Bass and No Treble

While the Covid pandemic halted many musical events, it did launch a unique collaboration between a Norwegian string trio and Nepali singer song-writer Rachana Dahal.

Dahal met Eivind Mossback Heier of Trio No Treble during a concert at the Norwegian Embassy in Kathmandu just before pandemic hit, and found both personal and musical harmony. But the lockdowns put their collaboration on hold.

They are now making up for lost time, and have just concluded a brief tour of Kathmandu Valley performing at a sold out concert at Dhokaima Cafe on 4 October with Dahal’s powerful delivery of songs with angst-filled lyrics. 

Organised by the Audeamus Music Foundation, the band also played at five venues including a flash mob at Patan Museum, shows for the students of Ullens School, Imperial World School, United School, and Sangeet Pathshala. 

Cellist Heier first came to Nepal eight years ago as an instructor under the Norway-Nepal Orchestra Project, and has worked closely with Nepal’s orchestral scene through the years.

This was the Heier’s ninth visit to Nepal and this time the Trondheim-based Trio No Treble collaborated with other musicians from a mix of genres ranging from folk music to pop artists. Besides Heier on cello, Trio No Treble consists of Lars Marius Hølås on the viola, and Jostein Bolås Brødreskift on the double bass. 

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“Music is an international language, it is just the styles that are different,” says Eivind, adding that the trio did not just come to perform but also collaborate and learn more about Nepali musicians like Amrit Gurung and Narayan Gopal.

“I would also bring back the philosophy of Eastern music and how discovering it now takes me back to how I felt when I first started playing music as a kid,” says Björn Gao, who filled in on the viola for Hølås this time in Nepal.

Though this year’s tour was brief, the trio hopes to return for more concerts, including in locations outside Kathmandu with other Nepali artists. Says Brødreskift, “We have a few projects we are working on, and a few concerts for Christmas as well. We also wish to continue collaborating with other artists such as Rachana.”

The term ‘treble’ refers to a higher-pitched range of sounds, and is often performed by instruments such as the violin, flutes, and clarinets. However, cellos, violas, and double bass are all instruments that are incapable of producing any treble notes.

Instead, they produce deep full-bodied sounds, hence the name  'Trio No Treble’. The trio quite literally is all about the bass, and no treble. 

First coming together in 2017, all three members met as students in the Norwegian University of Science and Technology’s Department of Music. It was not until the three parted ways for an exchange program in different countries that they realised how well they worked as a trio. 

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Once back, they decided to start playing together officially. “It was actually because we went away from each other that we decided to play with each other,” quips Brødreskift.

But while the three worked well together as musicians, their combination as a string ensemble without a treble instrument is something that is rare in orchestral music. 

“There aren’t a lot of compositions written solely for viola, cello, and bass. So that means that we have to do a lot of our arrangements ourselves,” Heier explains.

The lack of pre-written compositions meant that the three musicians had to constantly experiment with new arrangements and work with a lot more variety. And that is why they find Nepali collaborations so enriching.

This out-of-the-box approach is evident in the group’s discography: the two studio albums ‘Christmas in the Ear’ and the self-titled, ‘Trio No Treble’, released in 2020 carry distinctively different musical inspirations.

Says Brødreskift: “It was quite clear to us that Eivind really loves Nepal. He’s always telling us good things about the country every time he comes back from a visit, so a Nepal tour was something that we really wanted to do.”

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