DRAUGEN concert installation

For cello, harmonium, harpsichord, sound, video and lights
Commissioned by Nordland Akademi for Kunst og Vitenskap
2025

In Nordic folklore, Draugen is the ghost of a drowned fisherman — an eerie figure from the sea, feared as a harbinger of death. But what if we’ve misunderstood him?

They say Draugen comes with the storm.
That he rows in half a boat.
That his head is covered in seaweed and kelp.
That he brings warnings of death and misfortune.
That you hear him before you see him.
A gurgling scream. A whispering call.
“Welcome!”

Draugen is a site-specific concert installation in three parts, composed for three immense, reverberant former herring oil tanks at Melbu in Vesterålen in Northern Norway. Each part composed for light, sound and a soloist — on cello, harmonium, and harpsichord. Before the performance, the audience is presented with a video prologue reflecting on the myth of Draugen and the stories we choose to believe.

Through immersive soundscapes and layered visual worlds, Draugen challenges us to reconsider fear, isolation, and the things we turn our backs on — at sea, and within ourselves.

Concept, composition, text, filming, and video edit: Tine Surel Lange
Commissioned by: Nordland Akademi for Kunst og Vitenskap
Written for: Synnøve Volden (cello), Tine Surel Lange (harmonium), and Nikolai Endresen Dahl (harpsichord)
Supported by: Arts and Culture Norway
Sound recording, mixing, mastering, and technical assistance: Michal Sykora
Premiered at Norsk Fiskeindustrimuseum, during Sommer-Melbu, July 10th 2025

© 2025 Tine Surel Lange