Terje Bakken
| Valfar | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Terje Bakken |
| Born | September 3, 1978 |
| Origin | Norway |
| Died | January 14, 2004 (aged 25) |
| Genres | Black metal, Viking metal, folk metal |
| Instruments | Vocals, accordion, guitar, bass, drums, synthesizer, keyboards, programming |
| Years active | 1994–2004 |
| Associated acts | Windir |
Terje "Valfar" Bakken (September 3, 1978 – January 14, 2004) was the lead singer and founder of the Norwegian black metal band Windir. Windir was started as a one-man project, but it was expanded into a full band with the release of their third album, 1184. Valfar originally sang his lyrics in Sognamål, a dialect of Norwegian, but eventually switched to English in an attempt to appeal to a broader audience.
Terje was born and grew up in Sogndal which he was very proud of and one can clearly see the importance of Sogndal in his lyrics. Terje decided to form Windir into a full band while he was at college, with some of his classmates becoming the other band members.
Valfar released two demos, Sogneriket and Det Gamle Riket.
His second studio album, Arntor, was the last Windir album recorded by a line-up consisting solely of Valfar.
Despite his vocal style, Valfar did not relate his music to black metal, probably because of how the scene acted and was stereotyped. He instead dubbed Windir's musical style as "Sognametal". Other bands that have a Sognametal sound are Cor Scorpii, Vreid, Feigd, Mistur, and Sigtyr. He read a lot about Sogndal history that his poems stemmed from it.
On January 14, 2004, Valfar went for a walk towards his family's cabin at Fagereggi, but he never arrived. Three days later, authorities found his body at Reppastølen in the Sogndal Valley. Valfar had been caught in a snow storm and died from hypothermia.
He was buried at Stedje Church in Sogndal on January 27, 2004.
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