Esbjörn Wettermark

Photo by Tom Paley

I play. The clarinet. The melodeon. Flutes. Mostly. Scandinavian dance music. Polskas. Waltz. Polka. Herding tunes. I learnt. Kitchens. Dance floors. Others. I studied. Malung. Malmö Academy of Music. University of London. I research. Publish. Music and theatre in Vietnam. Folk tunes from Hälsingland. I teach. Children. Adults. Myself. University students. I morris. I engage. People. Sounds. Things.

What is Scandinavian and Swedish traditional music?

The Nordic countries, that is Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland, have a lot of shared history and culture. When I talk about Scandinavian traditional music it is this shared aspects of the music cultures which  I alludes to. That is not to imply that there are not differences between them, but as it is possible to talk about 'Celtic' music as a general repertoire and style, I think it is possible to do the same with Scandinavia. My focus as a Swedish folk musician has been dance music, and to an extent herding tunes and folk songs. Although my main repertoire is Swedish, as most folk musicians in my generation, I have also played a lot of tunes from Norway, Denmark and Finland.
If I would think about one thing which to some degree connects this 'Scandinavian' music, I would say that the prevalence of pieces in various forms of three beat meter (3/4), which is much rarer on the British Isles. Although this is less pronounced in Denmark with its more continental connections and in Finland where there is both a Swedish influence and an older Finnish music tradition, the three beat meter is a reoccurring element which I often have to work with when teaching Scandinavian music in the UK.  At some point I will write a longer introduction to this area but if you are interested to learn more. I would recommend Dan Lundberg's introduction to Swedish folk music on the website of the Swedish Centre for Jazz and Folk Music Research.

Bertil Westling – till minne

För 15 år sen, 2003, ringde jag dig för första gången. Jag hade precis börjat musikhögskolan och ett par år tidigare hade jag börjat gräva efter låtar och visor från Enångerstrakten. Jag kommer inte ihåg om jag först fick höra om dig från Arvid Westberg eller kanske din systerson Kaj Berglund. Jag vet i alla fall att jag hört dig spela och sjunga på visarkivets inspelningar – ”Birr birr karlarna kommer…” (med imponerade grisimitationer) och valser i G -dur. Nu ligger arkivets inspelningar på nätet och jag lyssnar igen. Jag kommer ihåg att när jag ringde dig den gången så satt jag på sängkanten i min väldigt lilla lägenhet i Malmö. Det kändes lite nervöst, du skulle säkert undra vad det var för en mysko typ på andra sidan telefonledningen. Det blev ett kort samtal men du sa i alla fall att jag kunde komma förbi när jag var hemma nästa gång. Det gjorde jag och jag tog med mig min minidisc-spelare (den var modern då) och frågade om jag fick spela in några låtar för att lära mig. Det gick bra. Nu hittar jag filerna på datorn och lyssnar igen. Fink-Jannes vals kommer först på inspelningen, lite av en signaturmelodi. Sen den andra Fink-Jannes valsen, den med lite konstig rytmik som du brukade säga att du aldrig fick rätt fason på. Jag gillade nog den bäst trots allt, men kommer inte ifrån att den låter bättre på fiol än klarinett. Så kan det vara. Ett tjugotal låtar spelade du in till mig den gången, låtar efter spelmän vars namn jag sett eller hört nämnas men aldrig vetat något om. Johan Nordell, din egen far Bernard (vars initialer jag sett inristade i en stenhäll vid mina föräldrars sommarstuga), och Johan Forsberg, han som Arvid alltid pratade om men inte kom ihåg låtarna efter. Hem och öva. Tillbaka, varje ledighet. Vi började spela dina egna kompositioner och du introducerade mig till andra musiker och vissångare. Din syster Dagmar och Vänster Olle Olsson från Galven. Kajs pärmar med låtar från Enånger som ni samlat ihop blev bibeln och utökades med arkivbesök, fynd i uthus och flera intervjuer. Men det var samspelet och umgänget med dig (och din fru Laina så klart) som var viktigast, många koppar kaffe, massor av pannkaka (vegetarisk mat var ju knepigt men också en bra ursäkt att äta pannkaka tyckte du). Trött på studierna tog jag ett år ledigt och flyttade till Bollnäs, jobbade inom äldreomsorgen och spelade ännu mer med dig. Dina ben började bli dåliga och hörseln hade det väl aldrig varit mycket med men humorn och tankar kring låtar och musik det var det inga problem med. Laina var alltid med, såg till att gubben faktiskt tog upp fiolen och inte klagade på brist på övning, gjorde kaffe, fler pannkakor, lyssnade och fyllde i när något missades. Vi hade väldigt trevligt tillsammans.

