show apart from many others also proved to be one of the most challenging tasks: the extinct languages of the time migrants.

“Old Norse takes an obscene amount of time to familiarise yourself with if you want to do it properly,” laughs Santelmann. Like several of the cast, he had to learn a brand-new language for the series. Choosing the easy way out by letting everyone speak contemporary Norwegian was not an option for Beforeigners creators Anne Bjørnstad, Eilif Skodvin and director Jens Lien. Instead, they went all-in by making each character speak the language they would have used in their own time. But using Old Norse and other ancient languages as spoken languages in a TV series is no easy task. There are few written records of the Norwegian language prior to the year 1200 AD, and little knowledge of how words were pronounced by the Vikings.

There are no records of Stone Age Norwegian, and what did a Luddite or an upper-class 19th-century person actually sound like? To make the languages in Beforeigners as correct as possible, the creators and scriptwriters of the series collaborated with linguists and researchers to reconstruct and flesh out the characters’ languages and accents. New words for modern concepts had to be invented. ‘Wind stick’ (for hair dryer), ‘eating sword’ (for cutlery) and ‘wall pond’ (for mirror) are some of the creative workarounds where there are no original words. The Stone Age language, dubbed Mesolithic, was created from scratch based on languages from the Caucasus and how they thought Stone Age people might have conversed.

“We had a coach on set every day guiding us through every single line to make sure it was as accurate as possible,” Santelmann says. “While someone else was doing their line, I just kept trying to remember how my next line began. And when they stopped talking, I just had to assume it was my turn.”

To cast time migrants with accurate accents when pronouncing contemporary

Tobias Santelmann. Photo: Helge Brekke

Tobias Santelmann on set. Krista Kosonen on set as Alfhildr.

Norwegian, the series’ creators looked to Finland and Iceland, countries with harder consonants in their languages than the softer spoken Norwegian. In Finland, they found actress Krista Kosonen (previously in Blade Runner 2049 and The Midwife), who plays police officer Alfhildr. For Kosonen, this presented several challenges. Not only could she not speak a word of Norwegian when she was cast; but in addition, she had to learn the language while simultaneously learning Old Norse.

“People in Finland don’t believe me when I say I did the show in Norwegian and Old Norse,” she laughs. “And honestly, I don’t quite believe it myself either. Filming this season, though, I lived in Norway for seven months due to Covid, so now I understand Norwegian quite well.”

A Nordic neighbourhood Alfhildr, a headstrong Viking woman with an unknown past, is slowly waking up to her origins while learning how to use technology, speak contemporary Norwegian and function in a world not quite as free and wild as the one she is used to. Like a Viking version of Saga Norén, she not only fights crime, but also the norms, customs and self-imposed rules that we no longer even question.

With a mainly Nordic cast, working with their neighbours was also a chance for the actors to work with each country’s top talents. “It’s been wonderful,” says Nicolai Cleve Broch (known from The Sandhamn Murders and Max Manus: Man of War), who plays troubled contemporary police officer Lars. While solving crimes and helping his work partner Alfhildr adjust, he also has his own demons, substance abuse and visions to deal with.“Beforeigners has attracted top-shelf actors for all the roles, from so many countries. People are excited about being in the show, which is really cool!” he says.

“That’s a good thing about streaming services,” agrees Swedish actress Hedda Stiernstedt, who plays The Volva. “They do a lot of co-productions, which allows us all to work together across the borders.”

The Volva, a misunderstood Norse seeress forced underground due to performing Blôt and practising magic, is just one of several new characters in season two. And as the scale of the series keeps growing, and the characters and storylines are evolving, we can hopefully look forward to several future seasons of time migration, heroes, villains and cultural clashes for the multi-temporal cast of Beforeigners.

Show creators Anne Bjørnstad, Eilif Skodvin and Jens Lien, and actors Nicolai Cleve Broch, Krista Kosonen, and Hedda Stiernstedt. Photo: Helge Brekke

Scandinavian music

If there’s one artist I’m hoping to hear a lot more from in 2022, it’s ILON – a name that every pop fan should be familiarising themselves with. The Finnish newcomer provided one of the most relentless earworms of 2021 with her single Tobacco, and now she’s back with another beauty – her latest single Dream. On it, the tempo may have been dropped considerably in comparison to its predecessor, but the emphasis placed on a great melody has not; if anything, it’s been ramped up. Dream takes its influence from ‘80s bigbeat ballads and modern day synthpop, and it’s just as dreamy as you would hope and expect from a song with that title.

Across the border in Sweden, Melanie Wehbe has taken a quick break from writing Danish radio airplay number 1s, Melodifestivalen winners and Idol winner

singles – all for a selection of other artists –to focus on her own music. She releases her debut EP in early 2022, and new single Sugarcoat is an exciting taste of what’s to come from her. Staccato beats and dualpersonality vocals form the pillars of what’s a fresh and personal take on accepting the inevitable end of a relationship, resulting in Sugarcoat positioning itself as a new kind of break-up anthem for us to take with us into 2022.

Two of Norway’s biggest pop exports – Astrid S and Dagny – have paired up for a collaboration that is so perfect for both of them, you wonder why it has taken them so long to come up with the idea of duetting. New single Pretty sounds like it could well have been lifted from the highlights of either of their most recent albums. It’s a feel-good slice of radio-friendly electronica about the

By Karl Batterbee

euphoria that comes about from catching a mere glimpse of another half’s face. When both of these artists eventually get around to releasing their own Greatest Hits collections, Pretty will have pride of place on both.

