Bart's 
page
(I'm their biggest fan, you see...)
Bart's page
(I'm their biggest fan, you see...)
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In North America: NorthSide 530 North Third Street Suite 230 Minneapolis MN 55401 USA
Phone: 612-375-0233 |
In Sweden: Kultur-Nöjesmäklarna Tavastgatan 22 SE-118 22 Stockholm SWEDEN
Phone: +46-8-668 65 80 |
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1990: Väsen, DRONE
DROCD001 Studio Album Purchase: The American Nyckelharpa Association |
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1992: Vilda Väsen (Wild Väsen), DRONE DROCD004 Studio Album Purchase: The American Nyckelharpa Association or CDnow |
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1994: Essence, AUVIDIS (Ethnic) B 6787 Studio Album Purchase: Amazon.com or CDnow |
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1995: Levande Väsen (Väsen Live), DRONE DROCD009 Recorded live, a broadcast for Swedish Radio. Purchase: The American Nyckelharpa Association or Amazon.com or CDnow |
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1997: Spirit, NorthSide NSD6004 Compilation Album, tracks from the first three albums, plus 5 new tracks. Purchase: The American Nyckelharpa Association or Amazon.com or CDnow |
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1997: Världens Väsen, Xource XOUCD 118 Studio Album, the Swedish release of Whirled |
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1997: Whirled, NorthSide NSD6006 Studio Album, the American release of Världens Väsen Purchase: The American Nyckelharpa Association or Amazon.com or CDnow |
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1999: Gront, Xource
XOUCD334 Studio Album, also released in the U.S. on NorthSide, for their 10th anniversary tour. |
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1999: Gront, NorthSide NSD6041 Studio Album, also released in Sweden on Xource, for their 10th anniversary tour. Purchase: The American Nyckelharpa Association or Amazon.com or CDnow |
Olov and Mikael started playing together as teenagers right around
1980, and both 'studied' with Curt and Ivar Tallroth and Eric
Sahlström as teenagers. I say 'studied' because it's not as
formalized as with other kinds of music. They would go to their
elder's house and play with them and learn by example, just as the
elders had learned from their elders, becoming a link in the Living
Tradition that Swedish folk music enjoys. They still count playing
with the Curt as the best of experiences, and go out there to play
whenever they can. Photo: Eduard Koinberg
Olov and Mikael were at the Vintermarknad in Røros in 1989, as was Roger, and Olov asked Roger if he wanted to jam a little with him and Mikael. Roger said "No, I'm gonna go take a shower instead." Fortunately, somebody else was in the shower, so he came back and got out his guitar, and they played for the rest of the day and far into the night. Among the people in the room was Olle Paulsson, who thought that was the best music he had ever heard, and promised them right there that if they would record a CD he would form a record label to issue it. Thus DRONE Music came into being....
It took a little while for the Swedish folkmusic community to accept Väsen, since they present a different treatment of the traditional tunes than had been done before. But if you take away the guitar you'll hear that Mikael and Olov play together in a very traditional style. It's just Roger's fantastic guitar playing that was an obstacle to those who had never heard anything like it before. Nowadays, even the staunchest traditionalists likes Väsen and their treatment of the music.
In 1994 a band called Nordman released their first CD, which featured Väsen along with the other more traditional Rock and Roll instruments. It was a huge success in Sweden, and Väsen toured with them twice, playing before audiences as large as 25,000 people. Nordman's music is essentially Rock, but with Väsen supplying the riffs in between verses that is traditionally supplied by the lead guitar or the synthesizer. The drummer for the first Nordman tour was André Ferrari. One set of André's grandparents are Italian (thus the name), but he was born and raised in Sweden.
Väsen experimented with playing music with André on drum kit and the
electric bassist from Nordman, calling themselves "Väsen V". They
would play a few tunes before the rest of the Nordman band came on.
Olov says "it was a kick to play for so many people, but in the end we
felt that the details and finesse of the music was lost when we played
with the drum set and the electric bass." A few tunes from Väsen V
are on Väsen's new compilation CD "Spirit" on the NorthSide label, the
first Väsen CD released in the US. Photo: Olle Paulsson)
In 1996 Väsen added André as a permanent member. This is the first band in which André has played exclusively small percussion, as opposed to a full drum set. André's background and education are in music, and he's played everything from classical to Rock, but he says that he's making Väsen's music one of his own musics now. He's been interested in drumming from different cultures around the world for a long time, and finds the Native American culture to be one of the most alluring. With Väsen, he uses the Ecuadorian Bambo (bass drum), the Middle-eastern darabouka (doumbek), an egyptian drum similar to the doumbek, Indian bells, South American rattles, triangle, chimes, and... you get the picture.
With André, Väsen has shifted to playing almost exclusively their own
compositions rather than traditional folk tunes. They've taken the
traditional Swedish folk music from Northern Uppland as a base, and
expanded it to see where it will lead. They're not quite sure
themselves, but they're sure they'll have a lot of fun getting there.
They still have the same humor onstage and off, the kind of humor that
Roger describes as Swedish "living room" humor. It's a genuine
unpretentious wit, with the added ability to make puns in two
languages, and even between two languages. They're just as likely to
crack up each other as to make the audience laugh. Indeed, my
experience is that they are more reserved on stage than off, if that's
possible! Their music is awesome, with a rich rhythmic texture
supplied by André and Roger, a rich harmonic texture supplied by Roger
and Mikael, and a clean melodic lead supplied by Olov. This doesn't
mean that they'll forget how to play the traditional stuff. They
still feel that going over to Curt Tallroth's house to play with him
is the best thing they can do for their playing and for their souls.
And most of their own compositions follow in the style of the
traditional music -- they are easily recognized as a schottis or a
polska or what have you. But the new hybrid "traditio-Väsen" music
has something more, something worldly, something new about it. It's
just good music. Listenable, grooveable, likeable. If they come to a
town near you, don't pass them up! Photo: Anette Hilmersson