Ibland hände det att du frågade mig om låtarna och spelmännen, det kändes konstigt. Jag var ju den som var där för att lära mig. Men, så är det ju när man umgås och spelar, det blir ett givande och tagande. Tillsammans finns kunskapen. Även om du med glimten i ögat brukade säga att Enånger var världens centrum (därifrån är det ju lika långt kring jorden och tillbaka till byn igen oavsett riktning), så var du alltid lite obekväm med spelmän som var alltför lokalpatriotiska, viktigast var ju trots allt att någon ville spela musiken och brydde sig. Men du sa ändå att du var glad att jag, som visserligen kom från Iggesund, ville spela enångerslåtarna – ”det är ju din musik det här med”. Det kändes så, känns så fortfarande, min musik, vår musik, musik som betytt mycket.

Musiken var nog alltid med dig. Du säger visserligen på visarkivets inspelning från 60-talet att du inte lärt dig så mycket egentligen, men nog var det en hel del du kunde? Inte bara låtar så klart, men kärlek till musiken. Tänker ofta på din historia om hur du i din ungdom plankat några klassiska lieder (Schubert?) från radion och under en dans i Bäckmora suttit utanför danslokalen och lockat flickorna från dansgolvet. Sant? Jag väljer att tro det. I dina egna kompositioner så var livet alltid närvarande – Lainalle, Till Laina, tillägnad din finlandsfödda fru, Västnängspolskan, till barndomshemmet, och Längbackesvalsen, en musikalisk reflektion över baklängesspråket du och Kaj brukade använda. Även om du sällan var ute och spelade på senare år så blev ändå två skivor med vännerna Karl-Erik Englund och Ingvar Forsberg. Spelgänget Gråskallarna (även om namnet kanske inte alltid var populärt hos alla medlemmar) kom också förbi och spelade. Kaj och din son Göran var såklart trygga spelkamrater genom åren. Du såg dig nog inte som någon storspelman men nog var du en musiker som flera ville spela med, lyssna till och vars kompositioner många tycker om? Vi lärde känna varandra när du var 76 och jag var 22 år, men det kändes aldrig som det var över 50 år mellan oss, det gick ju bra att spela.

Vi sågs mindre de sista åren (jag bodde ju utomlands) men det blev ändå många spelstunder och vi stod till och med på scen ett par gånger. På en konsert i Bönhuset på Delsbostämman och ett par år senare i ett ostämt ögonblick i gassande sol (varken bra för strängar eller klarinett) tillsammans med Göran på spelkullen. Fina minnen. Sist vi sågs spelade vi inte, du hade visserligen återhämtat dig en del från hjärtinfarkten, men det var svårt. Vi lyssnade på inspelningar (Fink Jannes gammeldansorkester och några av de låtar jag spelat in 15 år tidigare), drack kaffe, pratade om låtar, spelmän, och musik. Det var känslosamt.

Jag har svårt att sätta ord på hur viktig du har varit för mig som spelman och människa. Skulle jag ha fortsatt forska, flyttat utomlands för master- och doktorandstudier i musiketnologi, övat och spelat om jag inte mötts av sådan uppmuntran och givmildhet när vi sågs de där första gångerna? Jag ville lära mig några nya låtar men jag fick betydligt mer, vänner, berättelser, fika, pannkakor, en sorts tillhörighet. På något sätt så var det under åren vi spelade och lärde känna varandra som jag blev spelman, inte bara klarinettist eller musiker.

