Stanley Samuelsen

"Tænk at have Stanley Samuelsens musik til gode" skriver Ole Lindboe, Forfatter og redaktør af Magasinet Kunst.
"Som ganske ung læste jeg for første gang – hos William Heinesen - om spillemændene på Færøerne og deres magiske forbindelse til det store uendelige univers over de små grønne øer. Jeg glemte aldrig beskrivelsen.
Så en dag, mange mange år efter, hørte jeg ved et tilfælde den færøske – nu mest dansk bosiddende – trubadur og sanger Stanley Samuelsen synge ved en reception. Han sang med en både vemodig, stolt og inderlig stemme sine egne sange, så man stoppede op og blev helt stille. Det var så smukt, at man fik lyst til både at le og græde på samme tid. Siden har jeg lyttet til hans musik mange gange. Det er så stærkt, at man har lyst til at sende hans sange som breve til sine bedste venner. At lytte til Stanleys sange er som at lytte til sin barndoms bedste salmer. Det er magisk og forunderligt og gribende. Det er som at lade sine drømme og sin glæde danse af sted hvorhen det skal være.
Tænk at have Stanley Samuelsens musik til gode."

Ole Lindboe. Forfatter og redaktør af Magasinet Kunst. - Magasinet Kunst

«Engang sagde Grundtvig at det er nødvendigt at kunne høre på en sang eller salme hvad den skal bruges til. Herremændene sang sine sange når de skulle i krig og skolebørnene deres når de var i skole. Hos os på Færøerne var det især mændene der roede ud, som sang. Vi skulle høre hvad sangene betød. Set i det lys er det mig en glæde at byde velkommen til ­Stanley Samuelsen.

Theodor Eli Dam Olsen, Færøerne.

Efter min mening er Stanley – udover at være en af vores dygtigste guitarister – en af vores bedste komponister de seneste år.

Og netop det at få ny melodi til gamle salmer som vi kender så godt kan være en udfordring for nogle. Måske nogen opfatter det som helligbrøde – men omvendt kan en ny melodi være med til at åbne nye døre. At vise nye betydninger i teksten og vise hvad salmen virkelig kan betyde og kan sige os.

At høre ord i nye toner er en særlig oplevelse. Kirkegaard sagde at der hvor ordene ender tager musikken over. Men musikken kan også være med til at give støtte.

En tradition er altid i fare hvis den ikke bliver fornyet. Den stivner. Det er skæbnen for en tradition. Men det siges at de bedste ord fra hver tidsalder altid kommer til at overleve.

Jeg venter at det bl.a. bliver nogle af disse gode ord fra både salme- og sangskatten som Stanley kommer til at synge for os, og hans fem fingre vil kæle for strengene, så der foreløbig bliver stille i vor sjæl og sind.»

Således blev Stanley budt velkommen da han spillede koncert i en færøsk kirke i 2009, og da han i foråret 2011 rundede de 60 år skrev samme præst dette portræt af Stanley til de store danske aviser:

«Lørdag 30. april 2011 runder guitarist, sanger, komponist og digter, Stanley Samuelsen, 60 år. Stanley er født på Færøerne, men har boet i Danmark siden 1970 – og siden 1986 i Birkerød.

Foruden at være kendt som en guitarist i særklasse – og meget respekteret af andre musikere – er han også kendt for sine milde og melodiøse fortolkninger af især ældre folkekære færøske digtere.

F.eks. er hans melodi af det stærke kærlighedsdigt «Hvis jeg kunne synge» af Færøernes vistnok mest anerkendte digter, J.H.O. Djurhuus, blevet en klassiker, og det er ikke usædvanligt, at den bliver sunget af de ca. 10.000 mennesker, der formodes at samles hvert år til Olaj-festen i Tórshavn, når midnatssangen bliver indledt foran parlamentsbygningen, Lagtinget.

Stanley Samuelsens bedstefar var Færøernes første lagmand i nyere tid, Andras Samuelsen. Familien Samuelsen har dog også opfostret flere korsangere og folk med digterisk talent, og det er på denne livets vej, at Stanley Samuelsen har brugt sine talrige talenter.

