During the alternative fair in Stavanger in the autumn of 2025, a piece of Norwegian shamanic history was brought back into the light. There, Thomas Rimmereid, 62 years old, contacted Sjamanistisk Forbund with a message that would arouse great interest: he had an original cassette recording of a drum journey led by the shaman Ailo Gaup – a recording from the early 1980s, when Gaup's work laid the foundation for the shamanic movement in Norway.
Thomas Rimmereid Thomas relates that his encounter with shamanism came as early as 1982. As a young man he visited the alternative fair in Stavanger and was immediately drawn toward Ailo Gaup's stand.
"I felt an attraction, as if I had to make contact with him," Thomas relates. He signed up for one of Ailo's drum journeys that same weekend – an experience that would leave deep marks. In the middle of the session he experienced going into a trance, standing outside a gate to a peaceful, harmonious place, "where I just wanted to be". Only when Ailo began to drum faster and asked the participants to return did he manage to free himself from the experience.
After the session the participants were given the opportunity to buy a recording of the drum journey on cassette – which Thomas did. The cassette lay safely stored for many years, until several decades later he realized that it might have historical value.
"During a meeting with the Spiritual café in Stavanger I met Karsten Broholm from Sjamanforbundet. When I told him about the cassette, I quickly understood that this could be important to preserve. I felt it as an honor to be able to pass on the recording – so that Ailo's powerful drum journey could be shared with new generations," says Thomas.
During the alternative fair he contacted representatives from Sjamanistisk Forbund, and the collaboration on digitization and preservation was quickly established. A local firm in Stavanger handled the transfer of the original sound from cassette, while Kyrre Franck then cleaned up the recording and modernized the sound image to recreate the drum's full dynamics without removing the recording's authentic character.
As an important part of the work, Ailo's daughter, Sarakka Gaup, was also contacted. She manages her father's artistic and spiritual legacy, and has given her permission for the recording to be shared.
With her consent the recording has also been handed over to Tromsø Museum for preservation, and at the same time made available to the public through Sjamanistisk Forbund's platform — as a living memory of Ailo's work with the power drum and the spiritual journey.
Thomas concludes with the hope that the recording will continue to inspire:
"I hope that this recording will carry on his energies and journeys to the spiritual world."
Listen to the recording here
Ailo Gaups Trommereise by Ailo Gaup
-1.avif)
-1.avif)