Match-Box Songs and Gypsy Hymns

2010-03-17T20:52:00.001Z

And view our quartet playing in Sweden here.

a startling new kind of excitement

2009-10-06T09:47:00.000+01:00

die familie

2009-09-07T19:48:00.007+01:00

Great, great, grandparents...

Opa Friedel, Tante Adele and baby Helmut (who died of meningitus) Tante Adele, baby Helmut, Oma-Stina (great grandmother) and Opa Friedel.

Oma Erna and siblings Gerhard, Maliese, Erika and Margit

The great-grandparents; Oma Ellie, Opa Otto, Oma Stina and Opa Peter

Young grandparents; Oma Erna, Opa Friedel

Opa's first day at school, 1939

Opa Peter (front) who worked with horses

Working on the vinyards

During the war Opa Peter and Oma Stina, after the war - in the half finished house.
Opa Friedel
Opa and Oma

Helm!

Me and Oma collecting milk

Happy Birthday Anna!

2009-05-13T12:42:00.001+01:00

xxx

knowing how way leads on to way

2009-05-10T15:40:00.004+01:00

I was dancing away on friday night and someone came over and said they read my blog and liked it, which was a bit odd. But I sort of liked it once too. So in an attempt then to push the boring stuff down the page and perhaps release my brain occasionally from the throws of revision and facebook, I will put some good stuff on here.

This is a trip which is now more than a year old. Feels strange but correct, I suppose -

The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

occupation

2009-03-11T07:52:00.001Z

see www.newcastleoccupation.blogspot.com

folkwaves

2009-02-24T17:09:00.002Z

Fidola played live last night on Folkwaves, for BBC in the east-midlands.
You can hear us again here, we play 3 tracks and chat a bit just after half way through the programme.

Happy Christmas

2008-12-24T16:35:00.001Z

At this special time of the year, I think it is important that we do not forget the true message of Christmas. Two banjos are better than one.

yeah

2008-12-14T14:27:00.000Z

2008-12-13T15:59:00.002Z

House to myself, clean and candley, a packet of crumpets and cheese, mulled wine, ring helm to check on the spices, lots of people arrive singing carols, glögg, gluhwein, mince pies, jungle speed, ukuleles, sleep, massive cooked breakfast, coffee, dinner, rapper crawl, ceilidh, home made gin debut, a helpful collage. A restful Sunday.

procrastination: 201

2008-12-06T11:09:00.008Z

Well, the bear changed my life. It walked and growled and smiled and moved all furry under my fingers, just like it's real-life brothers and sisters. It was 5, remote controlled mother had been killed by poachers, which is what brought it to the Sage Gateshead to teach us all about the species...Incredible. We played nice and Otis took some great photos -here they are as yet unedited. I hope he won't mind...ach nobody reads this anyway!

There are hundreds more lovely photos here.

I got my first first the other day for my essay on education. Now I have one more finished, two more to write before the end of next week. It's nice. Books are nice. Looking forward to Christmas time - no exams in January, and so effectively 2 weeks off... maybe I should go somewhere exciting and take novels while I have the chance...

On the news this morning were two stories which made me laugh: BBC Breakfast first had a man in from a magazine which helps ex patriots settle in in Australia etc, telling us all about the huge rise in 'flight rage' i.e. drunken people being rude to flight attendants on both short and long haul flights. Apparently the rise is something we should be thoroughly concerned about - enough to warrant a 5 minute report anyway - although I think, surely, if alcohol was banned on flights less people would want to fly (most usage is because of nervousness you see) and that is: a good thing. Anyway, I was amused again when next up in the show was a 'G.P' (wow) who had been brought on to talk about the common cold which is, once again, sweeping Britain on a scale only seen once a year before. She said if you are sat on a bus and someone sneezes, the cold virus can infect up to 150 people in the vicinity in 5 minutes. So, I am staying in until April.

live and uncensored and ridiculous

2008-11-27T13:30:00.003Z

I've just added some banjola action to my music page.

a belly full

2008-11-26T22:46:00.002Z

My hope is a little restored in this land with a belly full of mulled wine, roasted chestnuts and having sung carols round a (gas, but perfectly reasonable) fire all evening.

And look where we are playing this weekend! With the bear! BEAR.

now I am back again

2008-11-18T22:54:00.002Z

here is the sunrise in bollnäs:

tillbaka i vårt hemliga hem

2008-11-14T17:44:00.002Z

Bollnäs är perfekt. Allt som vi lämnat det.

2008-10-26T17:51:00.003Z

"Equal educational opportunity is, indeed, both a desirable and a feasible goal, but to equate this with obligatory schooling is to confuse salvation with the Church"

Ivan God Illich. I am saved.

a little bit of common ground

2008-10-25T18:04:00.005+01:00

Some nice pictures of us at Common Ground this year, which I've half-inched from Pete's flickr account to share. Hope he doesn't mind! All in the name of spreading the word. Look how much fun we are having...
...playing...piping
... mandolin trioing
...fidolaing
...sessioning
my small and sweet fiddle class performing...
...wine tasting !
... klausing
... set-listing
... banjoing!
It is better than Center Parcs. I should know.
The whole lot here : http://www.flickr.com/photos/peteheywood/sets/72157606626309554/

"At the moment of death, I hope to be surprised"

2008-10-16T12:44:00.005+01:00

The sharp winter air and sunshine here is making me miss Sweden properly for the first time. Yesterday, Marit and I had our first practice at the Sage since moving here (terrible, I know, but it's been busy!) and just the experience of being in a music practice room again brought back all of last year - how many hours a week did I spend locked up in these wooden rooms, with a piano and a mirror and a chair? I hadn't noticed till then how much I miss it. I'm playing a lot here, obviously, but it doesn't feel like there will be time for the privacy of practicing by myself. What a privilege it was to have that time. I remember in the first weeks being amazed that this was actually expected of me: just play all day. Then again, in Sweden I missed books. I've got more than enough of them here now. Is there ever a balance?

At the weekend, I went to see Nitin Sawhney. He was really good, and we danced wild! Legs didn't forgive me, having just got over yoga. I am pathetic, you'll remember. But this week I have cycled in and out of town every day, and they seem to be holding it together. Anyway, at the gig now, I bumped into a girl who used to sit in the same class as my Estonian friend Mari Kalkun. She studies Politics here, in 4th year. The world is a ping-pong ball.

I've got my first assessment for Sociology which is really exciting. I am a geek, you'll remember. It's a critical analysis of the statement 'Education provides equality of opportunity for all in the UK' with regards to social class. GET IN! I've started it already, with the help of my new found dead hero: Ivan Illich. What a man. Here is some of his best sentences:

"The power of school to divide social reality has no boundaries: education becomes unworldly and the world becomes noneducational"

“Any attempt to reform the university without attending to the system of which it is an integral part is like trying to do urban renewal in New York City from the twelfth story up.”

"The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good."

"In a consumer society there are inevitably two kinds of slaves: the prisoners of addiction and the prisoners of envy."

“At the moment of death I hope to be surprised.”

Thankyou, Ivan. Together, we will nail this essay.

shadows

2008-10-10T21:58:00.002+01:00

I hope Oona won't mind me sharing this. It is a few short clips from a shadow play that our class made in Bollnäs:

shadowplay

safe and swell

2008-10-10T21:14:00.004+01:00

Blogger says I have a 'follower'. Excellent.

All is well up north. My course is (despite my unsurprising flit of indecisiveness) great. Sociology is as I expected but with more historical emphasis and politics is nothing like I expected and much much better. It's basically political philosophy this year; ideologies, theories, ideas, etc. Lots of reading. Today I took 10 books out of the library and nearly got run over about 4 times trying to navigate them all home. Home is wonderful, by the way, you should visit.

I wanted to blog lots of pictures, but I haven't taken a single one yet as it's all been too busy. Here is a fairly accurate depiction of what I am doing when I am not in the library, in a lecture, in the pub or at home cooking food:
Time has quickly been filled. I start volunteering at my local independent cinema tomorrow, which is exciting. Fiddle band is gorgeous, rapper is surprisingly successful, yoga has rendered me walkless but I have high hopes for it if I just keep it up, singing group begins next week, sessions here are all they are cracked up to be (last night I met Benny from ABBA, no joke!), cycling around so far so good, pies are getting better and better every time and I am drinking a bit too much wine.

Looking forward to a visit from Anna soon!

a good way to go?

2008-09-12T10:44:00.004+01:00

I learnt about the dancing plague of 1518 on the radio this morning. Strange things. Yesterday I painted some shelves and tried out new bows. Picked one. Helmut has gone a bit mad and has made me quite an extensive tool-kit to take to Newcastle, complete with anything I might need to unscrew/hammer in/tease out/pump up any given situation. Phew.

the big, wide world.

2008-09-10T19:14:00.004+01:00

My life seems to be one long to-do list of small, odd-job things. Today I fixed a boot zip, posted CD's to America, fixed bits of my bike, wrote a letter, chatted to Anna, met up with Deborah for cups of tea. The latter two being very pleasurable jobs. I'm enjoying packing! I can't wait to move. My two great friends and soon-to-be living companions are keeping a colossal sofa warm for me. It really is huge, there is no reason not to visit.

