Sweden - Stockholm Part II

 

For the second part of our virtual visit to Stockholm we'll be exploring some of the more international influences on the local music scene.  Let's begin with multi-national world fusion collective Fågel Roc, which was founded in 2006 by Swedish guitarist Petter Blundell.  The members hail from all over the globe and their music is influenced by Arab pop, Swedish folk and Balkan music although more often than not veer into fairly safe pop territory and is mostly sung in Swedish.  Here is the title track from their 2018 album Sista Sommaren:

Six-piece fusion band Katzen Kapell play a highly original blend of tango, cabaret, Balkan sounds and experimental elements.  They list their influences as Astor Piazolla, Frank Zappa and Arabic music amongst others.  Here's a track from their 2007 album Si Tu Veux called Taxin:

Stockholm native KG Westman was and is a guitarist for a '70's style rock band until his father moved to Kerala in India.  Following him he fell in love with Indian classical music and specifically the sitar.  He went on to study under Pandit Rabindra Narayan Goswami and is now one of the leading European proponents of the instrument.  In his latest project he teamed up with a group of musicians from India and Egypt to create a mash-up of the traditions of India, Egypt and Sweden.  The result is the 2022 album KG Westman & Zaعfaran, which received much critical acclaim. He describes it as imagining a Swede, an Egyptian and an Indian going on a road trip through the desert together, this would be the music coming out of their tape deck.  Here is a preview of the album:

and here's a song from the album called Into the Desert:

Finally we head north out of the city to the suburb of Sollentuna, where piper Olle Gällmo hails from.  You probably didn't know that Swedish back pipes were a thing, nor do most Swedes, but apparently some 150 years ago they were considered a national instrument alongside the nyckelharpa.  Olle has made it his life goal to revive this ancient tradition.  Here is a tune from his 2008 album Med Pipan i Säcken called Hamburska efter Pehr Ericsson:

That's it for today, next we are heading north again.  In the meantime you can follow my virtual travels on my tripline map.

Sweden - Stockholm Part I

Storgoret in Gamla Stan, the old part of Stockholm

 We arrive in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden.  I spent a week in Stockholm a couple of years ago visiting an old friend.  It's a very pretty city, very chilled, and even worth visiting in February.  As usual for a capital city, there's plenty of music to discover here as well as great food such as here at the Hötorgshallen market:

This fabulous fish restaurant:

...and they even have a shop that only sells liquorice!

But on to the music.  We begin with folk band Ranarim.  Sofia Sanden, Ulrika Boden, Niklas Rosswall and Jens Engelbrecht were studying together at the Royal Academie of Music in Stockholm and got together to play both traditional folk songs and own compositions.  Sadly they no longer seem to be active.  Here is the opening track from their 2006 album Morgonstjärna called Maj Vare Välkommen:

Folk rock band Hedningarna (The Heathens) were formed in 1987 with the members coming from various parts of Sweden as well as Finland.  I'm not sure where they got together, but many of their songs on the early albums were sung in Finnish.  Their aim was to go far back to the roots of old Norse culture, including the use of ancient instruments.  Having luthier Anders Stake on board meant they make many of their own instruments.  Here is a song from their 1994 album Trä called Täss'on Nainen (Here's a woman in Finnish):

Stockholm folk trio Bazar Blå take a contemporary twist on traditional Swedish folk tunes.  The trio got together in 1996 and consists of Johan Hedin (Nyckelharpa), Björn Meyer (bass) and Fredrick Gille (percussion).  Here's the title track from their 2004 album Nysch, which is short for Den nya schottisen, the new schottis, a popular dance form in Sweden:

Stockholm based folk duo Symbio was founded in 2011 by Johannes Geworkian-Hellman and LarsEmil Öjeberget.  They combine hurdy-gurdy with accordion, accompanied by kickbox.  Their style has bee described as a meeting of folk, minimalistic art music and electronic dance music becoming a cinematic experience for the listener.  It certainly is unique and different.  Here is the title track from their 2018 album Rising:

In a similar vein but at a grander scale are the Second Hand Orchestra.  Their music has more than a hint of the Penguin Café Orchestra.  Recently they have started collaborating with Scottish singer/songwriter James Yorkston.  For their first joint album in 2021 The Wide,Wide River, Yorkston flew over to Stockholm and within hours of their first meeting went into the recording studio to produce this largely improvised album based on his songs.  A second album is in the pipeline.  Here's a song from the first album called Struggle:

Young chamber folk band Trio Törn consists of Olof Kennemark (violin), Klara Källström (cello) and Petrus Dillner (Nyckelharpa).  They play own compositions, deeply rooted in Swedish folk within a chamber music setting.  Here is the opening track of their 2018 debut album 'Debut', a polka called Hundraårspolskan:

That's it from Stockholm for today, next time we explore some of the international influences of the city. In the meantime you can follow my virtual trip on my Tripline map

Sweden - Värmland to Stockholm Counties

 I visited the county of Värmland once in the 'spring' of 1984 on our way north.  I was with my girlfriend and parents at the time, and we were given the use of a cottage somewhere in the countryside, and our first task on arriving was to shovel a path through 5 foot deep snow from the house to the outside privy.  So my memories are of an undulating countryside, interspersed by lakes and covered in a thick layer of snow.  We nearly froze to our toilet seats!  

As for the music, we'll start with something traditional.  Whilst fiddler and accordionist Mats Edén was born in Stockholm county, he has roots in Värmland and his style is very much influenced by the traditions of the region.  Here is an early recording in duet with Leif Olsson from a 1977 compilation album called Unga spelmän från Värmland (Young fiddlers from Värmland).  It's a polka called Djävulspolskan från Brunskog:

More recently Mats Edén was also involved in a project called Nordic Raga, creating a fusion of Nordic folk and classical Carnatic music from Southern India together with Bangalore born fiddler Jyotsna Srikanth as well as 2 other Swedish musicians in Dan Svensson and Pär Moberg.  Here is the opening track of their 2018 self-titled album called Vildhonung (Wild honey), which is almost like a call and response conversation between Sweden and India:

Norberg in the county of Västmanland is the birthplace of jazz percussionist and composer Erik Nylander.  Amongst many projects he is also the Swedish part of the multi-national project Monoswezi (whom we already met in Oslo) along with musicians from Mozambique, Norway and Zimbabwe. Here's the opening track from their 2017 album A Je called Loko U Muka:

Kolonien is the Swedish word for allotments or community garden such as the one below on the outskirts of Stockholm.

They are designed to be a refuge from city life, a place where people can grow a few vegetables or flowers and chat to their neighbours.  Kolonien is also the name of a family band from Järna in Stockholm county just south of the capital.  They consist of 2 brothers Erik and Arvid Rask, their cousin Anna Möller and childhood friend, neighbour and blood brother Mischa Grind.  Their music is an upbeat folk / folk rock dealing with the subjects of our time such as climate change, the pandemic and war.  They have been playing together since 2010.  Their latest 2022 album Till Skogen (to the forest), marks a return to their roots of growing up on a farm in the forest and their inspiration of Dylan-esque progressive folk.  Here is a track from the album called Drömmen:

Maybe we'll just leave it at this for today, before we head into Stockholm city next time.  In the meantime, as usual, you can follow my virtual travels on my Tripline map.