Scandinavian Music

[brightfield]

Forum members will know that the Scandinavians are great button box players (chromatic accordians rather than concertinas though!).

 

I hear some very complex and atomspheric Scandinavian tunes played on radio programmes like Late Junction, and also have a couple of accordian CDs with some Swedish tunes included. Trouble is I can't find any published music from this region and wonder if any one here can help me please?

 

I'm looking for melody line music, either published books or web resources.

 

Thanks in anticipation.

 

Tom

[Henk van Aalten]

I'm looking for melody line music, either published books or web resources.

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Tom

 

Try Henrik Norbeck's Abc Tunes Archive. There is a section "Scandinavian Tunes (mostly Swedish)".

 

Another thing you could do: join the Scandinavian Squeeze In. More info can be found in this forum.

[JimLucas]

Forum members will know that the Scandinavians are great button box players (chromatic accordians rather than concertinas though!).

CBA's, but also PA's and 1-, 2-, and sometimes 3-row "diatonics". There are also a few concertina players -- and getting to be more, -- but they haven't yet established themselves as a distinct tradition... or traditions, as the styles on anglo, English, and duet aren't identical.

 

I hear some very complex and atomspheric Scandinavian tunes played on radio programmes like Late Junction, and also have a couple of accordian CDs with some Swedish tunes included.  Trouble is I can't find any published music from this region and wonder if any one here can help me please?

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I have a number of books and such, gathered sporadically over the years, but none oriented specifically toward squeezeboxes. I'm sure there are hundreds of tune books, but I don't know of a particular place to go for a good selection, much less what to recommend in one or a few books. I have 22 volumes of a 24-volume set of books of tunes from the different regions in Sweden, which I bought 20 years ago in a "proper" bookstore in Stockholm, and a few small tune books -- with 2- and 3-part arrangements, because that's part of the tradition -- that I got at Folklore Centrum, also in Stockholm. At the time, neither place carried any of the books the other had. Many of my friends -- in Scandinavia, the UK, and the US -- have books of Swedish or Scandinavian tunes, yet I've noticed little overlap. There do seem to be certain standard repertoire tunes in Sweden and Denmark, at least regionally, but I've yet to an equivalent of a "session tunes" book.

 

I did just discover Folkmusikkatalogen (The Folk Music Catalog), produced by The State Association for Folk Music and Dance, but I don't have time to dig deeper at the moment. And I don't see any option for English text on either site.

 

Norwegians and Finns are also strong on their native folk music, Danes less so, though it's definitely not dying out, yet. For Danish tune books I just haunt my local library (about a kilometer from "Hamlet's" castle), and none of them seem to be recent publications. One exception -- a nice book with accompanying CD -- is Harald Haugaard's Haugaard's Great Danish Tunes, with 25 traditional tunes and 7 of Harald's own. Unfortunately, FOLKSHOP.DK seems to have only one other book among the CD's they sell, and that's a book -- in Dansih -- about the dance Sønderhoning.

 

I hope someone else can be of more help than me. If there are good sources, I might want to look into them, too.

[Chris Timson]

You are not alone! Anne and I spend a lot of time listening to Swedish music. Some of the simpler, more rhythmical tunes have caught on in English sessions in a big way recently (e.g. Serpentina Och Confetti).

 

The best book we've found recently is "Swedish Fiddle Music - An Anthology" by Ben Paley, published by Dragonfly Music, ISBN 1 872277 16 0. You can get a cassette of Ben playing some of the tunes to go with it (his style is a little faster than native Swedish players, but very expressive).

 

Alternatively chat up your local ICA member. For the music supplement for issue 428 of the ICA newsletter Concertina World, ICA members Louise Lundberg and Pontus Thuvesson prepared arrangements of 15 assorted swedish fiddle tunes for the concertina.

 

Chris

Edited March 4, 2005 by Chris Timson

[JimLucas]

Another thing you could do: join the Scandinavian Squeeze In. More info can be found in this forum.

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Absolutely. We always have several participants from the UK, and English is the one language that everybody seems to speak.

 

We're not restricted to Scandinavian music, but there's always some, and folks willing to do some teaching. Maybe this year somebody can arrive with a few printed copies.

 

Meanwhile, a Google advanced search on the word "resources" combined with the phrase "xxxx Folk Music" (where you substitute "Danish", "Finnish", "Norwegian", "Swedish", or even "Scandinavian" for the "xxxx") should give you plenty to investigate.

[otsaku]

I was at shop in copenhagen today buying some sheet music and saw a book that might suit your needs... problem is i only saw it in passing so I'm not absolutely sure of the title

 

 

it was something like "the music of scandinavia" or "scandinavian music"

 

there was a tagline "music scandinavians love"

 

 

I'll be going back next week so I can write down the publisher and isbn no.

[brightfield]

Try Henrik Norbeck's Abc Tunes Archive. There is a section "Scandinavian Tunes (mostly Swedish)".

 

Thanks Henk - that's a really useful resource and I've found some interesting tunes on it.

 

Tom

[brightfield]

CBA's, but also PA's and 1-, 2-, and sometimes 3-row "diatonics". 

 

Yes, I'm sure you're right. Before returning to the conertina, back in the 1990s I had one year of lessons on a chromatic accordian and basically all the best players seemed to be Swedish. So I'd perhaps assumed that that was the usual instrument for Swedes.

 

Alas, my teacher moved away and with the best will in the world, I began to falter in learning this hightly complex instrument (no chord buttons, no keyboard, just rows and rows of buttons on both sides)

 

Now I've rediscovered the concertina and find its a great instrument with plenty to keep me going for the rest of my time on this planet.

 

Tom

[RatFace]

The best book we've found recently is "Swedish Fiddle Music - An Anthology" by Ben Paley, published by Dragonfly Music, ISBN 1 872277 16 0. You can get  a cassette of Ben playing some of the tunes to go with it (his style is a little faster than native Swedish players, but very expressive).

 

I think that's where most of the arrangement of Polska E. Per Osa came from on

http://home.planet.nl/~aalte099/links.htm

though you wouldn't hear it played like this in Sweden (except maybe on two days of April each year!)

 

Maybe not relevant, but I went to an amazing concert by this Finnish chap a couple of years ago:

http://www.kimmopohjonen.com/

Really really good (i.e. strange!) performance though I'm not sure I'd really want a recording.

[JimLucas]

...I had one year of lessons on a chromatic accordian and basically all the best players seemed to be Swedish.  So I'd perhaps assumed that that was the usual instrument for Swedes.

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Beware of faulty logic.

The "fact" that all Martians are green does not imply that all greens are Martian.

Boston lettuce, for instance.

Or Long Island putting greens, which look more like Lunar landscapes, after the geese have been rooting in them.

............

[brightfield]

Beware of faulty logic.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Well that's what a 25 year career in IT does for you Jim. Computer programmer burn out perhaps. By the way, thanks for your very informative message about Danish and other folk music above.

 

Tom

[brightfield]

I think that's where most of the arrangement of Polska E. Per Osa came from on

http://home.planet.nl/~aalte099/links.htm

 

Brilliant piece. Exactly the sort of thing I'm looking for. A beautiful piece. Tom