Two beers with Åsmund

How do you bring a nearly dead association back to life, and what goes on in the head of a person who decides to do something this strenuous and tiring? I went to Sætra with two beers in my rucksack to see if I could conquer the one and only Åsmund Godal Tunheim.

Journalist: Hanna Lindeman

Photographer: William Fredrik Bakke Dahl

Translator: Eva Szemes

To understand where this drive comes from, I want to delve into Åsmund’s past, and he starts by telling me about his childhood in Valsøyfjord, Nordmøre. Here, his parents were living the dream of owning a small farm, and the expectations regarding helping out started at an early age. “A lot of the reason why I do what I do, probably stems from my childhood”, he admits. “We had to help out around the farm, support each other and use our resources wisely. You can say it’s a form of eco-philosophy”. There is not much down time on a small farm, and Åsmund thinks this still sticks with him, “I get restless very quickly, and if I’m going to relax, I feel like I need to have earned it”. He continues by telling me about how happy he was about spending so much time outside, and how nice it was to be a kid in such a small community.

He didn’t really feel different from the others until he reached his teenage years. The local rural culture with youth parties and car culture didn’t suit him – starting at Nordfjord folk high school turned out to be perfect, given its no alcohol policy. Here, he met youth thinking alike, and got to spend time on one of his big passions, spending time in nature. He learned, among other things, how to do telemark skiing, something he greatly appreciated. “Other were doing ski mountaineering and wearing plastic shoes and stuff, but I stuck to leather boots”, he says. “That’s something that comes up in all different parts of my life, my love for the old, robust things”. Instead of conforming to the majority, he seeks out traditions and things that have been working for multiple generations that have survived the ravages of time. A protest against the “disposable” society of today, where most things are made to last only a few years.

The first time in Ås

After two years at the folk high school, Åsmund was not completely sure about what to do next. His sister Runa had been studying in Ås for a while and had given him such a good impression of the place that he wanted to do the same. He started a foundational year, but the start of his studies turned out to be a slightly bumpy ride – having experienced the joys of nature just recently during his time at folk high school, he decided he wanted to live in a lavvo while he was studying in Ås. With a tip from a helpful student advisor, he settled down in Nordskogen behind campus, where he quickly realised that there is a big difference between spending four days outdoors and spending four months outdoors. It was wet, cold, dark and quite lonely in the forest.

This made him spend a lot of time in the reading room, and frankly, everywhere else he could be. This is also why he was eager to join in on different things, and he quickly became a member of S. Lærken. From there, the road to UKA proved not too long, and Bob’s your uncle, he was an actor in the UKA-revue 2020, too. “That was loads of fun”, he recalls, “to get to feel a bit like a star actor and be a part of such a tight-knit group”.

All for the Ås-spirit

The feeling of not fitting in during the teenage years was long gone. Having finally found a proper house to live in, Åsmund felt at home in Ås at once. He attributes this to the special Ås-spirit, “We have so many possibilities at any given time, and we still choose the local things; we choose to do it ourselves. We sing in choirs and dance with each other without worrying too much about the quality, just because it is so incredibly fun”. He emphasises the importance of keeping this, but also to keep evolving it. “If you don’t feel at home in an existing association, make your own! It’s so rewarding to make something from scratch”, he says with a big grin on his face, “In many ways, that’s what I did with Frøy”.

The fairytale of Leikarringen Frøy and the troll with three heads

Because we cannot speak to Åsmund without speaking about Leikarringen Frøy. Ås’ own folk dancing group, that turned one hundred years old and celebrated that in April with an impressive leikfest (folk dancing party) in Aud. Max; you wouldn’t believe it was about to disappear only a few years ago. To Åsmund, the folk dance has been a long romance. His mother had, among other things, brought him to a course in pols when he was younger, and after joining Frøy, it took up more and more of his time. Studying full time made being part of two time-consuming associations difficult, so he dropped out of the choir after 2,5 years. “Lærken would do just fine without me”, he says, “but I saw that Frøy was an association that could use all the help they could get”.

Leikarringen had taken a serious beating during the covid times, with a lot of members quitting, and Åsmund was alone with two friends who also enjoyed dancing, determined not to be responsible for the death of this association. They started organising in the spring of 2021, they called former members, brought their own friends, had the yearly meeting, designed the “uniform” of the association and attended Graskurs like it was the most natural thing in the world. It worked, and at their first practice, they were more than 20 people. For Åsmund, one thing has been of outmost importance since the beginning, the main attitude towards Frøy: the association should be able to survive another hundred years, without needing strong personalities to recruit people. If you pop in during one of their practices a Wednesday afternoon, he seems to have succeeded.