The reason I mentioned my course in the last post is because I am hoping to change from Politics & Sociology BA to a History BA. As it stands I am in the front of the que to wait to see if someone doesn't show up to register next week or decides to defer a year or something. The change was a fairly recent decision for many reasons, including the fact that I'm interested in studying History (curriculum subject for teaching qualifications at KS3 level, very wide range of modules, good department, possible year in Stockholm, rumoured lighter workload etc). I'd happily study both degree courses, and might if it wasn't for the fees. I think both these courses would give me interesting books to read, challenging tasks, new skills, knowledge about important things and new ways in which to approach the things I am already interested in...........intelligent, lively people..........ha ha ha......

Freshers week pole dancing, anyone?

BLUGH.

clear out

2008-09-09T12:16:00.003+01:00

I'm packing to move to Newcastle in a week.

Feeling good about it. Please don't ask me what degree I am doing...

Clearing out, I found my music A level composition with a very witty name. Probably the wittiest thing I ever wrote (do you get it?) . I think the piece was pretty shit, though.

act your age!

2008-09-07T10:20:00.003+01:00

http://www.yearbookyourself.com/
hours of fun...

up kinder and down again

2008-09-03T12:22:00.002+01:00

See my cameras recent travels here

photos: Tom Morris.

updates

2008-09-02T13:48:00.000+01:00

I've put a couple of new musical things here.

2008-08-28T09:03:00.003+01:00

http://www.prestolee.bolton.sch.uk/index.phpoption=com_content&task=view&id=13&Itemid=34

Today I am off to take photographs of people who went to Prestolee School, near Bolton, in the 1940's, who are revisiting and remembering with my mum (who didn't go there...she is more of a late fan).

Banjoliday.

2008-08-25T20:02:00.010+01:00

We all (not Anna = Sweden) got back from Whitby folk week last week, which was good but wet and a bit weird. Helm' did well on the stall. Sold a few good bows, the last of the current mountain banjos, a fiddle, few bits etc. Lots better than last year. It was strange to be there without Anna, who I've gone to Whitby with every year since we were 3 and 5. Me and Cath did quite a lot of sitting around in pubs with relatively old men playing very very English tunes and I spent a bit of time wondering why, but not too much. The rest of the time I went to concerts or played the banjo or ate fish and chips. We stayed in a 'dog friendly' apartment. It was very nice, bar it being dog friendly. The dogs had all left messages in the guest book as well as stains on the carpet. Odd.
Now I am home for the duration. Moving up to Newcastle a week before freshers week, so around the 14th. Looking forward to the flat, and looking forward to being in one place again. Also quite looking forward to packing etc, a chance to clear out a bit and make somewhere new another home. I've got about 400 bands to start. Well, not 400, but at least 4 serious ones. My most serious is more of a project and is top secret while I secure members and funding. Well, it's top secret until it's definately happening. I wouldn't want to get all excited about it and then find out I've got some kind of degree to be getting on with. Here is an old band, publicity material materialised over a year too late, materially speaking:

P.S
I got some for my birthday, they are very nice and in C. Even joined the society and everything.
P.P.S I've been making fidola's website in a not very professional but
trying quite hard way.
P.P.P.S They are scottish small pipes.

fly away home

2008-08-15T10:42:00.008+01:00

We've got a pigeon!

It's a tense morning in the RheingansBurke household. Just as Rowan was making her morning coffee, a flapping pigeon threw itself uncontrollably into the kitchen window, crying 'let me in, let me in... I AM HOME!'. As it turns out, John is from the Royal Association of Pigeons (GB) and has flown in the wrong direction. He is in the wrong home. He is friendly but picky about food. Cathy has developed a complex form of communication. Now we have strict instructions to care for it for no more than two days and report it to the Royal Association of Pigeons. He is a Royal Pigeon.

Estonia

2008-07-26T11:57:00.002+01:00

Viljandi is very nice and very hot. There are lots of people here, maybe 20,000, and it is a small place. Green and warm and a lake, and castle ruins and some big stages and some small stages and piles and piles of frying, bubbling, fatty meat. Noone speaks English. Nice cheap beer. Mosquitos. And an artists bar. Shmoosing with the stars. One concert over which went well, and one to go on an outside stage tomorrow which is a good size. Some very inspiring musicians are here, and I have made new friends and lit musical projects and found musical friends for new musical projects and oh how nice it is to play. Back on Monday!

the still and silent inbetween bits

2008-07-11T17:59:00.005+01:00

..
As of waking up at midday today, and looking at the clock now at 6pm, I am fairly certain that I have done absolutely nothing. I love Shakira.

Herregud, jag är tillbaka.

2008-07-11T16:47:00.006+01:00

Back from Sweden, away to Germany tomorrow. Should try to write while I'm actually doing things and have things to talk about rather than in all the in between parts which are in fact quite identical.
Me and Anna were at Ethno camp in Rättvik for a week, which is a kind of world music get together which happens in a few countries (england, belgium, slovenia, croatia...) . There was over 100 people from around 20 countries at the Swedish one. It was a very inspiring and exhausting week and I met many more brilliant musicians to try to keep in touch with. It was nice to be in and around Rättvik: fires on the beach and swimming in the lake and playing and dancing on the bridge. I managed to meet up with some friends at Bingsjö and Boda spelmanstämmas as well, which was lovely. We did some precarious camping, and I got bitten to death by mosquitos again. Anna's been blogging about it. I will not be back to Sweden now until November, when the night will be back.

A boy in a thunderstorm, while everyone else took shelter:

Concerts:

Yesterday, I spent the day down south working for ESSA at an all girls high school just outside of London, running training for their campaigns for better sex education and less youth crime. The students were all really energetic, and it was nice to be back doing training for ESSA. Hopefully I'll get a bit more involved again, now I'll be based in the UK for a bit.

Tomorrow we're off to Germany on the boat. Then, after two weeks of blissful relaxation (plus a fair amount of relative seeing) hopefully in the sun (what is wrong with England?) I fly straight to Estonia for Viljandi Folk Festival, where Fidola have some concerts, and hopefully Shakira in our dressing room. Back for my birthday!

touchdown

2008-06-24T11:48:00.003+01:00

I've been back a week and a bit now and I'm going back to Sweden again tomorrow.
It would be nice to stay in one place for a while...
Nevertheless, we've been having really successful concerts and workshops and finally earning some money which feels...relieving. We played this weekend at Beverley Folk Festival, which went well despite the worst sound ever, and was broadcast live on www.bbc.co.uk/rawtalent (where you can listen to us again for a week, inclusive of appauling sound and an amazingly appauling joke and the swedish national song...). Click the link for raw talent at Beverley or something similar. Our gig at Calver also went extremely well and we sold out of the first batch of CD's in one evening! Tomorrow we're going to Rättvik to participate in Ethno Sweden, play one gig, and then go to two spelmans stämmas with Anna also. Then I'll be back for a few days in London working before we go to Germany to visit family then I go directly to Estonia for concerts at the Viljandi Folk Festival. And it's all a bit much, so i'm only passing through to say hello and goodbye and I wish I could stay a little a bit longer.

please buy our CD...

2008-06-11T21:36:00.009+01:00

Order from us: fidolamusic@gmail.com

You can click to make the pictures bigger so you can read all of the secret writing.

home, dry, broke

2008-06-11T13:12:00.006+01:00

I'm back from a long journey. There were goodbyes and hellos again, and a good amount of seeyousoons. I left Bollnäs a week ago, and travelled south to Ransäter where we camped in 30 degree heat and never getting dark and playing and dancing and eating potato salad and getting bitten all over by lots of insects. Then I travelled to Göteborg and flew from there to Stansted. Ryanair charged me a small fortune for my heavy bag and my bottle of plane wine, so I arrived in London with less than no money and having left my phone somewhere on route also. Life is more exciting with no money. Well, it was for about 10 minutes, then it just got a bit annoying. Good news is that gigs start on Sunday and Marit is bringing 50 copies of our new CD to sell. I hope they do. I spent two days in London staying with Joel and Crista, which was great, and having a meeting with my old colleagues at ESSA for a days work I will do for them in July. Seeing them was also great, but being in a meeting with stuff to decide and contributions to make and things to write down felt a bit odd, like either no time or a lot of time had past since I was there last. In the meantime, being home is good. My room gets nicer every time I come back, and Helm is busy inventing stringed flutes and giving my instruments their MOT. Cathy is away at a conference somewhere a bit exotic and Anna is getting prepared for her final exams.

It is a strange thing to be back. I feel like I left home to come home.

