Now that summer break is over regular activities are starting to pop back onto the calendar. Tonight was the first Nyckleharpa session of the autumn (note: it really is autumn--not only does it now get dark at night, the birches are pretty much all yellow in their leaves). We meet every other Monday, though, come October, when our Finnish Language ( Read more... )

This evening, shortly after lord_kjar got home from work, as we sat in the living room chatting to one another we heard a sudden loud, sharp, cracking sort of noise from the corner of the room where the nyckleharpa hangs on the wall. So we went over to investigate and discovered that the piece of wood through which the strings attach at the base of the ( Read more... )

This weekend was the Sorselse Folk Music and Dance week 25 year Jubliee. Sorsele is a small town two river valleys south and far enough inland that one can actually see some small mountains in the distance. One of our good friends, L, from both SCA and Lajv grew up there and now lives in the city of Umeå. She and our friend D, who also lives in ( Read more... )

This weekend we are heading to Sorsele (about three or four hour drive: inland and one river valley south) to attend their Folk Music and Dance Week 25 Year Jubelie We went a couple of years ago as part of a group from the local folk music and dance group, a bunch of us in a rented van, and had a great time. This time we will be staying with one ( Read more... )

This weekend was Spelmansstämman, the big gathering of folk musicians and dancers from all over northern Sweden and further away (including a buss of 20 from Norway, a couple of guys from Germany, one of whom comes every year). It is always a fun event, but this time it was even more fun than usual. A couple of our SCA friends from out of town ( Read more... )