Tack Bertil, för musiken, stunderna, och skratten.

Polkas

This week I taught you three tunes from Denmark, Finland and Estonia. The common denominator was that they all were different kinds of polka, or at least 2/4 polka-like tunes. Although there are lots of different types of dance tunes played in these countries, the polka has definitely been very popular in both Denmark and Finland. For those of you who want to here some more music from these areas I am putting together a play list on spotify, which I will add below in the coming days.

The first tune we did was ‘Jysk Fynsk’ ,  a local name for Rheinlænder-polka, from a recording with fiddler Levy Vilsen from Læsø, Denmark. The second one was a polka recorded by the influential Finnish folk group Kankaan Pelimannit, I don’t know much about the tune other than it was called Stövelpolka (Boot-polka) on a Swedish issue of their 1977 LP ‘Kangas Spelmän’ . The last short little tune was a Swedish-Estonian polka-like ‘laik’ (tune) from the bowed harp (talharpa) player Hans Renqvist from Ormsö in Estonia.

Jysk Fynsk

Stövelpolka

Laik

Polska efter C. H. Erlandsson

This week we did an asymmetrical polska with a short first/or long second beat. There are tunes played in this way in several places around Sweden (and Norway) but nowadays it is primarily associated with the western parts of Sweden. This tune, however, was collected from the fiddler Carl Herman Erlandsson in Uppland just north west of Stockholm. I taught you the tune in a style similar to how many musicians play this tune today, the original transcript however is somewhat different.
Erlandsson (1857-1936) was from a Swedish traveller family and although he eventually settled in Uppland many of his tunes was in a style more commonly associated with the province of Dalarna. As a young man he was sentenced to eight years of hard labour for manslaughter and it was not until later in life that he became recognised as a fiddler.
As you will see on the sheet music it is not easy to notate these kinds of polskas in a way which makes it easy to read, and there is always a risk that it becomes more confusing! If you want some initial help to get into the rhythm you can try this 'polska metronome' which Tom found online (thanks Tom!). However use it carefully, it may be a good tool to get reminded about the short first beat but don't use it as foundation when you play the tune. You can also listen to Lena Jonsson and Brittany Haas' version of the tune (see video link below, or listen to the whole album here). In the sheet music I have given suggestions on how to render the chords on a fiddle/melody instrument, but put on the recording and try things out yourself, you might well come up with something else which sounds great!

Lena and Brittany playing their arrangement of the polska together with an American old-time tune.

Slower version on the melodeon

Tune with arrangement

Scandi Course 16th of November

Another three tunes from Hälsingland this week, schottis, polkett and polska. The schottis I learned from Bertil Westling, who also taught me last weeks waltz. He got if from Holger Sjödin in Enånger, and it is fairly well known tune Holger was not much of a musician himself but played some of his father's Kalle Sjödin (1866-1938) repertoire. The polkett, another word for polka, I got from Olle Ollson, know as Vänster ('left') Olle as he played his fiddle on the 'wrong' side. Olle's father Olles Jonke was an important link to the older fiddle traditions in southern Hälsingland and in the late 1970s and early 1980s a number of younger fiddlers learnt tunes from him. Ulf Störling is one of the fiddlers who play a lot of Olles Jonke's tunes today. The last tune is from the famous fiddler Erik Ljung from Delsbo. Erik Ljung's tunes were collected in the early 20th century and included in the big collection of Swedish dance music known as Svenska Låtar. The original transcripts can be seen online here.