Han fik sin første guitar som 12 årig og havde allerede sit første livespillejob i 1964 med beatorkestret Silly Boys, som med sine coverversioner af Elvis, Beatles m.fl. blev kåret som Færøernes bedste beatorkester i 1970.

I Danmark har Stanley ­spillet i forskellige bands og som studiemusiker. Han dannede i mange år makkerpar med Nis P. Jørgensen i Den Udødelige Duo som spillede meget for den danske fagbevægelse fra tiden med Anker Jørgensen til Poul Nyrup Rasmussen som statsministre. Den Udødelige Duo blev hædret med LO’s kulturpris i 1992.

Siden 1986 har Stanley komponeret musik til ældre og nyere færøske digte efter blandt andre J.H.O. Djurhuus, Jóannes Patursson, Poul F. Joensen, Hans Andreas Djurhuus, Andras Samuelsen og Christian Matras.

I 2008 på selve Olajdagen blev han hædret med Listavirðisløn Miðlahúsins, som frit oversat betyder Mediehusets Hæders­kunstpris. Beskrevet således:



«Stanleys musik og fremførsler er folkemusik på meget højt internationalt niveau. Hans melodier har beriget os og berører færingens hjerterødder, hvorfor alle, både unge og ældre, synes meget godt om ham. Flere af hans sange er blevet folkeeje, som bliver sunget når folk kommer sammen til almene så vel som til private sammenkomster og hans cd’er findes i næsten hvert et hus. Stanleys vidunderlige musik har stor kunstnerisk betydning og således også stor betydning for den færøske identitet».

Nyere udgivelser
Stanley Samulsen har udgivet fem soloalbums foruden en cd med Trio Acoustica; en guitar og vokaltrio som foruden Stanley tæller to norske guitarister og sangskrivere, Steen-Vidar Larsen og Øistein Rian. De udgav i 2008 et flot album med egne sange på norsk, dansk og færøsk sa - Norsk Viseforum

By Barbara Raponi Giorgini & Sara Giorgini.
Listening to Stanley Samuelsen’s songs is like travelling through unknown friendly places. You can imagine sounds, colors and smells of another time.
Stanley’s music gives a peaceful feeling in the heart. When he sings it’s like he is singing for his friends, and he dedicate himself and his music to the people who are in front of him..
An intimate private concert or a full theater... it doesn’t matter how many people there are, he sings for the wind, the sun, the sea ….
It was also a great experience seeing Stanley with the other artists: Stanley can create harmony between his voice, his words, his music and his soul and the others. He is a sensible musician who can give strong emotions.

By Isabella Celentano.
I appreciated your performance in Osimo very very much. I could almost understand what you sang, even if I don't know a word of your language, because you have a wonderful connection of technique and soul. I hope to listen to you again in future!

By Nicolette Giorgi.
I had the lucky chance to see Stanley Samuelsen perform in Italy in May 2013.
It was a very positive and overwhelming experience.

His music gets straight to your heart and keeps playing there and in your ears even when the concert is over (I found myself humming Oktobir probably 300 times in 2 days).

His way of playing is almost unique: characterized by warm guitars, sweet tones and mellow yet eloquent melodies which bring the audience to these intimate Islands,communicate the love, the pride and respect he has for his culture, his land and makes you wonder and dream about it.

Yes, despite the fact you cannot understand the fascinating Faroese language,Stanley talk to you and lets you know in a very simple, intense, sincere,unpretentious, natural, sweet way, through his guitar and his way of singing,what it is out there, what he saw or felt.

Very professionally, he played one of the very few concerts which will stay with me for a long long time.

And now…why not go up to the Faroe Islands to get a taste of what inspired him !?

Thank you Stanley.

These reviews are from 3 concerts in Italy in May 2013. - Filomondo, Italy

"Regardless of what song it was, Stanley's guitar playing sounded as a full orchestra, plus Chet Atkins, mind You!
It was a pleasure listening to excellent arranged riffs, fills and interludes. There was fingerpicking bluegrass as if we were at The Station Inn in Nashville".
Birgir Kruse Blog.

Stanley Samuelsen visited 'The House of Songs' in Austin Texas in 2010 supported by DJBFA. Danish-Jazz-Beat-Folk-Authors.
Later the same year Stanley invited a musician from Texas to come to Denmark and the Faroe Islands to play som concerts together.
Here is a review from the concert in Tórshavn Faroe Islands.

