Sussie Nielsen

Sussie Nielsen..s music and singing places itself in the echoes of the old Irish song tradition and the Danish ballad tradition in a sensuous new expression.

She has composed music for own lyrics and some of Denmark..s finest poets.. beautiful works. Poems by Thøger Larsen, Karl Gjellerup, Sophus Michaëlis, Ludvig Holstein, Holger Drachmann, together with the great Irish poet William Butler Yeats. The album Pigens Morgen ( the young girl’s morning ), was nominated in four categories at The Danish Music Awards - Folk 2007, and received the award for - The song album of the year.

"...unique, dreamy album that wanders lightly across nature... Nielsen is a revelation here, her voice subtly, softly expressive, bringing out the rhythms and emotions of the words, and this is a real coming of age album, atmospheric but with substance ... she’s really found her voice, and it’s blossomed into a gorgeous instrument that crosses the sea and cultures with disarming ease ... everything has the loveliness of a beautiful dream. It’s beautiful, flowing music that connects the dots between Ireland and Denmark in gorgeous fashion. With this, Nielsen is a star." fRoots 285, marts 2007, p. 67

Sussie Nielsen was born in Copenhagen in 1975. An interest in folk music began in her early teenage years, when she became aquainted with the recordings of the Irish group Clannad.

Returning from her first trip to Ireland, Sussie brought home with her plenty of Irish music, and began singing Irish songs and playing the bodhrán.

Irish music and song came naturally to her and her interest in the tradition deepened. In 2000, Sussie formed Flax in Bloom, with flautist Tim Goddard, fiddlers Ditte Fromseier Mortensen and Ciarán Doran (who has since been replaced by accordeon player Sonnich Lydom), and guitarist Rasmus Zeeberg. Sussie became more and more interested in the old style of singing and in Gaelic song (sean-nós), and began learning Gaelic from the Danish Gaelic expert Ole Munch-Petersen.

A steadily growing interest in the music led Sussie back to Ireland. In the spring of 2002, she was accepted at the Irish World Music Centre, University of Limerick, a study which resulted in a Second Class honours M.A. in Irish Traditional Music Performance. In Limerick she was taught by many fine traditional singers, among these being Padraigín Ní Uallacháin, Iarla Ó Lionáird, Karan Casey, Áine Uí Cheallaigh and Len Graham.

As part of her final exam, Sussie recorded the CD After Rain, together with 8 musicians from Ireland. The album contains traditional songs in both English and Gaelic and was released in Denmark in October 2003. After Rain was nominated for a Danish Music Award – Folk 2004 under the category of Folk Debut of the Year.

In 2005 Sussie released her second CD Day is Dawning, again a collection of Irish traditional songs, though this time time with a more Scandinavian sound. Among excellent musicians from Danmark, Wales and Ireland, the album also features contributions by Swedish musician Niklas Roswall on nyckelharpa and moraharpa. Sussie was nominated as Singer of the Year at the Danish Music Awards – Folk 2006.