French interviews French and French

Journalist: Anna Gjems French
Translator: Michelle Grabarska
Photographer: Eline Marie Alm

At a red house in an idyllic street in Ås, every nook and cranny is filled with music and children. This is where the four French Bolstad- children grew up, also known as the four S’s, Syver, Selma, Sunniva and Solveig. This article is about them, or rather two of them. Selma French is an absolute superstar, singer and musician in bands such as Masåva and in her own solo project (Selma French) and Solveig French, the NMBU-student. There are many questions as I sit down in front of them in a rehearsal room in Oslo, ready to ask my two cousins all the things that I’ve never dared to ask before

Born into music: by force or fate?

At the French-Bolstad home, no one has ever been sure whether they dreamt of a “Valdresspringar” or if it danced its way through the hallways at night. Nor are they entirely certain whether they participated in the UKA revue back in the 80’s, or if they have been sung to so often that their memory is deceiving them. At home, music has been given intravenously, and picking up an instrument wasn’t really a question in this family. Solveig French says that a quarter-sized fiddle was placed in her lap sometime around infancy, and though she tried to hide it under the duvet or on the bathroom floor in her early years, it eventually got used quite often. Big sister French says that even she picked up the fiddle, inspired by her older cousin in Valdres – to which little sister French adds that she started because her older sister played – and that reminded me of my big sister, who started playing the fiddle inspired by cousin French- so naturally, I started playing it too. Free will in choosing an instrument is not a phenomenon among the Frenches, and as Selma French puts it “It wasn’t really an active choice, others were playing, and we wanted to be like them”. She adds that she wasn’t into sledding and playing in the snow, she would rather play the piano. Luckily, she catches herself before I do and bursts out laughing: “NERD”. Music is something that the whole family has always done, but what has made Selma a superstar while the rest became enthusiastic hobby musicians? Maybe it was Selma’s aversion to sledding that made her singing and playing a little bit better than her siblings, maybe she inherited a few extra refined musical genes, but that’s probably a question we’ll never truly answer.

How do you write a song? 

It’s one form of art to play music, and another to create it. When I ask Selma how her music comes to life, she tells me that melodies fall into her head at random moments or come to her whenever she’s strumming her guitar (there must have been something special with the milk Selma was drinking while growing up). Solveig shares that she has seen Selma pull up her phone to record a melody while walking through the city. Once the melody is found, the lyrics tends to follow, and Selma explains that it usually stems from things she thinks about, with two recurring sources of inspiration: boys and politics.

There are a couple of stories in Norwegian media where family novels have sparked major backlash, so as a songwriter, can one expect to receive a similar response? Therefore, I ask what Solveig thinks when Selma writes songs like ‘Little Sisters and Friends’, where she may have served as inspiration for her sister’s music. To this Solveig replies that she’s happy to be an inspiration and that the songs feel extra relatable, almost like comfort songs. She then adds that she won’t sue Selma for mild oversharing (thankfully, we dodged that family feud). Selma also points out that it’s important to remember that the lyrics may be loosely based on reality, but it’s the emotions they convey that are perhaps the most true to life.

When we speak about Selma’s songs, it feels natural to ask the sister what their favorite Selma-track is. To break the silence that followed with the question, I jump in and say that ‘Marble’ is my favorite, to which Solveig agrees to, and adds on ‘Goodbye Jane’ is an absolute hit. Selma finds it difficult to pick favorites from her own musical landscape but says it’s fun with songs that change with time, taking on new shapes and twist, like she experienced with the song ‘Listen to the kids’ the last time they played it live.   

Spellemann < Fiddle-jam on a boat in Scotland

Despite Selma having won a Spellemann and Solveig received her very own review here in Tuntréet (TT04), there are other things that would come up when I ask the sisters about their career highlights. Humble Selma admits that she’s not so very fond of these ‘Spellemanns-contexts’. She would rather ‘jam’ with people she meets in faraway and familiar places and talks about one time where she was on a trip to Scotland with her boyfriend. On their way, they met a man who invited them into his cabin, built from an old boat (I know, this sound wild and I wasn’t really sure I believed Selma myself). But if we were to believe Selma, they were welcomed in and played music through the whole night, this highlights what she finds beautiful about music, “When you play music together, it’s like you share something important from the very first moment”.

Solveig, on her part, mentions Strunkeveko, kappleik and go´kartevling som høydepunkter i hennes karriere. as her career highlights. This might sound Greek to an average reader, and that’s exactly what makes them so special, the fact that it’s a little secret makes Solveig feel so lucky that she gets to be a part of it.

International stars from and at Ås

Despite their international sounding name and traditional hobbies, the musical sisters didn’t grow up in London or Valdres, they’re from Ås. In fact, they’re NMBU-babies, and Selma has even lived on campus, just a stones throw away from Andedammen.

They share that their childhood was filled with science and with a mother who’s a professor, there was no shortage of interesting international PhD candidates in their little Ås bubble. As Selma mentions this, Solveig get immediately worried about the potential headlines, like “Professor brought home a bunch of strange people” and adds that it was fun to get a taste of academia as early as elementary school. Solveig, who has followed her parents’ footsteps, now gets to experience the fantastic student life that was described to them in vivid detail growing up. With a mom who was a part of Lærken and who was an actress during UKA, and a dad who played in Studentstorbandet, she feels those stories have taken on new meaning. Despite all this, the two agree there’s a big difference growing up in Ås and actually being a student here “you don’t really think much about the students when you live here” they say.

Frenchmen in England or Englishmen in France or Englishman in New York? 

They may be musicians, and from Ås, but the question we’re all still wondering about that hasn’t been answered; Why is their last name French? Before we can answer that, I need to ask an even more important question, and that is, are we related to Joshua French? A resounding “No” comes from both of them (a relief, honestly). Now back to why we’re called French. To many people’s surprises, it’s not because we’re French, but English! Why French then, you might ask? Selma explains that our ancestors used to smuggle French goods into England. When our grandmother went to England in the 1960s, during peak Beatle-mania, she fell in love with one of the smugglers’ descendants, her very own Paul McCartney lookalike. And if the Beatles are the baptismal font of so much music, maybe they were the true forefathers of this musical history?