Systerspel is a poetic and sensitive storytelling concert based on Benedicte Maurseth's book (Fiddle Sisters) which tells the story of her country’s female fiddlers who traversed Norway’s spectacular landscapes from the 18th to the early 20th century.

Norwegian Hardanger fiddle player and composer Benedicte Maurseth takes us on a journey to meet these proud, artistically and financially independent women fiddlers who travelled from village to village playing for dances and weddings.

Why did they later on vanish from everyday life and festivities, consciousness and thought, writing and speech?

They were here, and then they were gone?

Playing the fiddle was for men. That’s what we’ve always believed. Maurseth has uncovered the women, from written and oral tradition. They are more numerous than you might have thought.

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In the stage adaptation of the book, Benedicte Maurseth takes on the roles of fiddler, narrator, and reader of selected passages. The production, skilfully directed by Hildegun Riise, seamlessly weaves together videos, photographs, and visual art. In 2024, the show received an invitation to perform at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, where it was reimagined for an international audience with a French translation of the script.

For the book Systerspel, along with a concert performance and museum exhibition of the same title, earned her the Folkelarm Award as «Folk Musician of the Year» in 2023, as well as the SFF prize for her significant contributions to Norwegian folk music.