måndag 30 juli 2012

A house for the Mjällby King

Along the travels I happen to come to some interesting places to stay over night, and yesterday I discovered "Bensagården" - Mjällbyhus.
We had a super nice nightly get together with the people working behind the festival Fritt spelrum, Sölvesborg. Good talking, some singing, great "nattamat" with home made food. This Inn is now run by Bosse, what a gentleman!

 Lucky me, I got the Elvis-room.

This house has roots in the 17-hundreds. Track backs goes to Bengt Persson, brother to "Mjällby-king" Knut Persson. Bengt had a son, Bens-Per, who took over the Inn. Bens-Per came in a quarrel with a cousin "Knusslingen", who said: "This house will be turned into a house for the poor." In local dialect: "Du skau fau sei att din Bensagaua skall bli ein fattiggaua!" By the end of the 18-hundreds the house was bought by the local commune and turned into a house for elderly people. At that time, that meant a house for the poor. It remained a house for elderly up till 1967 when it became private property.

 Mjällbyhus Gästgiveri och Pensionat. 0456-503 37
0708-150337
Good night dear friends! Eva

söndag 29 juli 2012

Free play room

Yesterday at Spranglehall, Sölvesborg, nature reserve by the sea.
Music filled the sky.

Fritt spelrum.

Bring your own chair.
Irmelin singing.



Come dad, let's go have our hair in sun fire.

Solid as the rock.
Rooted.
Delighted.
Love is in the air....

Cheek to cheek
Time to sleep a little. Eva

fredag 27 juli 2012

The goodbye vulnerable






When you really need the bus to come, then you can stand waiting for long. When I wished for a moment of being near my daughter, then the bus came already before we were at the stop. Running there I thought about what of all the things I had in mind should I choose to say. I got only time for saying one thing. Even if my heart was full of things to tell.

-"Have a wonderful time there!"
A very quick hug.

I choose not to remind of such a earthly thing as -"remember your bus-card".
 

All of a sudden she was inside the bus.


Smile and wave....smile and wave.....
I saw her silouette through the shady windows.

With this I should relax and be happy, because I know her strong wishes for travelling to Finland, and being there with her good friends and relatives. I am happy for that.

Still I have a little tear in my eye seeing her going now on the bus.

In this moment I'm vulnerable to big sale on Noa Noa. I had about 20 minutes to go before the shop is closing for today. 70% off...then I can afford to spoil myself with something, maybe something I can wear on stage? Irmelin has choosen Noa Noa style for many times now, and you can combine clothes from there whatever year they are bought.
At the moment I'm so greatly pleased with all the vintage dresses I already have, bought for almost nothing, so I'm looking for accesoires.

I hope I don't feed the myths of the artist having no money. Believe me, I don't want to do that.
But at the moment it's just not a game to be single mother and free lance musician. I read on another blogg about a woman passionate for vintage clothing, and she said there's too much wonderful vintage clothes in the world to spend the money on an expensive phone. Yes, it's like that. It's too many important things to care about than to prio money and standard in first place. Living quality is not about money.
Amen.

So because I already did spend lots of money at the vet today, then I though, ah, let's go on.
Halleluja!

Ring made of natural stone:
Feather braclet in metal:
And also a little something secret for my own mother :-) Eva

One of the days, mothers and daughters

...when I miss my daughter. I know, she and I really agreed that friends is number one on a sunny hot day and you are 10 years and there's school holidays. And best of all is to have the chance to stay over night and giggle and laugh and sleep late. I'm happy of all my heart to see her jump for joy to go see her best friends.
But tomorrow our roads will go to different places, and then comes this period of 2 weeks without each other. That's about the longest time I don't see her. And just recently she was away on another journey.

In short time she will be old enough to prio her friends all the time. That's the way it goes, and should be.

I want to share with you a lovely book. It happened that I came across a pocket book by chance, and it was really a good summer reading. Uplifting. Encouraging.

About mothers and daughters. A bit of an insight in the living and thinking in the island Tahiti. And especially for me in theese days of missing my dear daughter, how to let one's daughter go her own way.



