Fretless banjo

En alldeles glimrande dag i Berkeley.
Jag har hittat en till banjo, nu en utan band. Så jag kan spela blåtoner.
En drygt 100 år gammal banjo är det, okänd härkomst.

Marc skjutsade mig till Marc, tack för hjälpen :-)
Marc Silber köper och säljer gitarrer, banjos, ukes, stränginstrument av alla slag. Han startade sin verksamhet i New York tillsammans med Izzy Young. Numera håller Marc S till här i konstnärslängan i Berkeley: Sawtooth Studios.

Firade att jag blivit med banjo igen genom att hänga på cafeer, bokaffär och musikaffär i de mer centrala delarna av Berkeley.

Sawtooth Studios, Berkeley, San Fransisco.

Marc Silber Music.

Nya stämskruvar fixas på min nya (gamla) bandlösa banjo.

Bay Area, San Fran, California.

Summer with light nights, singing and dancing

Dearest blogg readers,

What happened in your peak of summer?
Did you celebrate summer solstice?
See any midsummer fairies?
Met the bear up in bear country?
I wish I did.
At least we saw bear poop in the forest.

Leo sniffing out big shit.

Right now, lovely August is covering us under her wings.

What do you wing?
What's now, what's created now?

I'm working every day with creative writing.
Not so fast today, because I struggle with a cold and fever.
So I go with the flow.
Gathering thoughts, pinning down some pictures from my dreams.
Taking small notes.
The dog needs walks and I marvel at the jungle I'm living in.
In the linden trees thousands of honey bees
sing their song.
I brought my tuning fork with me to listen carefully
to what notes they sing.
Soon this blooming is over for this year.

Living now.
Visioning forward. 
Learning from what happened.


Here's a little retrospect what happened in June-July.

My cd Vida was released on Spotify in the middle of the summer riddle.

Thank you photographer Maja Tekla Jonsson!

Midsummer light nights. Picture taken at 23.39:

Summers journey stop #1 was to dance boogie woogie in Herräng. And of course some lindy hop and blues dance and balboa too. Oh what a lovely week! We are so blessed. My daughter and I in a camping tent and spending day and night to dance.

The journey continued to the vast forests and hills and valleys where I come from. I was lucky to spend some time with my scythe, visiting goats on a mountain farm, fäbod, and walking to the top of the world.

My scythe.

Making traditional messmör.

In the turning of July into August we were blessed with a blue moon and Irmelin performed at Urkult Festival in the high north. There I had the most amazing birthday celebration and enjoyed it very much to welcome a new turning point in my life.

Nämforsen stone carvings from the time of the first people.

Ylva Varik artistry.

Att vara tant är att få göra vad fan man vill.

To be an old lady is to be allowed to do what the *#-/* you want.

My antennas are up in the air. Some questions are going to be investigated.
Some lyrics are going to be written.
Some more music will be transformed from the dreamed into reality.
Some future journeys are going to be planned according to the golden map of the inner landscape.


Come rain come shine, life takes us on an unpredicted journey.
Family, friends and love.
Some endings and some beginnings.
Reunions, a break-up.

I pray our hearts continue to be tender in the sometimes hard world we live in.
Let's be curious.
Let's walk in peace.

Eva

Home stage in the middle of the hoods.

In just two weeks I will launch my new CD "Vida".

The place this will happen is a great gift itself, I'm getting the sense it's now becoming my home.
A second home or a home stage.
A place where it's easy to feel at home.
Hjällbo church is in the center of the hoods.
A church right in the middle of the street life, at the local square.

This fine space helps us all open to inner space.
The name "Vida" have a connection to the swedish word for space: vidder.

Soon time to let the boat set sail.

Eva

Norway, August 2014. Irmelin tour.

Welcome 2015 with all your adventures in music

A new year has just begun.
First of all I want to thank you all my readers, you who visit my blog.
I truly wish you a beautiful year and lets all pull our forces together for
a year of more tolerance and love in the world.
Music, dance and story telling makes the world go around.
I know so many beautiful initiatives, activists,
thinkers and peace makers all around the globe
to make me want to contribute also what I can bring on the train.

One thing is to celebrate truly who we are and
be daring in creativity.
I've decided to fully live my dream of releasing
a solo album.

It's getting closer and closer,
the launch of my new cd, Vida.
February 12 in Göteborg,
please come to celebrate with me in Hjällbo church.


I just heard some music on the radio that makes me so happy.
For the first time to me, I found this gem of new jazz, Chlopy Kontra Basia.
The pure happiness of language, without knowing the meaning of the lyrics,
I just love the sounds.




Chlopcy Kontra Basia - Oj Tak


Got to keep on working now, the day is bright and  I have lots to plan and organize. 
Final steps of the cover and textbook of my CD. 

Eva

Exited to share happy news!

