The fourth and last session of this years Scandi music course

A great ending to the course last night! We did a bridal polska from the repertoire of the fiddler 'Olles Jonke' Jonas Olsson from tiny village Galven in the province Hälsingland. I learnt the tune from Olles Jonkes son Olle, or 'Vänster (left) Olle' as he sometimes was referred to as he played his violin with his left hand. It's a three part tune, and the story goes that it was devised by a fiddler to allow the bride to dance one part each with the vicar, her father and her new husband. Traditionally there used to be one separate polska for each dance but in this case the bride was heavily pregnant and couldn't cope with three separate polskas. I wouldn't necessarily claim that the story is true but I like it anyway.

below is also an impromptu recording of myself playing the tune.

I didn't find any recordings of the tune on YouTube but it was recorded by the fiddler Ulf Störling on the LP, 'I polsketagen' in the 1980s. Ulf learnt the tune from Olles Jonke when he was documenting older musicians in the southern areas of Hälsingland, today Ulf is, according to me, one of the best performers of this repertoire. I have attached a YouTube playlist with Ulf in different constellations below.
The music I played after the session was from two albums by Draupner a trio focusing on music from Hälsingland, well worth a listen! At the very end I also put on some recordings of Swedish bagpipe with Anders Norudde, who is most famous for his band Hedningarna but he is also great solo musician and luthier. I would also recommend the classic album 'Tunes from Hälsingland', first released in 1968 but now available on spotify, a bit aged maybe, but some great tunes!


Ulf Störling play list:

 Here is another play list with some other influential musicians from the area, especially Gällsbo Emil Olsson.