it’s a start! so far we have most of my 2016 trip here, before i got derailed. i am actually still intending to post highlights from trips to Sweden/Finland in 5/2017, 10/2017, 3/2018, and now 7/2019. so many adventures, so many pictures.
if you want to be notified when i post updates, there are now a couple of handy Subscribe links on the right.
Flying with a musical instrument is always a scary business, one that’s especially unpredictable when your case slightly exceeds the official carry-on baggage dimensions–as do violins and violas, guitars, and of course nyckelharpas. A nyckelharpa in a soft case actually…
The most fun part of flying from Stockholm to Helsinki is that while it takes two hours to get there, it takes zero minutes (or sometimes negative one minute) to get back again. Although I landed midafternoon, and there is…
My primary purpose in spending a few days in Helsinki was to pursue the opportunity to explore some musical ideas with my friend Juha. We first met in Sweden in 2007, and although we’ve managed to engineer only a handful…
The other biggest gap in my plans was figuring out how to get back from Furudal to Stockholm. There’s a bus between Furudal and Rättvik, but not on Sundays. And by the time I’d flailed around looking for a possible…
The weekend festivities began with a Friday night concert in the Ore kyrka: the Malung spelmanslag and the Eiwor Kjellberg band. Then many of us repaired to the bruk for a large yet still quite nice jam session, which I…
Arguably the goofiest part of my itinerary: I head all the way back up to Dalarna from Gotland. But for a good cause: Stefhan & Franziska have recommended the little spelmansstämma in Furudal, and I happen to be free for…
Two of my ESI classmates work on Gotland for the summer, at a middle-ages-themed restaurant. We debated about whether it was a good idea for me to visit during the most hectic week of the year, Middle Ages Week, since…
I especially look forward to getting to visit my friend and mentor Olle and his family. This time he squeezed me into a busy summer schedule where there reeeeeeeally wasn’t room, but we made the most of it. He took…
I’d been waffling about when to schedule this trip to Sweden. The opportunity to join an ensemble class taught by Mia & Micke Marin provided the impetus for committing to these August dates: Mia had posted an invitation on the…