From there, it all went quickly, with establishing ‘the troll with three heads’ Tradenigheten in 2021 and officially opening their association house Sætra with dancing, poems and a speech from the Director of Cultural Heritage in September of last year. Today, almost a year later, the furniture is rose painted, and paintings in the style of romantic nationalism hang on the walls. The TV table does not have a TV, but instead a fiddle, ready for the next dance. It is clear that Sætra has become a true home for every member of Tradenigheten who wants to stop by, and also for the seven people living there. The house only has six bedrooms, but Åsmund is there so frequently to visit his girlfriend Dagny, that he is recognised as a part of the collective.

The end?

Even though it seems like Åsmund has won the princess and half the campus, he has no time to rest: He has to write his master’s thesis in forestry, and he can’t stay away when Samfunnet calls for him. He has contributed to the work on Aud-Max-Mix vol. 2, a homage to the musical life in Ås and our song book Stentor. “It was like a gift”, says Åsmund, “I can finally give back to the unique culture of Ås and give everyone the opportunity to hear what we are doing”. He has also joined the newly founded Stentor association Illiaden, which he is truly hyped about, “The Stentor is great! That we have the culture of pulling this out and sing together at parties is so cool!”

His commitment is nothing short of impressive, and I feel more and more touched by the Ås(mund) spirit the more he talks. You can easily become dazzled by all the things this man has accomplished in his years as a student, but the road from the lavvo in Nordskogen to the sofa at Sætra has been long and hard. But it has always been driven by the wish to put his back into whatever he decides to do, and also the fantastic feeling of accomplishment.

Greetings

Dear Åsmund, where do we begin?

Maybe with the weekend in February 2019 where you got to hang out with your older sister Runa’s student friends at Rørosmartnan? You had just been infected with the folk-dance virus and devoured all the dances you came across, and luckily it only took half a year before you arrived at the Agrarian Metropole as a student.

Or maybe with the pandemic, when Frøy was bedridden with a broken back. You came to the rescue and established a new board. You ate new folk-dances for breakfast, and after a short time you turned into a steady dancer in many traditional dances, and also a great instructor who has guided countless Ås-students into the world of folk-dance.

Or maybe we should talk about you: a whirlwind and a sunshine.When you enter the dancefloor, you are unstoppable, and more than once your dancing partner has struggled to keep up with you. You create, you liven things up and you make cool things happen. With you, everything is real. You are full of good values, and you take traditions seriously without being afraid of doing new things. For us, the members of Frøy, you are a true friend, an enthusiast, and last but not least the world’s best dance partner.

Warmest regards from Leikarringen Frøy

The greeting

This man cannot be described with a mere 150 words, but this is an honest attempt. You are a do-it-yourself lad, handy and humble like only a few can muster, and you know how to appreciate the close and the popular. Your mood is as contagious as SARS-CoV-2 and speaking of; the quarantine was all fun and games with you as the head of the house. Getting placebo-drunk on light beers from the Europris garbage cans, coffee steam and zoom-lectures at the breakfast table and never-ending disco nights with a carefully selected guest each in true quarantine fashion.

You master most things, from kicking hats off of old brooms to barking out words for the local newspaper. Your visionary drive keeps infecting new people with næver-fever at Nordmøre. You are Ygggdrasil itself, a natural center, with roots firmly planted in the ground and branches reaching for the sky.

Keep fertilising the Agrarian Metropole with your lovely pollen. See you soon for new odysseys.

A monk’s greeting

Benjamin & Jon Eivin

To the world’s finest flatlus Åsmund!

You are an incredibly significant musician to us. With you on the team, we, and quite possibly folk music as a whole, has reached new, unimaginable heights. You are a deep well of commitment, musicality and drive, that we have fully enjoyed during our years with you. It rubs off on us that you always want to do more, and you always have a good idea that turns the most boring piece into a banger. There isn’t a person that is not impressed by your abilities.

Thank you for the honesty, for saying what you mean, for lending everyone your listening ears, for including and for your veslefrikk-ish charm! And last but not least; thank you for the probably multiple kilometres long excel sheet you made for the accompaniment group, what would we do without it?

We have so much to say that there is not enough space in Tuntreet. Here is a cute extra greeting from us.

Best regards

Your gang in Flatlusa