More pictures.
Even more pictures.

off we go, again

2008-06-04T08:38:00.002+01:00

last days, first days

2008-06-02T18:38:00.004+01:00

Now school is over, and everyone has left apart from me. Everything is clean and packed and shiny, and very quiet. I thought it would be nice to have a few days here after the chaos of the last weeks to consolidate a bit and rest before Ransater Stamma this weekend, which a lot of people will be going to. Saying goodbye's was pretty exhausting, but now I'm feeling quite bright... minus a heavy, soggy feeling about leaving somewhere I feel very at home.The summer will be full of music, which means that it will be good. And Marit and I have our CD almost ready to sell millions of copies at festivals and concerts. So, all being well, I'll be rich enough to be a folk musician come September (and occasionally write essays, of course).

I have even put a new tune today on www.myspace.com/fidolamusic ...
(I'm not sure if I am allowed to do that)
Also, a few weeks ago now, I pretended to be a singersongwriter, and recorded three old songs which are now on my own myspace www.myspace.com/rowanrheingans.

Horrible advertisement over.

Anna got into the folkmusik course here starting in September, which is so great! Coming here was absolutely the best thing I ever done, and I wouldn't wish it on anyone more than my sister. She deserves it, and it's made packing a whole lot easier - there's a box full of cosy things in the basement for when she arrives.

My job, being the last at school, is to go around all the houses and raid the kitchens and eat all the food left over. This is the world's best job and I am having a fun time on my own with never ending supplies of pizza, pasta, lentils, ice-cream, oats, cheese, frozen broccoli, un-identifiable meat... and I've just found 4 erotic films! Everything is fine...

blogger won't let me upload any pictures

2008-05-23T16:52:00.009+01:00

And I can't think of anything to say!

Only that I am as busy as ever and everything is the last thing now: last concert, last weekend, last chance to record and mix, last words of the days, last meals, last tunes....and that I'll be coming home in two weeks and that I have no idea what I am going to do instead which won't feel like a waste of time (apart from the summer, which will be much the same as this year in a lot of ways). It is going to be a hard act to follow. I am 13 and 14 and 15 at the end of Whitby week, legs ache from the dancing, fingers ache from the sessions, throat ache from the singing and kissing and cold, salty sea air and then we'll all go together. Times about a million and minus the consolation of next year.

Oh, blogger has changed it's mind now, so here is something jollier.

flipping coins

2008-05-08T08:55:00.003+01:00

So, I have been offered a place at the Music Academy in Malmö and I have to say whether I want to take it by Friday. I've also accepted my place at Newcastle for Politics and Sociology, and as the third party of the Bollnäs to England team (go!). I know that I will go to Newcastle, for numerous reasons. I can get my academic and my musical kicks there, where-as I would only be seeped in beautiful music all of the time in Malmö (oh no...) and also Marit has a place on the folk degree in Newcastle, so we can continue working on being the first folk musicians to ever get rich and famous. Still, the decision is horrid, because it's almost certain that I will never get offered a place for a music academy again. I probably will never audition again. But, good musicians are good because they work hard and love what they do and make time for it - not necessarilly because they have studied music. Sigh. I wish everyone would stop going on about the political situation in England (mine was only a quick surprised comment below!) because whenever I hear about it, I feel like I should definately stay put (although it is not so much better here).
Or, maybe it means I should definately come home.
Anyway - home. I'll be there in 4 weeks ( is that true? yes. wow. I know.) and there is a lot I am looking forward to. I seem to have a jam packed summer again (it always seems very full in May, but things tend to make room for each other in the end). Me and Anna are coming back to Sweden for some festivals in June/July, when it will will be nice and warm and always light!
I will post some pictures of our trip to Hovra spelemans stämma later, with a cold night spent camping in the forest.

eyebrows up, mouth open

2008-05-06T10:05:00.002+01:00

Is Boris Johnson mayor of London? Is he?!

may morning

2008-05-01T04:05:00.002+01:00

is warm and sleepless.
happy rainy spring,
happy buds and birds,
happy morris dancers,
happy would be 3,
happy red parade,
happy birthday, helm.

in sunshine and shadow

2008-04-29T10:33:00.011+01:00

Last night we premiered our shadow play at Bollnäs Folkets Hus. It went really well but, at just a half an hour long, felt very short after all the work we'd put in. So, we hope to travel with it to at least one more theater. I hurt my knee again being a dancing bear. It was worth it. Champagne and after party followed. Here are some pictures of life on our side of the sheet:

Meanwhile, in the real world, things are warm and bright and sunny!

And the market is back which means fresh mint for the weekend.
And long lazy Sundays...or everydays.

Of course now we are all shadow obsessives, there are some cross overs between the dark and the opaque and the bright world outside.

Me and Oona went on a long walk on the old railway line the other day, and we saw a wild deer!

In less excitable and none-illustrated news, I am still a bit in limbo about universities here next year. I applied to Goteborg, but didn't get in. I have accepted first reserve place at Malmo music academy, so I have to wait and see whether someone declines their offer in which case I would get a place. All this said though, I have a place at Newcastle university and (with the NEW PLAN in action which involves bringing as many Swedish people back to England with me as possible and making them stay for the foreseeable future) I'm feeling pretty fine about taking it. The course in Malmo isn't really what I want to do, and it makes sense for me to be in Newcastle - I can get back to academia and be in what's probably the best city in England for folk music.
Anna is applying to Bollnäs so it might be a fair swap.

back track

2008-04-18T08:02:00.013+01:00

I'm going to regret uploading all these pictures when this post takes a year to publish itself. Anyway, here follows an illustrated version of the last two weeks.

We start in Halden, where Fidola have lots of gigs at various culture festivals and events in the town but still find time in their hectic schedule to wander around and take in the sights and sounds of the picturesque fjord-side town. They meet a cat, which Rowan decides is the roaming Aslan in the Narnia of Halden. It shows us the way:

When Marit is asleep (which happens fairly often), Rowan steals a precious sunny afternoon with The Guardian and A Bench. (Both are real British versions, the paper not even the international version with gray-scale content and no G2!) Perfect.

Rowan and Marit revel in their name plastered all over town:

They play some music:
People dance:

They play in various venues, including this the oldest theater in Norway!
See video of this concert.

Backstage before playing on the bandstand, with cold hands and purple hair:
Their balloon riddled crowd awaits:
The working days are done, and Fidola chill out.

It's a very long journey back to Bollnäs.
Rowan sleeps. Marit listens to ABBA.

Meanwhile, back at school, the folkmusik class are working on a shadow play production with music and ... shadows. It's very time consuming but starts to get quite exciting as it finally comes together. It will premier at Bollnäs Folkets Hus in two weeks time, and then the class plan to travel with it to a couple of other venues, possibly a theater in Stockholm, after that.
Rowan gets to play the banjo with a bow and be a dancing bear. Finally...

And, last but not least, Helmut comes to visit! And it is great. He does workshops in instrument maintenance, set up, looking after fiddles and some basic repairs and is very popular, as ever. Rowan gets to play lots of banjo and learn some new tunes to practice.

Before Helm travels home, there is a time for a short and sweet banjo concert.
And yes, we know which film you mean but no, we don't play dueling banjos.

Befriend Helm on Myspace!

tunes and songs

2008-04-16T08:39:00.004+01:00

With a fun-packed, tour-diary, helms-visit, shadow-play, winter-spring, illustrated update just around the corner (when I find a spare 20 minutes)....fidola have just mixed our 5 new tracks which are on myspace, and I like them very much, so please do have a listen! We also have a video if you feel like the concert experience in your own living rooms...

More to come!

2008-04-01T11:47:00.001+01:00

Fidola have 5 gigs this week in Halden, Norway.
It is spring and sunny!

2008-03-28T17:55:00.004Z

Here are some pictures that are lost in the rubble of my computer and need a better, more caring home, where they can be kept safely when I clear out. They are in no order and with no real theme. Beginning with our house and ending with my nose.

Alla händer på Gotland!

2008-03-26T09:21:00.005Z

England's good Friday is Sweden's long Friday. Last week, me and Oona spent a very long Friday travelling from Bollnas to Gotland on busses, trains and a boat with very long stop off in Stockholm where exciting things were happening in churches and the occasional art gallery. After a long time procrastinating in various places of worship (facinating and, above all, warmer than outside) we boarded a ferry for the evening bound east for Gotland, Sweden's biggest island.
Here is a windy moment out on deck:
And arrival in Visby:

My slightly tired and dishevelled excitement at the last bottle of black sheep ale on the island:

Visby:

A short drive out of the city - beautiful cliff-top walking:

We returned to Bollnas on Easter Monday to incredible amounts of snow. Probably the most we've had so far. I thought spring was coming, but I was wrong...
This week everyone bar a few (the usual few) are away from school, so it is nice and quiet. Must play the fiddle a bit - it's been a while! I am waiting for news which should come around the 17th April on whether I have achieved a place at two universities I have applied for here. That day feels a bit like judgement day. I hope it comes fast.
Otherwise, a thing I am looking forward to is Helmut visiting - around the 11th April. The school have offered him a place to stay and food and train tickets if he comes and runs a few workshops for string players about looking after their instruments etc. Should be really nice. Although he told me just before I left Grindleford last that he doesn't have a single jumper. Maybe it will be spring by then. Also, me and Marit are getting lots of gigs. Some paid, some not so paid, but all good. We also have some concerts booked at Viljandi folk festival which is a big one in Estonia in July which should be great.

