Elin Brimheim Heinesen - Sóleyan lýsir um fløtur (Buttercups Light Up The Meadows) (Official Video)
The Faroese author Jens Pauli Heinesen wrote the beautiful poem „Sóleyan” (The Buttercup) in the 60‘s. One year after Jens Pauli’s death in 2011, his daughter Elin Brimheim Heinesen put his poem to music.
After a successful crowd funding campaign in 2020, the Italian composer Enzo de Rosa orchestrated the music for symphony orchestra. The music was recorded in Smecky Studios in Prague with the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Adam Clemens, supervised by executive producer Laura Lungu.
All vocals were recorded in Tórshavn, Faroe Islands. Composer Elin Brimheim Heinesen sings the main vocal and the 60-man choir Tórshavnar Manskór sings the backing vocals. Elin Brimheim Heinesen translated her father’s poem „Sóleyan“ into English.
Finnur Hansen sound engineered the choir recordings and mixed the choir and the orchestra, while Bárður Háberg from Baroli Music sound engineered and mixed the main vocal. The mixed track was mastered by Camilo de Silva F. from Colombia.
Release date was set to November 12th 2021– the late lyricist Jens Pauli Heinesen’s 89th birthday. The song was released on all platforms in two versions – one in Faroese and one in English. An official music video for the song was released December 3rd 2021.
Elin Brimheim Heinesen explains the background for the poem:
- My father, Jens Pauli Heinesen, wrote the poem in the 1960’s when the Cold War was at its peak. I think everyone at that time had a sense of something ominous that could hit them anytime out of nowhere. But, still, people just had to live life, as if the threat did not exist. After all, the days, the nights, the seasons just keep coming and going, and the buttercup blossoms incessantly. In the great context, man is so infinitely small compared to much greater powers at play, which can shatter the whole world in the blink of an eye. This theme is just as relevant today.
Download Sóleyan in Faroese and English:
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THE POEM “SÓLEYAN“
(The title Sóleyan is an older form of the word ‘sóljan’, which means ‘the buttercup’).
Lyrics in Faroese: Jens Pauli Heinesen (1961)
Kvøldar á sundi, nátt er í nánd
Sólin at havgeiri dregur
Nátarnir flúgva at sovandi strond
Minnini hava so kalda hond
ið kínir tær, tá ið tú svevur
Streymar á sundi, streymar í mær
broddur av drepandi iva
sum melur í klingur, bønar um svar
Men dunið út úr gjáunum lær
at okkum, ið elska, ið liva
Tey spæla bert við okkum, lívsins kor
tær sælu, lygnandi løtur
nú lombini leika í grønari skor
og heimar smildrast við eittans orð
og sóleyan lýsir um fløtur
Sóleyan lýsir um fløtur
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Lyrics rewritten in English by Elin Brimheim Heinesen (2020):
Dusk on the sound, day lingers no more
The sun falls behind the horizon
The fulmars fly full to the slumbering shore
The memories stroke you, cold and sore
at night from where dreams are arising
Streams on the sound, fast flowing in me
a pinching of gruelling misgivings
swirls round and round, begging, yearning for heed
But rumble from gorges revels in glee
at us and our loving and living
They play around with us, all palettes of life
these blissful and marvellous moments
while lambs are at play on grassy hillsides
and worlds are smashed by a single might
while buttercups light up the meadows
Buttercups light up the meadows
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CREDITS
MUSIC CREATION:
Album Artist: ELIN BRIMHEIM HEINESEN©
Composer: ELIN BRIMHEIM HEINESEN© (2012)
Lyrics in Faroese: JENS PAULI HEINESEN© (1961)
Lyrics rewritten in English: ELIN BRIMHEIM HEINESEN© (2020)
Orchestration for Symphony Orchestra and Choir: ENZO DE ROSA© (2020)
Mixing of Orchestra and Choir: FINNUR HANSEN (2021)
Mixing of Lead Vocal: BÁRÐUR HÁBERG (2021)
Mastering: CAMILO DE SILVA F MASTERING (2021)
Artwork: ELIN BRIMHEIM HEINESEN
MUSIC RECORDINGS:
Orchestra: CITY OF PRAGUE PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
Conductor: ADAM CLEMENS
Sound Engineer: JAN HOLZNER
ProTools Assistant: MICHAEL HRADISKY
Recording Executive Producer & Musical Supervisor: LAURA LUNGU
Recorded in: SMECKY MUSIC STUDIO, Prague, Czech Republic (2020)
Backing Vocals: TÓRSHAVNAR MANSKÓR (60-man choir)
Conductor: BJARNI RESTORFF
Sound Engineer: FINNUR HANSEN
Recorded in: HÁTÚN, Tórshavnar Musikkskúli, Faroe Islands (2021)
Lead Vocal: ELIN BRIMHEIM HEINESEN
Sound Engineer: BÁRÐUR HÁBERG (Baroli Music)
Recorded in: HOME STUDIO (2020)
MUSIC VIDEO:
Art director: ELIN BRIMHEIM HEINESEN© 2021
Video Operators:
Symphony Orchestra: JIRI SKUPIEN & DAVID SKUPIEN
Men‘s Choir: GUNNAR RESTORFF
Lead vocalist Elin Brimheim Heinesen: SÍMUN WAAG, SíWa Production
Pianist Enzo de Rosa: KUSHAGR AGARWAL
Faroese landscapes: KEVIN KRAUTGARTNER, Kevin Krautgartner Fotografie
Buttercup fields : HELENA HEINESEN REBENSDORFF & ELIN BRIMHEIM HEINESEN
Video Editing: EYÐUN MÜLLER THOMSEN & ELIN BRIMHEIM HEINESEN (2021)
Image Processing and Color Grading: EYÐUN MÜLLER THOMSEN
Make-up: MATILDA SIVERTSEN
A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL THE 156 CROWDFUNDING BACKERS!