Happy news on the first of December!
I wish to give a big THANK YOU to Swedish Arts Council for the support I've been honoured for my upcoming solo-album in hard competition with many a fine music project. I am totally filled with joy for this. It's highly appreciated, so thank you thank you!

The music is recorded together with Mattias Pèrez on guitars and Anders Jormin on double base in October at Studio Epidemin. Petter Eriksson is our sound man.
My own compositions, my lyrics, and a wave of inspiration and musical ideas shared among the three of us. Thank you Mattias and Anders for bringing in your voices in the swirl.

We are so exited to share it all with you!
Stay tuned for more.

Eva

Mattias Pèrez at Epidemin in October.

Recording mood at Studio Epidemin in October.

Further and beyond at Studio Epidemin

Dear music family!!!

Deeply thankful for luminous musicbuilding at Studio Epidemin the last three days.
Mission compleeted!
I'm so exited to unfold my songs to new horizons with Mattias Pèrez and Anders Jormin!
Sound engineer Petter Ericsson has pushed us with his groovy sense of humor.

I'm truly blessed with the finest musicians around me!
For their amazing help and ideas adding on to mine. 
Putting my songs in the hands of two gentlemen, two souls full of never ending music.
Guitar wizard and yoda of the double base.
I could never have imagined the music that has emerged during the past three days. Even if preparation time was well done and heart opening, one can never predict what's going to happen in the studio when three music universes collide.
In the moment.

The muses has been watching over us as we've embarked on this journey together.

I am happy tired over the edge.

Eva

Petter Ericsson & Mattias Pèrez

"I think we have all had the experience of losing ourselves in music.
Where you are just taken away into the sound.
And then where are you?
Where are ‘YOU?’
When you’re not there, that IS ultimate reality.
It’s so beautiful; it’s all around us all the time, it’s available to us all the time."

— Lama Marut

Anders Jormin.

Lightenings in the sky over Gothenburg

It was really spot on, in connection with my Tove Jansson celebration weekend. I imagine this was the celebration for the hatifnatts.

From my balcony yesterday late dark evening.
No rain.
Hardly no thunder.
But many lightenings high up in the clouds.
Spectacular!

8 March International Womens Day

Artist: Malin Bellman

Girls today, women tomorrow.

I'm deeply proud to announce I'm currently working with a girls respect group where we meet on weekly basis in Hjällbo church in Gothenburg.
We have together discussed the goals and ambition of this particular group. It's mainly about getting true friends who support in all situations, who respect you for the person you are, who allow you to be yourself and even push you to become even more yourself. Cheerish the unique of each member.

Among the first things we did was to name the group after an animal and bear was choosen. A perfect choice for courage and strength, and also for the aspect of live your dream.

Right now we are team building through games and fun + discussion, sharing in circle, doing some writing on the topic of getting to know your personality and be accepted for that uniquness.

Today I got an idea. I'll ask the girls if they would like to create a gallery of portraits of courageous women and girls to hang on our own wall of fame. I can name many I wish to see there. I just wonder what suggestions might come from the group.

My heroines, among many others. Enjoy the links to their quotes, or other historic information:

Malala Yousafzai, Shannen Koostachin, Astrid Lindgren, Tove Jansson, Lina Thomsgård Lupita Nyongo, Marie Curie, Miranda July, Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman, Sarah Ogan Gunning, Mother Jones.
Founders of Idle No More: Sheelah McLean, Nina Wilson, Sylvia McAdam, Jessica Gordon.

The lady with the hawk eyes....

...has recieved all my tax papers for 2013 today. It's such a relief to hand it over. She knows my business since many years now.

This releases all energy to focus on Myst rehearsing  upcoming days. Tomorrow I'll meet the band, plus composer Roger Johansson. Number four out of four workshops we do together in our own incubator for new music. It's all about co-creation and stepping outside ones comfort zone.
Bring out the forces!

Wall in Switzerland.

Yes please, give me clear sight.

For to celebrate myself in this moment when the tide turn (...and the sea calls out once more) I bought myself a pair of leather boots at the Noa Noa shop. Irmelin has a Noa Noa fling since many years, we often chooses to have that danish design outfits when we perform. Now I can walk on with really nice new boots.

Involving every guest in the room

Advent calendar #15
Tell a friend how much you appreciate him or her.


Yesterday evening was one of a kind.
After some bus adventures in rain and darkness we headed out on the ferry to the islands outside Göteborg. We finally got to the atelier/gallery where this evening's party was going to take place. A fire basket welcomed us, and already in the garden I knew here is a place for diverse creativity.
  