Now, I am off for a swim and to continue writing the letter in my head that I will write down properly at some point later today. I will swim every day this week, and eat good food and go to bed really early and drink tea and read proper books and be quiet. Heavenly.

quick as you can

2008-03-21T10:00:00.001Z

I'm back in Sweden now, where it is SNOW. So today I'm taking the boat with Oona to Gotland to visit friends for easter. Sorry to those I didn't see when in England - was a bit of a fleating and fairly quiet visit. But parts of it were extremely lovely. More news as it comes, and hopefully pictures of beautiful Gotland with bird watching and tunes...
Now. Run for the bus.

2008-03-16T11:15:00.001Z

2008-03-05T22:32:00.005Z

I have spent the last week watching four different countries slip by train windows.

And, in between them: practicing, auditioning, waiting, being questioned, answering, being nervous, being hungry, walking with heavy bags, eating expensive pub food, being full, drinking celebratory beers, sleep singing, slow thinking, coffee shop sofas, flight delays, airport night wandering, paper hunting, eaves dropping, fjord gazing, life musing, no stopping.

Now, it is time to be quiet for a bit.

weather update

2008-02-22T10:10:00.000Z

Snowy summer.

the sun has already gone down behind the snowy mountains and all the bears are asleep

2008-02-15T15:41:00.002Z

Anna came and went and was lovely.
Days are cold and sunny and the wind stings faces.
Fidola recording tomorrow. Cocktail party tonight. Dance on Saturday night.
I am not worried about anything.
Fiddle is back and feet firmly above ground.
My knee is better than ever.

misty

2008-02-06T09:16:00.000Z

Yesterday was a good day for getting my camera out. I felt very lethargic from playing suddenly, which I think wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for impending auditions. Took a lot longer than usual to snap out of it. I must try to forget about them from time to time. Anna is coming tomorrow! Which will help enormously. We have planned nice things for her at this end. Here is the lake again, you can click to make them bigger:

fidoling in the snow

2008-02-04T15:02:00.000Z

here is a lake with snow and a band with an empty slot in a festival programme to fill.
here are the rest.

The Good-Morrow, by John Donne

2008-02-03T16:00:00.000Z

I wonder, by my troth, what thou and I
Did, till we loved? Were we not weaned till then?
But sucked on country pleasures, childishly?
Or snorted we in the Seven Sleepers’ den?
’Twas so; but this, all pleasures fancies be.
If ever any beauty I did see,
Which I desired, and got, ’twas but a dream of thee.

And now good-morrow to our waking souls,
Which watch not one another out of fear;
For love, all love of other sights controls,
And makes one little room an everywhere.
Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone,
Let maps to other, worlds on worlds have shown,
Let us possess one world, each hath one, and is one.

My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears,
And true plain hearts do in the faces rest;
Where can we find two better hemispheres,
Without sharp north, without declining west?
Whatever dies, was not mixed equally;
If our two loves be one, or, thou and I
Love so alike, that none do slacken, none can die.

half a cup of cold tea

2008-02-02T16:03:00.000Z

Our neighbour (back in Grindleford) River is the poet laureate for Derbyshire, amongst other interesting things.
Here is a poem of hers called 'Planting the Rowan'.
Visit her blog: www.derbyshirepoetlaureate.blogspot.com .

Planting the Rowan, by River Wolton.

Blackbird clacks day’s end through undergrowth.
A week past autumn equinox. We should go in

but keep on, half a cup of cold tea rain-flecked
on a stone, nettle-bites inside wet gloves.

Knees sag with mud, backache as yet benign.
A bramble gives. I’m flung back.

Lights along the row like honey toast.
Shouldering the drizzle, we’ve amassed

a heap of rot-stripped doors, roots, bucket rims.
Downhill from everything we’re nose to earth,

breath - raw damp clumps. A little more.
It’s painful to unbend, stretch to the last grey line

of light. I kiss you, plant the tree
whose bed is soft stroked loam. From inside

it will look so dark out here
we’ll wonder how we saw our way at all.

come to our school, just look how much fun we are having

2008-02-02T15:31:00.000Z

Here are some pictures from the last concert at Sjovik Folkhogskola...

wow, look at my rowan berries!

2008-02-01T10:15:00.000Z

I'm very impressed with how easy blogger is making it for me with no html skills to make my page look all pretty.

My cold is a bit better, but outside it is very cold.
-Minus 11 in the mornings according to a woman in town...

Yesterday we returned from the PR tour in a slow, sleepy and silly state. All our concerts went well, despite my voice being full of germs, and we got a really good reception from the students at the schools. It was really interesting for me to visit some gymnasiums Rättvik and Falun. It felt like a very long time since I have spent any time in a proper school, apart from working in them with ESSA. I was very impressed, anyway. Very light and airy buildings with glass doors and windows from the classrooms out onto the corridors, Cathy.
Great food, clean toilets. Imagine that.

We played also at a folkhogskola in Sjövik which was a really nice, cosy place. It was good to spend some time in gymnasiums and then go back to a folkhogskola - they really are two different kinds of places. And Sjövik was very interesting on it's own merits too - it reminded me a lot of the democratic schools I visited last year in Germany. The atmosphere is calm and productive and the environment is light and comfortable and seems to make sense. Oona showed us around the school as she had studied there last year. One of their courses is the 'fresh air' course which involves learning how to live outdoors all year round; how to build houses, shelters, tipis etc.
I have no idea how to build a house.

Photos to come!

cough. whisper.

2008-01-28T08:36:00.000Z

So, I finally got ill.

Cycling through snow at 6:30am and then cycling back with a hair full of swimming pool has taken it's toll and I've got a sore throat, a sticky head, a blocked nose and ... what's that? I can't hear anything. I also have kind friends: thanks for the mango and the juice and the chocolate, the raspberry tea and the painkillers.

It wouldn't be such an annoyance if we didn't have concerts tomorrow and Wednesday around and about. I don't think I will be singing, that's for sure.

Here's a cold picture from last week. It's colder now.

Joe Scurfield's Favourite, by Robin Dunn

2008-01-25T13:00:00.000Z

This is a hornpipe which works well as a schottishe. G minor but with lots of modulations which are tricky but once you get your fingers around them, they are quirky and happy.

Joe is someone I often think about at times of small panic about what I'm doing here and why am I playing music all the time instead of doing something important and how am I ever going to make any money or get famous before I am 20 etc. I only have to think for a minute and it's obvious again.

hats

2008-01-24T08:34:00.000Z

On returning, everything here is much the same. Although there is a bit more snow and a lot more work. Much bigger room! I've moved now across the school to share a room with my friend Oona which is like a little bedsit type thing which we have made very cosy. We have room to dance, which we certainly didn't have before. And a little kitchen and a big bathroom and plants, but no fish....... yet.

My knee is still giving me jip (I've forgotten English sayings and which way round they should go: birds? stones? jip? something....) but I've been ice skating on the lake nevertheless; terrifying. I've been swimming a lot and cycling a lot too so maybe I shouldn't be surprised that it still hurts. I'm a little worried about a wisdom tooth too...

BUT less of that.

Good things are that Fidola have very nice gigs being thrown at them from all directions. Not quite all, but some very nice directions. We're going to record some more music hopefully soon. On Monday myself and three others from the class get to travel around the region for a few days and play concerts at different Folkhogkolas in a PR tour, which will be fun. Everyone here is busy preparing to audition for musikhogskolas. I know that I will certainly audition for Gothenburg and possibly Malmo also. Really need to get some serious work done for that soon though. Anna is visiting for the second weekend in February which I am really looking forward to.

Oh, one bad thing I forgot earlier is that my bow - my nice bow - broke this week so I have to take it to a fiddle maker in Gavle at the weekend. That'll feel strange...

Here are some pictures of our inflyttnings fest for when we moved in. Please note it was hat themed - this is not just normal dress in Sweden. Although, it may be for some.

since then

2008-01-11T10:45:00.001Z

Being back in England is wet. It started wet and has pretty much remained wet until now. I return to Sweden on Monday morning and I'm looking forward to a dryer, colder time. It has been lovely to see family and friends and play tunes that I haven't played for a long time. Fidola had a very successful concert on Wednesday and we were played on national radio in Estonia last night, which was exciting. I remain allerigic to cats so have been sniffing and wheezing around the house. Forgetting to blog as most of the people who read this I am seeing at home. Finally sent of UCAS after about 8 days of working on it. It's more work than doing a degree...

I didn't really make any new years resolutions, but I am working on carving some of these into do-able sentences.

Be more honest with myself,
stop underestimating people,
don't get carried away as much,
get carried away much more,
drink less caffine,
drink more alcohol
and most importantly, brush my teeth more often.

walking on ice

2007-12-29T23:17:00.001Z

...

