Sweden - The South

 

After crossing the almost 8km long Öresund Bridge from Denmark we arrive in Sweden, land of elks and Ikea, lakes and laid back people, Abba and a treasure trove of Nordic folk.  I visited a couple times many years ago, the photos have long ago disappeared in the archives and again visited Stockholm a couple of years ago to visit a friend, when the photo above was taken.

The first place we encounter in Sweden is Malmö in the Scania county.  Folk musician and multi-instrumentalist Ale Möller was born around here in 1955.  He started off as a jazz trumpeter, but after a spell of living in Greece he learned the bouzouki and played with Greek maestro Mikis Theodorakis.  Returning to his native Sweden he dedicated himself to traditional Swedish folk as well as various fusion collaborations with musicians from as diverse places as Shetland, Greece, India and West Africa playing mandola, accordion, flute, shawm, dulcimer, harp and harmonica as well as bouzouki.  He played with Aly Bain of Shetland exploring the Nordic and Celtic crossover influences of those islands.  This is the opening tune to their 2001 album Fully Rigged called The Fully Rigged Ship/The Newly Rigged Ship:

The Swedish half of husband and wife team Sousou & Maher Cissoko also comes from the Malmö region while husband Maher comes from the Casamance region of Senegal.  Sousou grew up surrounded by music, especially the music of West Africa.  Her love of the Kora, the west African harp, led her to Senegal, where she studied in a family of Griots, where she met her husband.  Now the two of them tour the world, playing kora and guitar and singing their own compositions.  Here's a song from their 2018 album Made of Music called Lamp Fall:

Just north of Malmö is the town of Lund, where multi-instrumentalist and record producer Erik Asp-Upmark is based.  He plays many early instruments including the Säckpipa (Swedish back pipes) and harp in various bands.  One of his projects is Swedish folk band Svanevit, named after Sven Svanevit, a character from a Medieval Swedish ballad, who goes on a quest involving mythical creatures, magic and knights in shining armour.  Here's a tune from their 2008 album Rikedom ochGåvor called Åleätarns vals:

Next we are moving on to Skurup, also in Scania county, where Danish/Swedish folk quintet Tailcoat are based.  Their music is based around Rasmus Brinck's Nyckelharpa, acompanied by fiddle, bass, drums and cittern, giving their tunes a bit of a jazzy feel.  Here's a tune from their 2019 album Tall Tales in Tiny Pieces called Havgusens March:

Next we are heading a long way up the east coast of Sweden to the Baltic Sea island of Gotland.  According to legend a guy called Tjelvar was the first inhabitant of the island, after he freed it from a curse of sinking under the waves during daylight hours.  Folk band Gunnfjauns Kapell named themselves after Tjelva's grandson, thus carrying on the traditions and legacy of Gotland.  They've been going since 1982 and here is a song from their 1998 album Vollund called Andetag (Breath), referring to the wind that is a constant feature of the island:

Next stop is the city of Linköping, where accordionist and composer Lars Hollmer was born in 1948.  Sadly he died in 2008 of cancer in his adopted home town of Uppsala.  His music ranged from prog rock to jazz to Nordic folk tunes.  He was a member of numerous bands, collaborated with Japanese jazz players and composed music for films.  His last solo album released before his death was Viandra in 2007, and this is a tune from the album called Prozesscrik, where his prog rock influences can be clearly heard:

Next we are heading for Gothenburg or Göteborg, a lively port city on the Swedish west coast.  This is where singer/songwriter Sofia Talvik was born in 1978.  She combines Nordic folk influences with pop and jazz.  In her latest venture she combined with German David Floer to form the duo Hansan in reference to the Hanseatic League that was once a major trading link in the Baltic region.  They've created a melancholic Nordic sound.  This a song from their 2020 debut album Nattflykt (Night flight) called Fjärilsvärld:

In 1972 Folk-rock band Folk Och Rackare was formed in Gothenburg by Carin Kjellman and Ulf Gruvberg in the footsteps of English folk rockers Faiport Convention.  In 1976 they were joined by Norwegian members of the band Folque as guest musicians on their self-titled album, who subsequently became established members of the band.  This is the opening track from that album called Herr Olof och Havsfrun:

Once upon a time Scandinavia and Britain were connected by a large land bridge where the North Sea now is.  There were people living on that mass of land and moving backwards and forwards.  Refugees didn't have to risk dangerous crossings of the Channel in rubber dinghies (mind you they might have had to dodge bears and sabre tooth tigers perhaps...).  

This preamble takes us to the Koster Islands on Sweden's west coast just before the border to Norway.  This is were folk-jazz combo FatDog met during a music festival in 2011.  The name is an amalgam of the names of 2 bands namely Norwegian jazz trio Fattigfolket and Swedish/English folk trio Doggerland.  They very much place their music as a meeting point between Britain and Scandinavia on a mythical island between the 2, which may have once existed, all with a big dose of jazz.  Here is a song from their only album to date New Found Land issued in 2014 called Ring the Changes:

That's it from Southern Sweden for today.  We'll come back to Sweden as we zigzag our way around Scandinavia, but next stop is Norway.  In the meantime you can follow my virtual travels on my tripline map.