The sweet couple Lena and Mats, artist and musician, invited friends for a christmas singing evening. Gunnar Eriksson is among their friends for years and years, so they asked him to bring along some of his singers and musicians who could guide through an improvised free happening of old songs, new experiences. It was not a christmas concert as we know it since before.
Anders Jormin on double base was there too, what pure joy to hear him improvise and add his musical colors to all the voices. He's professeur in jazz in both in Göteborg University and Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. Outstanding musician touring the world.
I was asked to come with and I felt I could not miss out this new approach to making christmas music. High expectations but it turned out even more fun and unpredictable.

This was an evening when we sang for eachother and with eachother, weaving music, having no sheets of music, just singing from the heart. Gunnar inventing new patterns in music instantly, and involving every guest in the room.

Nice food and wine, many a good story and laughter. Storytelling at it's sweet form developed among local jazz musicians, and Gunnar's many anecdotes from his travelling.

After midnight my friend Gabriella and me danced lindy hop to live music. I had brought my dance shoes, you never know when the opportunity comes.

Eva

Things I didn't think would happen

Today I was asked to be a computer support. Concerning a PC-question! Both of this is surprising to me. I've never felt like some kind of a computer person. From the start I was more of a mac user, because all the musicians in my connections were already using mac. Now I have to dig deeper into the world of PC because that's the environment on my new job as a youth leader in the church.

So that's another thing I didn't think would happen.
I have a regular job. That's revolutionary for me, since I've always been a free lance musician and that's all I know how to do. A regular job with a steady income, that's a whole new culture. I do this on part time, 50%. Maybe I run the music 100% like before, so it's a bit of a puzzle with time.... The appointment is to do this youthleader job for 6 month. After that I don't know but probably it will be music business as usual.

The youth leader job is organized by the church. Regular swedish church. I didn't think I would get a job there either. I don't have the required education. But maybe I have the heart on the right place. I would never ever feel confortable with some sort of conservative religious congregation. But in this case I have found the best place to be. This particular congregation of Hjällbo is open minded, focused on social equality and human rights, inter-religous events now and then. I'm so proud to be part of the future.

I see us all connected. Today I set myslef to understand more of the prayer "All My Relations". I googled, found a little bit on Wiki, and it's also a hash-tag on twitter. I follow blogs and twitter where I see the use of the phrase "All My Relations" as a greeting.

Like this, answering on a blog post:

"All my Relations! Aaron, thank you for speaking the truth in such a beautiful way! Michelle Morning Star Doherty"

To be connected to the whole universe, earth, humanity and everything living upon it. All my relatives.

Here's a clip from youtube, you can listen to the prayer and have it explained.




Tonight at the youth meeting we are discussing the topic of togetherness, community, sense of belonging. That's also a way of celebrating United Nations Day.

Eva

MUKO Sweden festival and a day of love

Irmelin did a great day yesterday, taking part in the first ever festival of MUKO Sweden. Music Collective (=MUKO) manifested ourselves for the first time.
Irmelin pictures

With a 8 band long festival including  childrens concert and whole night long row of music at Storan, Göteborg. 6 bands from our own power house of MUKO and two international acts. I especially enjoyed listening to Mikael Godee and Eve Beuvens quartet (Sweden and Belgium) and Jaron Freeman Fox and the Opposite of Everything (Canada). Sparkling energy. Deep and sensitive. Fun!

Mikael Godée & Eve Beuvens Quartet

All the other bands are super interesting too, but because Irmelin performed so much ourselves I couldn't hear everything I wanted to.


Irmelin sang in the opening ceremony of the festival, and immediately after we had to run to next gig. My friend Thomas married Cecilia and Irmelin provided with love songs and bridal march. A truly enlighted moment was to call out with our voices only in herding calls over the fields where the bride and groom walked up to their friends and family who had gathered to celebrate with them.

Yes, a long day of love indeed.

Music in all directions. Love for what we believe in.

Irmelin headed back to Göteborg and Storan Theater to get up on stage there a second time in the MUKO festival. We were carried of the support from among others the members of my choirs who came to listen. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. 

I'm happy to say we also made a statement from stage yesterday, in support and solidarity with all who stand up for mother earth and protect her from big company greed, mining companies. In solidarity with Gallok in Jokkmokk, Sweden, as well as anti-fracking movement in Canada and elsewhere. Our thoughts goes to the situation in New Brunswick in Canada where military made a crack down on unarmed peaceful protesters and shoot rubber bullets and teargas. Snipers aiming at singing and praying elders, women, children. Peaceful protesters, you have all the love and support that the corporations envy and fear so much. Your songs, drums, dances and prayers are more powerful than bullets. Put your boots on the ground, stand up for future clean nature to our children and their children.

Today I could think of resting a bit......and dream of all the goodies from yesterday.

Winter in Dalarna - God jul - Merry Christmas

I wish you happy holidays and peace in your hearts!

Thank you for following my blog! I'll be back soon, but now some days off to just spend time with family and friends and do as little work as possible.

Eva