2007-12-18T12:59:00.000Z

explanation

Fidola

2007-12-14T11:38:00.000Z

is making sounds. Now, run along and get us some gigs.

yours and mine

2007-12-09T13:56:00.000Z

Here are some pictures from various places of the last few weeks.
The rest are here. Click to make them big.

Boda, hos Jonas:

Rättvik:

Frukost i Falun:

Julkonsert:

Our teachers, Olof and Jonas:

My advent calender from Cath (thanks!) :

Last week there was a lot of snow

2007-12-05T10:40:00.001Z

Then it melted away and now it's coming back again. The sun is up at 8:30am and down again by 3:30pm which makes meals seem much closer together than they actually are. And now, without the sun, porridge is the only reason I get up before 9. Breakfast is better than ever.

We have a concert tonight at Renshammer which is a big, old, cosy place in Bollnäs. I hope I will dance but I have a sore knee so I'll have to wait and see. I have bought a high-tech sports thing to put on it but now I can't feel my left foot, so.

Joey came and had his birthday in Sweden, which was nice. It wasn't so snowy then and we didn't even make it to the zoo, but did other nice things instead. Fidola had a go at recording a demo (xmas wish list no.1 - a very nice clip-on microphone that has a name like swan or something to make fiddles sound like fiddles and not keyboards) some of which will soon be available for the millions of people waiting to hear it (4). I played two gigs last week with some singer-songwriters which was fun. I am almost allowed to play banjo almost all of the time. Ace.

I'm flying back to London on the 21st. I'm really looking forward to a break now. It will be great to play music outside of this context for a short while. Sometimes it's a little hard to see progress when it sits on the same backround. And it will be nice to be reminded of tunes I haven't been playing since summer. But I will also very much look forward to coming back.

(edit, upon realising I haven't said it here, although most people who read this know: I am staying until the end of May... at least.)

Lots of sorting out next year to do over the christmas period. Lots of keeping options open and leaving decision making as far ahead in the future as possible..................

I really like playing the fiddle.
Helm - I need my bow rehaired.
Anna - what did happen to your head?

litterally

2007-11-27T11:37:00.000Z

this week is too busy for words.

with apologies to my adoring fans

2007-11-15T09:46:00.000Z

We had begun a week off of lessons around the time I neglected to blog like the apathetic blogger scum that I am. As I briefly noted, most of the students went home but I had a very nice time with the lovely few that were left over. Lots of playing. Because I didn't complete anything on my 'plan of action for a productive höst lov', it was productive. We also watched a lot of horror films which left me with square eyes, a nervous disposition and a slight fear of cameras. Then Cathy came to visit half way through the week and we chatted and shopped and climbed a mountain and swam and bastu-d. It was great, but the library was shut which depleated the Bollnäs experience somewhat. It is an awesome library.

Me and Cathy went to Stockholm on Sunday to go to Skeppis which is a weekly get together of folkmusicians and dancers in Stockholm's Folkmusik House. It was lovely (I must learn new English adjectives) and Cathy learnt to Polska and Fika. Vital skills for survival here.
Unfortunately, all of Stockholms 100 museums and galleries are closed on a Monday, so we spent the day walking, looking, eating and shopping. And having the best bath I've ever had in our hotel room. It completely knocked me out. On Tuesday morning we both had very early starts in order to get back to our respective parts of Europe before lunch-time, and said a sad goodbye before dawn.

And so I returned to a full school again and was immediately busy practicing for Falun's Folkmusik Natta which the class had a gig at the following weekend. We stayed in Boda, at Jonas' house the night before we went to Falun and there was a lot of people there playing through the night. Boda was very beautiful and snowy and when we walked in the morning with cold legs we saw cosy winter horses but no waterfall (maybe next time).
On the way to Falun on Saturday,we stopped in Rättvik which is sort of the nearest hub of folkmusik. A lot goes on in Rättvik. There is a long bridge which stretches out from the city and onto an island, across the beginning of one of the biggest lakes in the region. It was burnt down at some point in the '90's but local people and organisations and companies donated money and energy to build it again, and all their names are enscribed in the wooden planks the whole way along. I took some pictures, which will make it onto here in the not too distant future. And then Falun was very fun. Everyone from the class played wonderfully and I was proud to know them. I also saw some great music like Ian Carr and Maria Jonsson. They played a tune by Joe Scurfield. We stayed with some friends of the class who had been studying in Bollnäs last year in their big apartment and drove back just in time for a lazy Sunday afternoon in front of more films.

And now it is the same week as I am writing in. Phew. Joey visits next week. I'm playing lots of banjo, but still need a third part for a new tune. I am one half of a new and promising musical project. I smiled my way through a childhood film last night - me and Anna used to sing the theme music and I used to be the conductor. It's very snowy here and I have new green boots.
And, from now on, I will always check under my bed for monsters.

yawn sigh yawn

2007-11-06T05:48:00.001Z

I'm in Stockholm Central Station before sunrise.
It is very very early. Just put soggy Cathy on her train back to London.
What a lovely week! Maybe I will blog about it, or maybe you will just have to believe me.

holiday

2007-10-28T10:08:00.000Z

Everyone (nearly) has gone home for the week apart from the man who lives underneath me and has an incredibly loud taste in bad music.

achey (a bit)

2007-10-23T18:13:00.001+01:00

My hands are sore today and I am worrying about them, which won't help. What will help is warming up properly before I play and not practicing for long long times without breaks. Bad habits...

Today has taken on the mood of my wrists: a bit achey, a bit slow, a bit annoyed. Not to say it has not been nice. Lots of practicing (a bit too much?) with the class for Falun Folk Festival in a couple of weeks (including an old time set: banjo, broke a string) and a very successful classical lesson this morning which saw me promoted (as of after the autumn holiday) to the first violin section of orchestra. Bad news is that now I have a lot to practice. We also did a lunch time concert with choir, which was good and I have a concert with the orchestra tomorrow too, humming and miming along nicely with the second violins for the last time. Tomorrow evening the folk music class are putting on a Polka Kafé. Coffee, cakes and (hopefully not too many) polkas afterwards. And at the weekend I have a tricky decision to make between a couple of gigs at a small festival in Orsa with the 'Kott Collectivet' (:banjo, need to fix that string) and staying here to go to a Väsen gig (already bought ticket but didn't realise which day it was on).
Then I have four days before Cath arrives to do whatever I can find to do in a fairly empty school. Most people are going home (rightly so) for the week as it is the Höst Lov, but I will potter around here. Swim, sauna, practice, read, practice, fix things, practice, walk, sleep, practice...

Mm. Maybe it's the air in From-Olle (our folk music room) which makes me a bit sad and irritable when I am in there for too long. I think I will go and listen to some Jazz. Or something with no strings, no 3/4 , no foot stamping, no double stopping.
And I will be cured for tomorrow to do it all again.

shiver

2007-10-17T16:54:00.000+01:00

I've since come to realise that jumping in a lake in Sweden in the middle of October is one of the best and absolutely the worst things. But, mainly good I think. Now, where's that Bastu...

Linköping et al

2007-10-17T10:34:00.000+01:00

It was a long journey, but Linköping Folkmusic Festival was very much worth the miles on clean, comfortable, double decker Scandinavian trains. The festival was in 6 or 7 buildings located on Linköping's Folkets Park, which was a really nice place despite being a 40 minute walk from where we stayed. We played at 1.30am in the Spelemans Stemme for Friday night's dance. We were very good and we might have won a prize if they had given marks for energy and enthusiasm too. There was lots of dancing all the time at the festival, which was just lovely. It's still a treat for me to polska and schottische all night. I saw some good bands play; Frifot were my highlight and also Emma Reid. I also saw Sofia Karlsson who I think is Sweden's Kate Rusby. Similarly, she was very nice but didn't blow me anywhere. For the whole weekend, there
were people playing absolutely everywhere. Instead of grouping together though, like what might happen in a UK festival, musicians tend to pair up or play in small groups and in favour of joining one will start another. Chaotic, but altogether nice noises. Oh, playing and dancing and dancing and playing.

Here are some pictures:

Gävle:

Old Gävle:

Frifot at Linköping:
Emma Reid and Roger Wilson:

This Autumn's latest accessory; the cow horn:

Ale Möller:
Dancing!And some sickening pictures of lakes and things:

This is almost the view from my window:

update

2007-10-11T18:07:00.000+01:00

I can't keep up with the blogging and the actual doing of stuff aswell.
Nevertheless, tomorrow we set off to Linköping Folkmusic Festival, 5 hours south on the train, so I figured I should write a quick update now before the weekend.

Last weekend, I did indeed do some marathon bike riding around Bollnäs. It was good. Then, on Saturday, I made a trip very early in the morning (because things close here around 2pm on Saturdays) to Gävle which is the nearest big city. I had planned to go and look around the Joe Hill museum which is in the old town, but it proved near impossible to find. It was written on all the maps in massive writing because I suppose it's one of the attractions for tourists (maybe?), but this was not helpful for actually finding out where is was within the square mile of capital letters. Anyway, with the help of a nice old man with no english, I found it after 2 hours of searching. It was closed, naturally, so I went shopping instead and bought myself a massive winter coat and I have been warm ever since. There was also a market in Gävle for strange and wierd 'art'. One girl with black hair and eyes and lips and a white face made monsters from socks and strung them from her tent for 140 kroner. One was called Helmut and I almost bought it.