Original title: Frangipani.
Written by Célestine Hitiura Vaite, 2004

Title in swedish translation: I kloka kvinnors sällskap



I'll save all our moments in my heart. My daughter, now also our little dog, us together. How happy my daughter is when she's hugging our dog.


The dog has been having trouble with food lately. Sensitive little thing, poor little wee thing in the hot sunny summer days. Not really keeping food and water that well. Went to the vet today and bought really expensiv diet care food, for the sensitive. And some micro bio treatment, equally expensive. Anyway, it feels good to be proactive, before something worse might occur.


Something I found at Jonssons Fik och butik in Enviken.
 Perfume: Shanghai Rose, lime zest.
And green glass in different shades. I had a dream just after moving to this apartment that I found the most lovely green glass items in a second hand store.

I'm even dreaming about second hand shopping :-)

Long live the culture of high quality stuff and re-cykling!

Next concert is tomorrow in Sölvesborg, together with my song-sisters in Irmelin!
I love you!
Eva

onsdag 25 juli 2012

Ack Värmeland du sköna



My friend Gunnar Eriksson played this lovely recording from 1951 of Ack Värmeland du sköna. Performers Stan Getz and Bengt Hallberg.

It was indeed a very special feeling to hear Bengt from a recording in his teenage time, and then the same night play this song with him.

Time is amazing...timeless

Free.

E.


tisdag 24 juli 2012

After singing with Bengt Hallberg in duo concert


I've returned now after a few days in Ljungskile on the west coast, where I had the great chance to sing concert with pianist Bengt Hallberg. It was pure joy and delight to be given this opportunity to meet Bengt and create music in the boarderlands of jazz, improvisation and folk music. It was also a great deal of nerves I can say.

Bengt is the most lovely gentleman you can ever think of. A man with this personality is seldom found, so humble he is in his greatness. I guess he has seen everything along the touring road as a jazz musician since the beginning of the 1950's!

His touch of the piano, and the remarqueable sound he creates out of a piano. I could listen to him starting alone in both our two sets. I was carried out on this journey he took us with for. It was like seeing places, hearing images of his long life in music.

We did 7 songs together in each set. I also did two a capella songs.
The audience gave us all support and love, it was compleetely full this evening, sold out. People stood queing an hour before start.

On request we did a mix of unknown folk songs, plus some of the most loved and well known folk songs in the field of jazz + folk. Songs like Visa från Utanmyra, Kristallen den fina, Jag vet en dejlig rosa.
First set was a lot about light and love. In the second set came the first broken hearted love song, a sea shantie, and after that the mysterious story of Visa från Utanmyra. And we did 5 songs of the Anna Sjöbom collection. They're just my big favourites, I'm happy Bengt like to play them as well.
Bengt did so beautiful out of this material, being the great improvisation musician he is. After the last encore, Sixteen tons (Bengt asked me what jazz standards I could sing, as a surprice for the audience, I couldn't resist suggesting one song from the life of mining men), we got standing ovations.

Late in the evening I said good bye to Bengt and his lovely Mariana, and they smiled and left in the dark night. You just can't imagine that this man and woman, so full of spirit and energy is in the age they are, they just radiate young minds.

I had to watch television, a documentary about the Olympic games in Sydney, to unwind all thoughts and feeling before being able to fall asleep.

If we ever get the chance to make this concert again, I will come running from whatever corner of the world.

There's no photos in my camera from this evening, I was not in the mood of making photos. The photos I've choosen for this blog just reminds me of the atmosphere and energy of this night.

This concert was initiated by the local jazz club in Ljungskile: L'Jazz, and it was the opening concert of their week long festival, Sommarjazz. Thank you a thousand times you came up with this wonderful idea! Thank you for running a jazz festival!

Eva

lördag 21 juli 2012

Gone singing

Good evening,

have you felt like this? Preparations for a concert (that has been long looked forward to) is going fine, because I've done it with no stress. I've included all the different types of work I like to involve in the process. Like going through the lyrics loud, working with my whole body and balance, meditating on the stories and so on. I've been constantly singing the songs, sometimes with only the song existing in my focus, sometimes singing when I'm cooking or cleaning.