Schottis after Holger Sjödin

 

Polkett after Olle Olsson

 Polska efter Erik Ljung

Scandi Course 8th of November

Last week we learnt two tunes from Hälsingland. The first one was a waltz I learned from fiddler Bertil Westling, who has been one of my most important influences in learning folk music. It's a tune he learnt from his father Bernard and there are a number of version of it played in different parts of Sweden. You can see Bertil play it together with his son Göran here, and look at another transcript with bowing details here (will take you to a pdf). The second tune was a polska composed by Eiwor Kjellberg from Järvsö. With its arpeggio figures in the B-part this polska is in a style very closely associated with Hälsingland. These polskas are especially connected with the Hälsingland fiddler Jon Erik Öst who travelled around the country in the first part of the 20th century performing a style of virtuoso polska that soon became very popular among fiddlers. Here is an example of one of Jon Erik's compositions called Skansenpolskan. His son Eric was also a very good fiddler who played both older and more modern dance music. He used to be a regular on entertainment shows on television and radio. Here is a recording of Eiwor playing her Polska i Moll, I've added a variation to the melody which may work better on if you don't play the violin.

The Autumn's first scandi course session with the Trad Academy

A great first session with the autumn scandi music course at 14 Bacon street, I really enjoyed the evening! The two tunes we did were both collected in Härjedalen and in a style connected with western Sweden and the borders to Norway. The first was a halling from the fiddler Christoffer Tholson (1864-1945) and the second a triplet-based polska from another fiddler, Olof Löfgren (1865-?). This polska is often called Djävulspolskan, the devil’s polska, and my version of it is mostly influenced by a recording on the album Härjedalspipan (you can see the original and slightly different transcript here). Below is my arrangement of the polska and the halling tune. Recordings of both will be up soon.

If you want to listen to some more tunes in this style I can recommend groups and musicians such as Hoven Droven, Kjell-Erik Eriksson, Lasse Sörlin, and also records by Pettersson och Fredriksson, and Ulrika Bodén. You’ll find some of this on Spotify and YouTube.

Looking forward to next week when we’ll play some tunes from Hälsingland.

Halling

Polska

Last Scandi course session for this term.

It's been a really good course this term, a lovely mix of musicians and a lot of tunes!
The last piece we did was this polska from Karin Wallin and next weekend those who can will come to the museum of childhood to perform last weeks Engelska tunes with the Trad Academy's other courses.
Here is the Leipzig polska:

and the dots:

I am aware that some of you found it difficult to access the notation on this page and I will look into that as soon as possible.

Fifth Scandi course session - Engelska

Last week we did a long Engelska set and here are the dots and recordings. I am aware that especially the Amajor tune was a bit tricky on melodeon (although its is not as tricky as it might seem!) and maybe a few other instruments too. Therefore I have added a melodeon/other instruments edit of the tune too. We're back to the polskas this week although we'll also run through the Engelska's again. Hope to see you there for our last session of this term and don't forget that there is a performance opportunity with the group on St Georges Day, Saturday the 23rd of April where the plan is to play and dance Engelska together with other groups from the Trad Academy!

 

And then the anti-accidental/low notes version (just endings and A part, everything else the same as above):

More tunes

After today's session (16th March) The Scandinavian folk music course will have a two-week break over Easter and we start again with the two last sessions on the 6th and 13th of April. If you get tired of the tunes we have done this far and want more tunes to practice during the break have a look at the polskas we did in the autumn 2015 polska course you can find them here:
First session
Second session 
Third session
Fourth session

Good luck with the tunes and see you again in April.

Scandi music course session 4

Kruspolskan from  Styrbjörn Bergelt, Hedningarna etc.

Polska from Anders Petter Dufva's 1807 tune manuscript

Scandi session three

Kofyr... Halling

Kofyr... halling with melodeon fingerings

Bass line / counter melody
 

Scandi music course session two

Scandi music session, 27 February 2016

It was a really good first session this week with a great range of instruments. We did two waltzes, Silkesvalsen in A dorian/minor after Evert Åhs from Älvdalen, and a D major waltz from Småland with the rather awkward name 'Flickornas dans på kyrkogården', [the girls' dance in the church yard]. I have added the dots and videos below.