I booked my flight home yesterday (with Ryanair again, dispite loudly refusing never to fly with them again after the trip here) for the 21st December. So I'll be flying home for Christmas. I also booked a plane back again, for the 14th January. It was cheap and now I have the option to come back in the New Year for the next term, which is something I am considering doing. Today was definately a coming back day. It snowed! And then it rained a lot. But, still, the brief snow was exciting.

I had a really good fiddle lesson this morning - I am working on tunes from the more eastern part of Hälsingland (the wider region) and we spent a lot of the time talking about the big differences that there are in interpreting the polskas and hambos across the only smallest of geographical areas. I have two polskas to work on from Rättvik, where the polska pulse is felt through the melodic movements more than in the rhythmic movements they use towards Norway in the west. It's all very interesting I think, how these differences and similarities must have evolved. I am tackling them in quite a methodological way, which is also interesting. I think Jonas is a great teacher. Firstly, I am playing these tunes and thinking about beats 1 and 3 so that it gets 'in me' enough to stop thinking about it and think about something else. Then when the next thing comes naturally, I concentrate on something else. Like building. And when I have all the things in place, I should be able to have complete control over changing them - so it's like controlled improvisation. So long as it remains within it's 3 square miles of Rättvik, that is...
So much to practice!

I'm trying to swim one kilometre three mornings a week and this week I have succeeded! Monday was a slow one though, when the two enormous old gentlemen who seem to only be there when I am insisted on once again swimming next to each other straight up and down the middle of the very small designated swimming lane, while 50 children had their loud, splashy school trip in the other three quarters of the pool.

So, tomorrow, we depart together in first class on a double decker fast train south. Oona, Minja and I are staying with one of Minja's friends for the festival who is called Rasmus. Apparantly, he doesn't really like people very much but enjoys playing with knives...

2007-10-05T11:24:00.000+01:00

Today is a warm day. Everyone (a lot of people, but not all of them) has gone away for the weekend. But they've left their bikes! and I have a key I intend to make use of over the next few days. I think exploring the forests and second-hand-massive-wooly-coat shopping. I almost, almost went for a swim in the lake yesterday afternoon, it is almost warm enough (it is really not warm enough). There is a little beach at the Folkets Park (a piece of fenced-off lake fairly identical to the rest of the lake) from which the view yesterday was spectacular. I will later try to post some pictures.

I am in two musical experiments (bands) here outside of the various folkmusic collectives. I play the banjo in a country-singer-songwriter band, and I play the top half of the piano in a punk/hip hop band. Just so that you know that my musical horizons are wildly expanding. I'll write more later about the music classes this week, as they have been very interesting. Now, I must make use of a bike.

Joel, did your rice cakes arrive or what?

hopping around

2007-09-28T18:48:00.000+01:00

..."everything good happened today, I just want to hop around"...

I sadly did not coin this lovely phrase, but did partake in the day which it refers to. A very nice one.

In fact a very nice few days. Thursday and Wednesday we had dance classes in place of our music classes and we danced for both days all afternoon. It was hard work, but we had a very good teacher. The first four hours were spent simply getting into the rhythms of polskas, and really exploring the music to which we danced. And by the end of the workshops we could all polska and we had partners who could polska and we danced to great music (is there anything better than this?). Apparently most Sunday evenings there is a big dance in Stockholm which I need to remember to find out about before I forget how to do it!

(EDIT: Thursday night I saw a film at the Folkets Hus about Edith Piaf. French with Swedish subtitles; don't remember the name. It was great and there is one film at the same place every two weeks. A cosy make-shift theatre/cinema with snacks and a raffle and free Fika at the end. And a special price for Folkhögskola students!)

Friday morning (another beautiful one once it got going) I went swimming with Minja, who is a fiddle player in the class. Friday is the morning for swimming. We swam, chatted and sauna-d. Came back to great food (via library for some banned books) before heading out again to town with Henrik, Oona, Fredian and Andes from the folk music class and Kristin from the classical music class, to play on Bollnäs town square to be filmed for a documentary which will be used to persuade 'them' not to build another department store on the square. I'm not sure how the whole thing came about either. I do know that it is a very nice thing to play great tunes, outside, cold, with hot sun on your face and for a good cause. After we played me, Andes and Oona raided the market stands for the free fruit and vegatables that lie waiting in boxes on the ground deemed too old or soft to sell. But, really, they are very fine and tasty. Sweet potatoes, raspberries, fresh spinach and mint and ginger.

Last night the Beach Boys played at the school, which was novel. And then I saw the moon in a telescope! It was amazing. And, I also saw the face in the moon for the first time. I never saw it before because I always looked for 'the man' in the moon. But, it's a face... and upclose it has craters and everything! We also found a galaxy (adron-something...) which was like a little fluffy star. It was very cold but worth it.

Some pictures:

This is a little hidden room in the otherwise modern and comfy library in town. It's great. It has a good English section, coffee and tea, sofas, local art and poetry sections, film etc. This is a room for local history and culture:

This is some more culture. One stall on the Flea Market with a fairly nice man who wears a Salvation Army cap and has recorded (his own) religious songs with accordian onto a CD and sells them for 100kronor. But you get a free one if you buy something big:

A beautiful stretch of lake in Bollnäs:

And the following is my latest venture into reading in Swedish:

This is the lesser documented French/Russian umberella resistance movement of the 1940's:

And our 5 minutes of fame:

More pictures can be seen following this link to my facebook album.

in full swing

2007-09-26T09:03:00.000+01:00

There are less hours in the day here, I think. I suppose thoeretically that is a little bit true. Anyway, I mean I am busy.

My weekend was nice. We had a session in 'The Highlander' on Friday which is a nice pub with tartan walls, irish whisky, turkish food. To add to this mix we played mainly Swedish tunes and I am getting to know the regulars and the 'you-never-ever-should-start-this-tune's, which is very importan to know. On Saturday me and Oona accidently walked about 10 km looking for fancy dress for the party that evening. Around shops, I mean. (We need bikes! Auction on Thursday...) It was Italian Mafia or Russian KGB themed. Weird. I found a really really nice red silk jacket, brand new second-hand, for about £7. Teamed with an antique umberella and beret, I'm not quite sure what I was going for, but it worked. The party was good, though it reminded me a bit of year 11 at school. Needless to say, I only stayed till the smallest of small hours.

Sunday was sleep and practice and walks and tea. There is a disconcerting number of musicians here who have injuries from playing too much. My friend Lisa is on anti-inflamatories (sp?) and can't play for 10 days! I'm worried because I am definately playing a huge amount more and more intensely than usual. Just have to remember to warm up properly every morning. I don't know what I would do all day if I did my wrists in...

I'm singing a lot more here than I thought. Choir is good for my Swedish because I can learn the songs and translate them. It's also quite good for my Italian, but that doesn't really go so far after 'Ave Maria'. I am also having a singing lesson once a week in a smaller group. I've never thought about anything like breathing or technique when I am singing before, so it's interesting. We're playing Bach's Brandenburg Concertos in orchestra.

In October, there is a folk music festival (I forget the name, south from here I think) which lots of brilliant musicians are playing at. During the weekend there is a competition for spelemanslags and Bollnäs Folkhögskola is going to enter. The team is the folk music class with a couple of extras from the classical music class, and it is sounding good already. Somehow, I've been roped into playing the banjo for one of the tunes. The only criteria for the competition is that each entry is under 10 minutes and danceable to. The school is paying the bulk of the cost to go to the festival because we are playing which is great.

So, Autumn is in full swing here and at some point when I find out how, I will post more pictures. Everything is red and orange and yellow and largely warm. One good thing about the scandinavian early starts is that the mornings here are beautiful, once you're up.

message from home...

2007-09-24T10:42:00.001+01:00

I just found the following on my myspace, in the comment section, from Anna!
It's so lovely, but I can't work out how to transfer it here, so look here:
www.myspace.com/rowanrheingans

strange soup

2007-09-20T18:21:00.000+01:00

Oh, jag är så trött idag. I fell asleep and almost missed dinner, but, lucky I didn't, because it turned out to be another Swedish surprise, rosehip soup. Nypon soppa. For breakfast it was blå bär soppa; blueberry soup. Strange use of sweet soup here, but the Nypon I am told is especially good for you and, I believe, it did in fact sort me out.

It is true that the main things in existance here and thus the most talked about is music and food.

Played almost too much music today. I had my lesson, and realised how horribly British my bowing is. I have to train myself otherwise for playing these tunes. Learnt a new polska (there's an endless supply of these) and also another march. Every thursday in the class we have solospele where we go around and each play a tune. I played the Bersbeck Schottishe (sp?) . I want to call it the Bearsbeck Schottishe.