Web: www.scandipop.co.uk

Chit-chat and snow problems

In Sweden, the further north you go, the less people speak. This fact does not detract from the welcoming charm of Northerners – they’re just wise enough to save their energy for things that really matter, like working out where the roads end and the fields begin (snow problems) and layering wool jumpers (snow problems). There’s something comforting about knowing that you are unlikely to be accosted for a chat when you’re out and about, and can get on with your business in peace.

Therefore, imagine our alarm when, a while ago, my sister and I were greeted by the sight of a man coming out of his house as we passed and striding purposefully in our direction. Our shock grew when we realised that he was not even appropriately dressed! In reality, he was probably just a few wool jumpers short of the required number, but the sight was so jarring that he might as well have been trundling through the snow in bare feet. By this point, the fact that his face was covered in blood only mildly added to the confusion. And then – sure enough – he addressed us. “You’re a vet,” he said to my sister, who is one. Then, pointing to his bleeding face, “Does this need stitches?”

It transpired that he’d been out with his huskies and got injured by a loose sledstrap, splitting his lip open. On seeing my sister, he likely hoped he could save himself a trip to the hospital, and all the bothersome social interaction that would entail.

“You need a people doctor,” my sister advised and he shrugged, uttered some single-word reply like “Hmm” or “Oj”, before turning back the way he had come. We too carried on walking, without comment. That was enough chit-chat for one day.

By Maria Smedstad

Maria Smedstad moved to the UK from Sweden in 1994. She received a degree in Illustration in 2001, before settling in the capital as a freelance cartoonist, creating the autobiographical cartoon Em. Maria writes a column on the trials and tribulations of life as a Swede in the UK.

Nobel Prize Banquet. Photo: Nobel Prize Outreach Dan Lepp

Scandinavian Culture Calendar

–Where to go, what to see? It’s all happening here!

By Hanna Heiskanen

Compartment No. 6 (in cinemas now) Compartment No. 6 is possibly the most exciting thing to come out of Finnish filmmaking in the past few decades, winning the Grand Prix at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival jointly with the Iranian film A Hero. Telling the story of two strangers travelling by train through Russia, the film is based on a novel by Rosa Liksom, available translated into English as well as a number of other languages. See your local cinema’s listings

Pastoral (20 January) Trumpetist Matilda Lloyd (UK) is one of the most exciting young musicians of today, and you can soon hear her perform in a concert with Oulu Sinfonia. Comprising three pieces by Ludwig van Beethoven, Johann Nepomuk Hummel and Sir Michael Tippett, the concert is conducted by Jessica Cottis from Canberra Symphony Orchestra. Leevi Madetojan katu 1-3, Oulu, Finland www.oulusinfonia.fi/en/oulu-sinfonia

Dark Music Days (23-29 January) In the mood to hear something new? Head all the way north to Reykjavik for a festival of experimental contemporary music. Dark Music Days was established in 1980 by the Iceland Composers Society, and the 2022 line-up includes the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra, Nordic Affect and Bára Gísladóttir. The main venue, Harpa Concert Hall, is also well worth checking out. Reykjavik, Iceland www.darkmusicdays.is Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen (until 27 February) If you’ve ever visited Copenhagen, or binged on Borgen, you will have seen the statue of King Christian IX of Denmark near Christiansborg. The statue was made by sculptor Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen (1863–1945), praised at a young age by Auguste Rodin, whose works are on display in Glyptoteket. This is the largest exhibition of her art since 1945. Dantes Plads 7, Copenhagen, Denmark www.glyptoteket.com

Århundredets Festival (4-13 March) Literally ‘Festival of the Century’, Århundredets Festival celebrates knowledge, culture and education. Organised by Folkeuniversitetet i Aarhus, an open

university type of institution, the festival’s theme this year is revolution in all its forms – from digital to sexual. If your Danish is rusty or you can’t make it to Aarhus, many of the talks will be available virtually and in English – free of charge, although pre-registration may be required. Aarhus, Denmark www.aarhundredetsfestival.fuau.dk

Osmo Rauhala: Remember to forget everything (until 29 May) Born in 1975, Osmo Rauhala is known as one of the pioneers of Finnish art. His exhibition showcases the wide range of work he has produced in the 2010s, with themes ranging from DNA and evolution to deer and marine life. The location, Turku’s Aboa Vetus Ars Nova museum of architecture and modern art, is in itself worth a visit. Itäinen Rantakatu 4–6, Turku, Finland www.aboavetusarsnova.fi/en

British – Ever So Nordic (until 1 April) How has quintessentially Nordic fashion been influenced by Great Britain? The trading relationship between the two regions stretches back millennia. Today, thousands of tourists head to London to be inspired by the latest fashion, not to mention classics such as the trench coat and Doctor Martens boots. The exhibition is based on Nordiska museet’s collection. Djurgårdsvägen 6-16, Stockholm, Sweden www.nordiskamuseet.se/en

The Nobel Prize Banquet – Behind the Scenes (until 23 March 2023) To experience what it feels like to win a Nobel Prize, you don’t have to discover a new element or broker world peace – you can simply visit the Nobel Prize Museum in central Stockholm. The real-life banquet is attended by 1,250 guests and the Swedish Royal Family. Here, you can get a feel for the exquisite menu, the fancy clothes and the speeches given by the winners. Stortorget 2, Stockholm, Sweden www.nobelprizemuseum.se/en

Matilda Lloyd. Photo: Benjamin Ealovega

British – EverSoNordic. Photo: Johan Danielson