And now my heart is so open that I have difficulties being in crowds of people, on the bus, in the food store etc. As soon as I hear children cry I get totally involved. And the news paper, about the killings in the cinema in Colorado, and tomorrow the year day of Utøya. How is it possible to sing about love without crying? And I feel that love is bigger that all tears, all grieving, but life is so hard to understand and so huge. There must be sorrow without borders for the families who lost their loved ones. And yet, light and love will win, so sure love will win, there's no doubt at all.


I cannot sing just by my own power, not a chance, but if I imagine all the musicians that have carried the songs before me, and other people that carry light to this world, the heroes I know who walked the path of understanding and tolerance, love and light. If I imagine them standing invisible behind me, and I'm the channel they use today to say something of the stories that help us being humans and walk on this earth. Oh, I must encourage my own powers too, I'm after all a woman that have lived for some years to learn a few things, I can be in my own age and not make myself smaller.

Yes, that's how it goes, many thoughts on my mind tonight.

Tomorrows concert has been on my mind so long. It's a great feeling to prepare for a concert, I love that process. But it has many ups and downs, sometimes I feel too small to carry on the task, sometimes I feel so sure about how good it's gonna be. Now it's only the final preparations left, to pack my bag with microphone, clothes, shoes, hair and make up, and bring along some of my favourite dresses. I just have to have a number of dresses to fit different moods :-) Yes, I'm still like the hemul in dresses.

Tears from the sky and a road with sunlight.
 


Rain on peony.
Time to bloom! Eva

onsdag 18 juli 2012

Dreams of Faroe Islands


Do you also return to places time after time in your dreams? This night I was in the green atlantic islands of my dreams again. I often come back to the Faroe Islands. In the dream I was travelling on a boat going between the many islands, and I saw huge whales just under the surface. There was a mother whale and her baby, they where light grey in their skin. Some of my friends where on the boat as well. I woke up with a feeling of happiness and peace.

All my life I've been interested to go to places where I have a view. Like mountains, the northern mountains of Sweden, wich in some ways are a little bit similar to the Faroe Islands.

I love to see the sky from horizon to horizon.

And the sea.

I can study the colours of the sea and the sky, colours that hardly can be captured in a photo. Fog and haze and light create the miracles of beauty in theese places.

Somehow I have prefered to walk there, while my sister is a true sailing woman, adventurous on the sea.

I'm more a mountain soul.

When I climb up I get so excited to see what's behind the top of the mountain, what's the view on the other side?

Last summer on Mykines.

I'm longing to go back.

Take a look at the clouds and the sky today, maybe you will see some extraordinary light and beauty.

Eva

söndag 8 juli 2012

My Herräng. According to Leo, small dog.

I'm Leo, 11 month old dog. Small size, big heart. And I've just been to my first Herräng Dance Camp.
I've met so many dancers here, and they all talk in many different languages to me. But lucky, I read them on their body langage and I quickly learned how friendly people in Herräng are. I met many dogs too. It was so much fun!

This is what it looks like most of the time.

It's cool with so many people from all over the world. I feel at home here.

They dance here to celebrate the new road in Herräng: Frankie Mannings road. To Frankie's favourite song, Shiny Stockings. And then everybody did the Shim Sham that they learned from Frankie.

Where did everybody go? Oh, it's the gathering at Folkets Hus.

After all, I need to have my sleep. I'm still a youngster, and I love to sleep. It can be quite intense with all the new people around.

First 10 minutes in the tent on the first evening I was trying to dig myself out of the tent. But then I found out it's such a good little home. Even if there's rock n roll music just outside, I sleep so sweet. The more rock n roll, the better!

The only thing I didn't like in Herräng was when my owner was doing vintage shopping. Why must she go vintage shopping all the time? It's much, much better around the Ice Cream Parlour. I can't imagine any better place to be. People have their ice creams, bananabreads, sandwiches and all good things and they sometimes drop bits and pieces on the ground. I think I'm doing a good job, just cleaning and keep the ground nice.

Ruff ruff!

Leo