Anyway. Tonight there is a jazz concert but I think I will turn in early. I bought plants for my room yesterday, and I like being in there even more now. Tomorrow evening we have organised a pub session in "The Highlander" in town serving very good Turkish food apparently. Wouldn't it be funny to launch into Athol Highlanders (which I suppose I am obliged to) and everyone struggle to quickly learn it? Actually, the world knows that tune. They play Morpeth Rant here and the Flooers of Edinburgh. Also lots of Shetland tunes.

Then again, they also love Midsummer Murders. Must be the soup...

junk bikes

2007-09-19T17:30:00.000+01:00

Today me and Oona (from Ghent, where Cathy is currently) borrowed bikes and cycled through town in the late afternoon sun and autumn red trees (I have to keep explaining Rowan trees) to the most chaotic charity/junk shop I've ever been to to buy KGB/Mafia clothes for the party this weekend. I bought a nice red hat, a great big rug for my room, an oldfashioned and interesting ...Crista, you would like it... umbrella and a very english cushion all for 60 Kronor. That's about £4. None of which will be much use for the party, but nevermind.

In Järvsö on Saturday we visited a flea market and saw some bikes for 400 Kronor (about £30) and I thought this afternoon, dodging traffic and cycling backwards for breaks, that if I have learnt enough Swedish and found myself a bike by the time the snow comes, I might just stay for the year. But maybe this is a fleeting thought. It's easy here.

Olof, one of my fiddle tutors, couldn't make our class today but we played together anyway which was nice because the whole folk music class hasn't done so much of that so far. I practiced my classical excercises this morning and grew incredibly bored for the first time this week, so I stopped.

Salmon for tea! My favourite.

Söndag

2007-09-16T11:33:00.000+01:00

I can't believe that was a week already. It went fast. I realise I didn't post the one picture I was really pleased with in my last post; it will appear at some other time.
Today was a lie in, porridge (english style, still the best) and it will continue onto practice, Fika at a friends house in town, and maybe, just maybe, I will make it back in time for the Potatis Fest. A potato festival...

Joey starts uni this week, I think. I have quite lost track of all that stuff within a week of being here. I suppose many other friends will also start this week, and some in one or two more. Feels like I've come to Sweden for university. I live in halls, I'm very tired, I've got lots of work just on the horizon but not quite here yet, I am meeting new people all the time, I am in a new part of the world. I hope Manchester is all these things. Perhaps not so many icy lakes and undulating forest-thick mountains (hills, really). And probably fewer Swedish people.

So, this week has been good food, great people, great music, swimming and sauna-ing, the subtitles of films, walking, aching and sleeping. And yesterday I went with Oona and Lisa to Järvsö which is a small town about 50km from Bollnäs. It was good to get out and see a bit of where I am in relation to Hasingland, the wider region (on a free bus, too)! We went to a place with an organic vegetable and herb garden -Stenegården I think it was called- which was within a collective of houses which had different shops inside. They all sold locally made stuff and the place is famous for it's honey which was indeed jette härlig. Expensive though. Amazing clothes also, very stylish, completely unwearable apart from on the woman who owned the shop.
I brought two novels with me to Sweden, one of which I left in the youth hostel (sorry, I will replace it...) and the other I have finished (it was good, but I was painfully halfway through the now hostel's copy of 'The Joke' and so I want to find another to read how it ends). I found one english book in a secondhand book shop in Järvsö; a book on Anarcho-syndicalism, which is useful if heavy. And at 10kroner, a bargain.
There is a zoo in Järvsö, for future reference.

So, I have work on the horizon. And some of it, in fact, is here. Good work though. I've never had the space or the real inclination to practice for at least an hour, two hours, on my own every day. But, here (apart from learning Svenska) it is what I do. It feels great to have the time to do it. I have two polskas to learn this week (in two weeks we are having dance lessons instead of fiddle to engrain the rhythms into us) and a march which I must work out accompaniment to in a small group. I am also playing in a duo this week with Oona who plays cello. On Monday I will join the orchestra, and ask about having some classical lessons here too as I don't have a 'second' instrument upon which I could have lessons (I think asking the school to find an old time banjo player in Stockholm for lessons might be a tall order).

Bollnäs

2007-09-12T14:28:00.000+01:00

Just in case your postcard has not yet arrived...

Hallo!

2007-09-11T10:21:00.000+01:00

Finally! I have managed to get blogger to work here...

So. Sweden is full of trees. The Swedes in fact plant more trees than they use up. Or so I am told.

Bollnäs folkhogskola is really nice. It's basically like a small university campus and it is just next to a lovely lake and, as far as I can tell, Bollnäs is a nice town. Last night I was taken to the local Spelemanslag which is something that happens in most towns in Sweden. It's a meeting for fiddle players ('fiddler's team') and about 50 people showed up! Young and old alike, but I think they were all fairly local. It was held in the towns Kultur Hus which the council runs and so it is all free. They play good tunes.

I only have two days here which are in classes. The rest of the time it is expected that you basically make your own timetable. But this works, because everyone wants to play and work at their playing. There are a few things on Mondays and Tuesdays, like choir etc if you want to sing, and Friday is a day off. I played pretty much all day yesterday with students from the folk class. People are keen for me to play more Scottish stuff than Swedish. But that's fine.

I hope that later I will be able to upload some pictures. These computers are a bit hit and miss though...
Anyway, jag är bra!
Hej då.

So long, Farewell, Aufwiedersehn ... Hej då

2007-09-07T11:10:00.000+01:00

I'm leaving in a couple of hours and I'll arrive in Sweden on Saturday (short stop in London on the way).
So...watch this space for snow and bears and fiddles I suppose. Maybe snow will be a while. Maybe there won't be any bears. I just don't know.

Research...

2007-08-31T17:35:00.000+01:00

"In the village of Hårga, situated about 20 kilometres east of Bollnäs, young boys and girls were dancing on a Sunday afternoon as they often did. As told in the legend a stranger entered the dance hall and struck up a melody that startled all those present in the hall. He played in a way that everyone was enchanted by his magic violin. When he left the dance hall starting to climb up the hill of Hårga, everyone followed him. Now a dance hand in hand in a long row started - over meadows, through dense brushwood, up the hill. At the ancient place of sacrifice the dance went on - even more intensively and wildly. At last everyone was driven mad by the wild music. They couldn't stop dancing however much they would like to. They danced so that their clothes fell off their bodies and the flesh came loose from their bones. Soon only the skeletons were moving. At last only the whitening crania were jumping around on the hill, until even they fell to pieces. The legend says that a circle that had been marked upon the hill by the dancing people can still be discernible.
In northern Sweden, there exists in popular belief an elemental being called "Neck". Fiddlers were told to have special relations to Neck, who could teach "the devil's art" to fiddlers. Some of the tunes taught by Neck, could be disastrous to play. When the fiddler had started to play those tunes, he couldn't stop his bow. It continued to move by itself, and people dancing couldn't stop following him in their dancing. Neck often played himself. Those listening to him playing his violin were quite distracted and incapable of rational thinking. They were driven by an invisible power out into the water and drowned."

http://www.torsb.bollnas.se/filer/sidor/indonesia/present/BOLLNAS.HTM

the joy of it

2007-08-29T11:22:00.000+01:00

I just came across this on Rosie's blog. It's from my leaving party and it includes just a few of the people I'll miss most when I go away.

I'm back now from Whitby folk week and Towersey festival, both of which I've enjoyed for different resaons. Whitby was same as ever, but Helmut had a stall again this time and I really enjoyed 'helping' (sitting playing the banjo all afternoon) with the sales. He got a lot of interest, moved a few guitars, a fiddle and a banjo and I reckon there's a few more sales to come on the back of the exposure, so that's all good. Towersey was a surprise (only found out I was going, with a free ticket, a couple of weeks ago) so all of the great bands I saw (e.g. Battlefield Band, Demon Barbers, New Rope String Band, LAU, Seth *cough* Lakeman, etc.) were a bonus to being there and playing for Smutt Rapper who, I think, impressed...

Here's a picture of Smutt and myself and Anna playing in the background (when I'm in Sweden, Rosie, I'll take my own pictures. Promise.) :

So, now I have 9 days. Joey comes home on Saturday evening and I've never been more excited about anything that I'm seriously dreading before. I'm not really dreading it, I'm just worried that I'll have to drag myself away (again) on Friday and the whole thing is a bit too short. Still, better than nothing, and if I'm back in December, that's only really 3 months. We are troopers.

