Description
Ole Olsson’s Oldtime Orkestra is a fun loving group of musicians who first met at the Good Templar Hall in Minneapolis, Minnesota playing for Scandinavian dances in times gone by. Nowadays, they still play some pretty darn good Scandinavian music for oldtime dancing and/or just plain enjoying. They play fiddles, accordions, pump organ and guitar, and sing some funny Scandinavian vaudeville songs that may occasionally make Lutheran ladies smile. They play for festivals and lutefisk feeds all around Minnesota and even make it out of the state once in awhile in their old jalopy to perform in far flung places. They have traveled from New York City to Thousand Oaks, California; from Minot, N.D. to Swedesburg, Ia., all in their quest to spread the joy of Scandinavian folk music and perhaps find the perfectly formed piece of lefse. The group consists of Paul Wilson, Mary Abendroth, Char Bostrom and Art Bjongjeld. Paul is the founder of the Nisswa-Stämman, a pan Scandinavian festival embracing the music of Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland.
Rävlek is a duo fueled by polska and Norwegian Cod Liver Oil. that performs traditional Scandinavian roots with a contemporary feel. The group features Jon-Anders Persson and Renee Vaughan. Violin player Jon-Anders was born and raised in Sweden and has been a musician most of his life. He spend his early years in Uppland, where his mother is from, and his later years in Ångermanland, where his father is from. Music from his Uppland roots includes the bondpolska, which he has played at various festivals and workshops throughout the US. Jon-Anders also received several years schooling in classical violin from Vladislav Coufal from the Czech Republic, who had ended up in Jon-Anders home town through political reasons.
Jon-Anders taught Renee Vaughan how to make a Swedish nyckelharpa from an old tree stump, goat entrails and a discarded typewriter. This new instrument allowed Renee to further pursue her creative vision. After several grueling hours of apprenticeship, Jon-Anders sent Renee into the wild of her new home state, armed only with a nyckelharpa, an abundance of confidence and a complete lack of shame. Success came quickly and she found herself overwhelmed by the enthusiastic, and slightly aggressive, nyckelharpa aficionados. Renee had no choice but to retreat into the woods, broken in body but happy in spirit. Every once in a blue moon, Jon-Anders finds himself in need of a musical partner and coaxes Renee out of her home, (which she made entirely out of pine needles, including the indoor plumbing,) where she can be found biding her time, quietly playing polskas, a subdued and thoughtful woman.