An American in the Faroe Islands by Birgir Kruse BLOGGER

http://birkblog.blogspot.com/2010/09/americana-i-froyum.html

In mid August I received an email from someone from the village Vági on Suderoy, about an American that should have a concert in their village. I checked the link that came with the email and then replied: This man is too good to Vági !

Now I've heard him live with Stanley Samuelsen. They played at the Irish Pub in Tórshavn, and when I say together, I mean really together. Their playing together was so flawless and melodious that one would think they were childhood friends.

For full houses they rolled out with songs by Dickie Lee Erwin and a few classics in between. Regardless of what song it was, Stanley's guitar playing sounded as a full orchestra, plus Chet Atkins, mind You!

It was a pleasure listening to excellent arranged riffs, fills and interludes. There was fingerpicking bluegrass as if we were at The Station Inn in Nashville. A classic of Lefty Frizzell, one of the Carter Family songs from the 20s and then again an Americana style song by Dickie Lee Erwin from Austin Texas.

An entire songbook of the Americana wave. All songs with chorus and also some ‘singalong’ songs. There was a song about a man who wanted a new large TV; ‘Big Screen Color TV’. The song was a spontaneous singalong song. Wonderful! Then a song about peasant life in Texas and the longing for California.

A bit of Robbie Fulk and Robert Earl Keane, one sensed in Dickie Lee's songs and it is not surprising since it is Americana. It was great to hear so many good songs that I did not know before.

And then there's Stanley. A whole one-man orchestra! Was the American unexpectedly good! Then I was totally flabbergasted by Stanley. – “He owns the show" said my neighbour about Stanley. Yes, I agree. Stanley was enthroned up in new clothes, or at least different from what I've heard him before. A true musician. From Silly Boys (Stanleys 60’s group) in Fuglafjord… to Janus Djurhuus (Stanleys solo performance) and Trio Acoustica (Stanleys guitar and vocal trio), and now - Americana with Dickie Lee Erwin.

So I want to tell the people of Vági to look forward to this show with Stanley and the American, who lives as far as one can from the sea and now has been taken on board the ship Smyril and is sailing southward. Good gig for all of you! - BIRKBLOG

Stanley Samuelsen is a singer and guitarist from the Faroe Islands. As my prior knowledge of Faroese music consists of a pair of heavy metal records, I was curious to hear more music from that remote corner of the globe. So when a Danish record label asked The Armchair Critic to review Samuelsen's latest album Tíðin Rennur, I jumped at the opportunity.

Samuelsen wrote two of the songs on Tíðin Rennur himself, and for the rest he set Faroese verses to music. The subject matter ranges from songs about the sea, to the beauty of nature, and even a poem about an elvish queen. The album opens with a poem by J. H. O. Djurhuus, the most famous Faroese poet, about Sigmundur Brestisson, the 10th-century figure who led the conversion of the Faroese to Christianity. Týr's album Land also opens with a poem by the same author on the same subject. Sigmundur evidently didn't endear himself to everybody, and appears to still be a figure of much discussion and debate in the Faroes. At least, the people who make poems and songs seem to think so.

Musically, Tíðin Rennur is folksy in a conventional singer-songwriter sort of way. While Týr wholeheartedly embrace the rhythmic complexities of the Faroes' indigenous music, Samuelsen is content to keep things in 4:4. His guitar playing is very good, though. The language barrier might scare some people off, but fans of laid back, front porch guitar music will find plenty to like on this album. "Høgur Himin," for example, has a cool groove very reminiscent of J. J. Cale. Samuelsen also has a husky baritone voice that suits his style well.

All in all, Tíðin Rennur is a respectable effort by a very capable musician. Like most international folk albums, the subject matter of the songs might be lost on most English speaking would-be listeners. Stanley Samuelsen's approach to making music should still have some fairly broad appeal, though, especially to people who like mellow guitars.

Overall grade: B

reviewed by Scott
http://thearmchaircritic.blogspot.com/2009/04/stanley-samuelsen-tiin-rennur.html
- The Armchair Critic