1979 Egerdahl Family Christmas Bonus!

Egerdahl Family Voices - Christmas, 1979

The voices of Ottar, Hulda, Henny and Gladys were recorded on cassette tape at the Egerdahl family Christmas gathering of 1979 at Harold and Yvonne’s house. The voice messages and songs were sent to the siblings’ aunties (Johana & Ragnhild) in Hamarøy, Norway. Brother Harold elected to not participate in the voice recordings as he thought his Norwegian was too rusty to be functional.

The music in the background is made up of a few songs recorded that night as part of the Christmas greeting to be sent. Ed on piano, Ottar on accordion, Harold on guitar and Scott on bass with everybody else in attendance singing. 

I'm proud to say the translations from the Norwegian were done by me! After three years of study, my Norwegian got good enough that I could listen and translate the audio as I digitized it from cassette. Keepin' the Norsk alive! 

God jul! Grant 

=====Translations from Norwegian=====

Ottar 

Yes – greetings – this is Ottar. We have had a really great Christmas and we hope that you had the same. We hope you liked our music. It was fun for us to play. We wish you all a really great New Year. 

Hulda 

Dear Aunt Johana, Aunt Ragnhild – this is Hulda and we’re over at Harold’s place with all the family where we’re having a good time this Christmas day. We wish you both a Happy New Year. May God bless you and I hope you’ll write to me. 

Henny 

This is Henny. Today is Christmas day - and now we’ve sung a Christmas greeting to you. Of course, I wish you a blessed New Year. Also, we have contact with each other through our prayers. Goodbye. 

Gladys 

Hello, my dear aunts. I’m sitting here in Seattle and we’re having Christmas together with Harold and Yvonne and we have gathered the whole family… And you’re sitting over there listening to my voice. It is hard to think that I’m sitting here and in just a short time Shirley and Eddie will be together with you in Hamarøy. I think often about going back to Hamarøy and the good memories of both Christmas and all the warm times we’ve had together at your place. We hope you have a cozy time together with Eddie and Shirley - that they’ve got there safely and you all have a nice time together. We hope things are well with you, Aunt Ragnhild and Aunt Johanna. We hope to hear from you soon as you welcome back Shirley and Eddie.

=====!Bonus Track!=====

Harold's Nordic Heritage Museum Interview - January 29th, 2001 - 82 years old

In this interview Harold details his childhood life around "the house on the hill" in Hamarøy, Norway - the trip to the USA (the boat ride that inspired "Uncle Holy's Seasick Blues") and his early experience as an Egerdahl musician.