What a fun month of music it's been! Last weekend's New England Shake Up was a joyous reunion of some of my very favorite bands and people. This weekend I'm off to Minneapolis to kick off a tour with Maja Heurling, Ola Sandström, and Livet Måssebäck Nord at the American Swedish Institute on Saturday (2-3:00pm). https://asimn.org/event/signe-aurell-irrbloss-concert/
Our Swedish pals will be visiting several classes on the UW-Madison campus this week, including my own, and then on Tuesday evening at 6pm we're playing a free concert at Tripp Commons in the Memorial Union (w/ snacks!). Then it's on to Augustana College in Rock Island and the Swedish American Museum in Chicago next weekend. I'm stoked!
In addition to the camaraderie, I'm looking forward to hearing and playing the music from Irrbloss: Songs from the Poetry of Signe Aurell. Aurell was a Swedish woman who came to the United States in 1913, worked as a laundress and seamstress, joined the Industrial Workers of the World, and wrote poetry and essays—including her self-published poetry collection, Irrbloss (Will-o’-the-Wisp)—during her seven years living in Minnesota.
Maja and Ola collaborated to set music to a selection of poems from Irrbloss, blending folk stylings and the Swedish visa tradition together to amplify the importance and continued relevance of Aurell’s words. In doing so, the group has employed the Swedish visa tradition to interpret not just Aurell’s poetry, but also the migration histories of the over one million Swedes who came to the United States.
I'm still learning all the upright bass parts as I type this, but I promise I'll have it down by Saturday (extended slap solos and pitchy avant-garde meanderings included)! Hope to see you there and, of course, feel free to share this with anyone who might be interested.
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