I really need to insure my fiddle. Why can't I do this, when I can do this:

away

2007-08-18T10:30:00.001+01:00

to Whitby Folk Week for the 15th consectutive year? Some things never change.
Then Towersey Village Festival which, if not entirely organised, I'm looking forward to.
Booked my flight (another one, I hope I use it this time) to Stockholm yesterday. It cost 1p (+ £45). Here is my nearest town - Bollnas, which despite lovely countryside and a lake, also boasts 'numerous rock bands'. I'm excited about those. Here is Bollnas Folkhogskola where I will be studying. And here is one of my tutors playing in a band with one of the tutors from a school in Gotland which I turned down (ping pong ball).
Phew! See you in a week.

birthday/leaving celebrations

2007-08-16T22:35:00.000+01:00

These are just a few pictures of my party yesterday. (edit: more here!)I've grown idle on the picture-taking front, and so I shamelessly steal Rosies here (thanks Rosie, I know you won't mind .........?)
It was really nice and a bit chaotic and quite long. But, glad that it returned to 'leaving' party status as I've been planning my Sweden trip. I'll write more about the school as I learn more about it. So, to the toast of "because she is old and leaving" (also, thanks, Rosie) :

sitting comfortably?

2007-08-10T13:46:00.000+01:00

A long time ago, Cathy turned 50 and had a really lovely party which I failed to document very clearly. There was lots of music and food and people!
And pictures:

At Common Ground Scotland, as usual, I had a birthday:

Which involved ukuleles:

Thankfully, I also played my fiddle quite a lot too. I was teaching this year, which was a really good challenge (given the quietly chaotic nature of Common Ground) and it was interesting to be involved from a different perspective.

Although largely happy, we were a bit miserable in Dumfries:

And on the last night of Common Ground, myself and Anna performed which was a good surprise for us. Some of the songs which were saved by Joel's phone are a couple of posts below.

In other news (the future) I am still on with investigating where I will play this autumn. I'm in touch with some schools in Sweden, but the one I really really want to go to in Malung is full. I am waiting to see if there is anyway I can wangle a place. Humph. Yesterday I had a massive (relatively, for me) 'oh my god what am I going to do' couple of hours. I investigated going to teach orphans in Zimbabwe. Or was it Lions? Anyway: no no no. I remain composed.

Rosie is just about to hop off the train and we will go for a walk in what is another beautiful day in the Peaks. I met with lots of friends from the valley a couple of nights ago (weird, but great) who I haven't seen really for almost a year and everyone has been off doing exciting things. But it was concluded that coming back here is sobering in that it actually is as beautiful if not more than any other place (so far) in the world! It's true.

snotty

2007-08-10T13:31:00.002+01:00

Cats, Dust, Pollen, Carpets: leave me alone!

the rheingans sisters!

2007-08-07T13:25:00.000+01:00

I've stolen these, Joel. It is almost certainly bad blog etiquette to post someones something before someone has a chance. But I'm in them, so :) Any more?

The Joy Of It:

100 Soldiers:

lower ground

2007-08-06T14:25:00.001+01:00

I am back from Scotland and a weeks teaching fiddle and playing fiddle. It was very good and I will look forward to writing it up with pictures at some point soon.

I found out this morning that my course in Denmark has effectively been cancelled so (devastated) I am trooping on to find somewhere else for intensive scandinavian playing this autumn. If anyone knows any clues, get in touch. For now, that's it.
(5 months full time working, 4 university offers, two flights, lots of arrangments, a leaving party. uhhhhhhhhhhhh)

life is odd at the moment

2007-07-27T07:54:00.001+01:00

click to make them bigger if you like...

floppy

2007-07-20T22:33:00.001+01:00

Spent today in the Turkish baths for one of Cathy's 50 treats.

I am very relaxed. It was very hot and cold and hot and cold and hot and cold.

Last night me and Anna, for one night only, played a lovely gig:

2007-07-19T11:42:00.000+01:00

Ah, the air is fresh and clean and grassy. Sunny days up north. But for how long? Hopefully until Sunday.

Woke up with no feeling in one arm this morning, but only because I had been sleeping upon it all night. It was alarming, however, when the feeling didn't quite come back completely until well into today. Very odd. There was a feature in last weekends Guardian magazine about hands and how important they are. Mine are very important to me, I'm so glad I have two again. Banjo.

This morning I went to watch Grindleford Primary School's 'german play'. We were introduced to all the 'mums' as the 'german guests'. It was funny. And then I was disappointed when most of the children actually spoke better german than I did. They were very impressive. Primary schools remain oppressive.

Here are some pictures of the gig we did a week or so ago. I have another tonight (found out yesterday). Haven't played a gig on my own in about a year I think. Werrrg.

You can click on them and they go very very large so you can investigate all the details.

move less

2007-07-15T17:10:00.001+01:00

I am certainly having a weekend of 'relaxing', but not finding it all that relaxing. The air is hot and sticky and unmoving outside and it's the same indoors. I went out a spent a lot of money earlier on some nice things and some nice food. I started my Danish learning today too (well, listened to what was on the CD) and I think it sounds hard but I also think my German will help a lot. Dog is Hund. Thank god.

Tomorrow, Tuesday and Wednesday are busy days at work but Wednesday evening will see me back up north until Monday morning! Long break, and then just one more week at work after that until I am finished. I am looking forward to that. Cathy is 50 on Sunday, which is exciting, and hopefully we will have a nice party.

Missed a call from Joey this morning, got a muffled voice mail. Maybe that is what has left me feeling heavy today? Anyway, blah, it won't last long.
I will think of something extra brilliant to put on here later.

some chatter

2007-07-10T22:20:00.000+01:00

Today I am fairly sure I saw Salman Rushdie eating noodles in Wagamama. I enjoy the fact that living in London makes this sight almost, very slightly possible. Having said this, I have definitely not seen the hoards of famous people others seem to glimpse walking down Oxford street or sauntering in one of the parks. Or maybe I just don't know what they look like, or maybe I don't hang out in the right places. All I got is David Cameron...

Tonight we had our last quartet practice before I leave London - it's July, so everyone's off to festivals and other exciting musical events. Learnt four new tunes, and was glad to have a good play after a couple of weeks of barely any. It's bad, I must keep playing. We sounded very nice tonight.

Rosie and her friend just turned up at my offices today; I found them lounging in the atrium after a confused text suggesting they had not expected me to work there because it's so posh. It's not really posh for office standards, it's just very very shiny. Easy mistake. We went for a bite to eat on the south bank and then along to the Tate Modern for a nosey around the new exhibit there which is about cities. I learnt lots of facts and watched a nice video installation which showed a sketch of a person the artist had met on the street, with streamed audio of what they were chatting about as the drawing happens. So, all you see is a person slowly emerging on the paper, and as this happens you slowly make out their character from the conversation. I can't remember the artists name or anything useful. I looked at a world map and Joey is not that far away really. China is further I think. Or the other side of Russia, if you go the long way around. Although - LA is definitely the far side, which explains all these manic 27 hour bus journeys.

I was home for this weekend, and had a really nice time playing at the Green Fair. We did an hour long set - which I was surprised about - and had lots of nice comments. Audacious.
Came home on Sunday to join Joel and his friends in celebrating this book being out. It's good, I have read it.

I just thought I would break this silence. My blog is getting very wordy these days without me really saying very much...

The Rowan berries are out and full.

2007-07-02T22:13:00.000+01:00

Quiet here, isn't it?

I had a week off work, which turned out to be a good thing. I needed it. Now I feel almost refreshed. Not quite, but getting there. Doctors appointment on Friday to sort it all out.

ESSA has self destructed without me. Only joking - it has managed remarkably well. I am very slightly disappointed.

Lots of work to do in the next weeks. Not so much real hard slog, but more thinking and writing and figuring-out. I flip between states of complete disillusionment and complete excitement with ESSA at the moment. It is 'make or break' time I feel - a point at which we could turn things around by taking some time and energy out of the office to try and engage effectively with an activist student body, and then try to develop ways to mobilise those who are not engaged with their help. I had thought that the academies initiative presented to ESSA a dilemma about representation, responsibilities and loyalties as well as practical issues in terms of eventual recognition as a union, issues around campaigning, freedom of information etc. Now (being in 'excited' mode) it is the biggest change to happen to state education for decades and also one that will no doubt effect every student, parent, governor, teacher and community in the country. Before we start to think about getting on board with academies because 'every school will be one' before we know it, we need to recognise the brilliant opportunity such a national issue will be for mobilising young activists and getting them involved in effectively forming ESSA's active membership from scratch. It's already happening with Wisewood school and the like. What union has started from a stand-still? Or indeed needed to? Glad my brain is back in action, there is so much thinking to do.

In other news:

Got a lovely letter from Joey today, all the way from the USA. Despite postal strike. Interesting.
I will write back. Better save up some stories instead of blasting them on the internet for all to see.

I am not practicing my fiddle enough! I am going to Denmark in... 7 weeks! Oh god. Cathy says Copenhagen is wonderful though, which makes me excited.

Had a full house the last few days with Edward staying and also Crista, who will be moving in soon, which I'm very pleased about. Only shame being I won't be around for long afterwards (I leave London in 4 weeks!) but I'm sure my last weeks will be better for a new friend in the house. Apparently there will be an abundance of hair. Brilliant.

2007-06-27T22:06:00.000+01:00

..Erm...I'm not the most photogenic of people, but I'm fairly certain there is something wrong here:
http://www.glaisnock.org/htmfiles/tutors_rowanrheingans.html