began work on their new album Hippjokk. Rock bassist Ulf Ivarsson played the new bass mandora built by Mattson. Finnish Sami yoik singer Wimme Saari participated with his singing and the Norwegian guitarist Knut Reiersrud had also a role in the album. Johan Liljemark played the didgeridoo, which he had learned in Australia while living among the Aboriginals. Hippjokk was released in February 1997. The band made tours and festival gigs with the singers in Spain and Belgium, and Ulf "Rockis" Ivarsson became a member of Hedningarna. Anders Stake changed his name to Anders Norudde. During the winter of 1998, Hedningarna travelled to Karelia, Russia to gather inspiration for their new album, Karelia Visa. It was recorded during the spring and summer the same year. A short tour around Spain took place that summer. Ulf Ivarsson left the group after the recordings were finished. Mattson and Tollin together with the violin player Ola Bäckström recorded a CD with music for the dance troupe Virvla. It was released at Silence records in 1999. Sanna Kurki-Suonio released a solo album in Finland the same year. Karelia Visa was released in 1999, and it was followed by concerts in Scandinavia and a three-week tour in the USA. Hedningarna played live to a dance performance based on their music, made and performed by Flying Foot Forum in Minneapolis, USA. The violin player Magnus Stinnerbom joined the group. In 2000, Norudde released a solo album and the percussionist Christian Svensson joined the group, replacing founding member Björn Tollin. By then, even Kurki-Suonio and Lehtola had left the ranks. Tellu Paulasto now known as Tellu Virkkala returned while taking with her Finnish compatriot Liisa Matveinen as a new member. With this line-up the band toured and recorded a couple of new tracks of which two can be found on the compilation CD 1989–2003, released in 2003. By then, Hedningarna had sold about 150,000 records. The singers left the group in 2003, and the following years the group kept a low profile, doing occasional gigs only. In 2009, the band announced on their homepage that they were working on material for a new studio album, as a trio with singer and fiddle player Samuel Andersson joining founding members Mattsson and Norudde. In 2011, a remixed version of "Vargtimmen" ("Hour of the Wolf") from Trä was used in the trailer of the video game The Witcher 2. At