Biography
Windir (Translates roughly to “Tribal Warrior”) was a black metal band from Sogndal, Norway, that started out in 1994 as a one-man project from multi-instrumentalist Terje “Valfar” Bakken. It would take seven years, two demo-tapes and two LPs (Sóknardalr and Arntor) before the decision of expanding the project to a six-piece band would be made.
(Terje “Valfar” Bakken)
The band combined the cold and hard-hitting sound of “classic” Norwegian black metal with folk music, synths and electronic music. Though often regarded a black metal band by today’s standards, the use of synths and folk-inspired instrumentation was looked upon as quite experimental when it first came out. It was a combinaion of this, and the fact that black-metal had gotten a bad reputation in Norway by the time Windir dropped due to the many infamous Mayhem-controversies, that Valfar decided to distance himself from the label, naming his sound “Sognametal”.
The band disbanded in 2004 when Valfar died of hypothermia; when traveling to his family-cabin in Fagereggi, by foot, he was surprised by a storm. On September 3rd 2004, the remaining members performed a tribute concert to the deceased front-man. The concert was filmed and later released as a DVD titled “Sognametal”. A compilation album was released the same year, titled “Valfar, ein Windir”.
The band released four full-length albums during its ten year history, Sóknardalr, Arntor, 1184, and Likferd.
Many of the lyrics (especially on the earliest tracks) were written in Sognamål, a Norwegian dialect found in Sogn & Fjordane.