Pictures and video from a performance at the ArtsCafe in Manor Park, Lewisham

A video of me playing a polska from Galven, recorded at my recent Linear Obsessional Live performance.

 

Doing some melodeoning

Me and 'Mr. Linear Obsessional' himself, Richard Sanderson doing some free improvisation on two melodeons.

Scandinavian Music Course

It's time again for a new Scandinavian music course with the Trad Academy! This time it will be a full 6 sessions starting on the 24th of February until the 13th of April, with a two week break over Easter (23rd and 30th of March) as people might be away over the holiday. As last time we will be in the lovely café at 14 Bacon street (E1 6LF), just off Brick Lane, and next to Shoreditch High Street Overground Station. It is also just a 10 min walk from Liverpool Street Station and 15 min walk from Old Street Underground Station.
In the 4 week autumn course I focused on different kinds of polskas in particular, but this time the course will have a wider scope, and we'll look at different kinds of tunes, as well as, style, harmonies, rhythms, dances steps, lyrics and arrangements. The whole package that is, and it's yours for a mere £45 (contact the Trad Academy for concession rates)! To sign up, send an email to Ed at the Trad Academy, and check out their website, or contact me, for more information.

Esbjörn Wettermark 2016

Note: The fiddlers on the flyer are Mårten Andersson (1845-1929) from Ljusdal, and Erik Ljung(1851-1928) from Delsbo.

Performance in Lewisham's Manor Park on the 31st of January

A week from now I will be performing at Richard Sanderson's Linear Obsessional Live event at the ArtsCafe in Manor Park in Lewisham. Looks like an interesting afternoon with a range of improvisational in addition to my own contribution. I've also promised to do a free improvisation set with Richard (possibly one of the UK's top/only free-impro melodeonist...), so that will be something  to look forward to!

This is Richard's text about the event (the whole thing can be rear here):

'A concert of extraordinary live music, in a lovely cosy cafe in a park in Lewisham, brought to you by Hither Green based label "Linear Obsessional Recordings"
Featuring
Barrel (Alison Blunt - Violin, Ivor Kallin - Viola, Hannah Marshall - Cello) Improvising string trio featuring 3 top-notch London improvisers. Barrel's music could almost make you believe in telepathy- the music is sparky, witty, complex and hugely enjoyable.
Kathy Hulme - off-centre songs and poetry from one half of "skrewball folk" duo C-siders. Kathy's work is always refeshingly original and peculiarly affecting.
Esbjorn Wettermark - Spectacularly talented Swedish folk musician will play a solo set of traditional tunes on clarinet and melodeon.

Food, soft drinks, coffees and teas available. You are welcome to bring a bottle! I dare say we'll all goto the pub afterwards too....'

And its free!

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.

Third Scandinavian music course session

Another great session with yet another kind of polska, this time a Norwegian variety. A 'polsdans' from the border area between Sweden and Norway. These dance tunes with a short third beat are generally referred to simply as 'finnskogspols' to separate them from other kinds of polska rhythms.
 In the session I called the tune Black Marits, but it turned out to be a typo on my computer... it is supposed to by Back-Marits.

First here is my own recording of the tune with melody and the two different harmonies we did. The second harmony can be played together with the first one for a three part arrangement.

Here is the dots for the arrangement but as I have said before play with the recording first of all!

 
I found two slightly different versions of the tune on YouTube, the first one is played by the Norwegian melodeon player Ingunn Bjørgo, and the second one a version played by Atle Lien Jenssen and Olav Sæta is from the album '24 polsdanser frå Finnskogen', a CD which I played for you after the session (the whole album is actually available on YouTube).

Atle Lien Jenssen and Olav Sæta

Ingunn Bjørgo

And if you are interested in hearing some older field recordings from this area, I recommend the album "Puken i Kjerketårnet" (also available on YouTube)