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.

San Fran

Äventyr i San Fransisco.
Hälsar på hos god vänner och ska få möjlighet att träffa representanter i Idle No More-rörelsen. Kanske hinner jag kika på en bandlös banjo också.
Med jetlag och mycket att bearbeta hade jag en helt fantastisk dröm inatt. Med en dröm i drömmen.
Cirklar ska slutas.
Nu börjar det!

#peaceisthenoblecause
#SanFran

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

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.

Irmelin goes Finland

Irmelin loves Finland!
We are in Vaasa right now together with hundreds and hundreds of other singers. It's the Vaasa choir Festival. Super nicely organized by the festival crew, many thanks, kiitos kiitos! Your dedication for the vocal music is so uplifting and empowering. Lovely to walk in the center of town and hear choir music in every corner.

Yesterday evening we made a concert at Ritz, a theater-like hall, it's a cinema with totally beautiful original atmospher. Interiors from the time it was built. A special thank you to all who came to listen with so big ears and big hearts. Kiitos to all of you. We allways love to share the stories from the sea, from the travellers, of love, of death, of joy again after the sorrow.

It's always a great pleasure to sing in a hall like this, with good light and sound and a setting that enhance focus and energy for the details in our voices and music.

I wonder if they sometimes dance lindy hop, balboa or boogie woogie here? This is just outside the big cinema hall.

We had a lovely dinner at il Banco, a house built on 1860 for a bank in those days. Today a culinary rich place to go, my dinner was ecellent.

Maria Misgeld at the doors of il Banco.

Today we perform again at Ritz and this time it's a shared concert with the choir Philomela. I'm very much looking forward to sing there. We had super nice sound!

Vaasa train station.

To travel with Karin and Maria, it's my best place to be. Song sisters, you rule!

Eva

To enter another world

The road is leading into new adventures.
Sometimes we open the door and walk into another world. The unknown.
May the journey begin.
May we walk with light steps.
May we meet at the end of the day and share our stories from near and far,
from journeys inwards and outwards.

Baloo Antique

Wreckage from the ocean of time....

....beauty in decay....

......rubbles from the past......

Eva

Work in progress with Folkvocal

Sunny beautiful Stockholm!
I wake up this morning and find myself in one of the most beautiful cities in the world - Stockholm.

The four of us composers for project Folkvocal are now stepping up to the next level. Susanne Rosenberg, Maria Misgeld, Ulrika Bodén and myself. Refine and pull the forces together. Three days of intense work and hopefully we have a unique, extraordinary, crazy, beautiful score ready on wednesday.



I have a small story that stuck in my mind.
The other day I was walking in my neightborhood and saw a man somewhere in the age of 50 +. A little bit rough looking, quite big, someone that might make other people afraid just at sight. He was stopping and looking beside the road. Then he took his camera and made photos of the white spring flowers that are growing abundantly right now.

It's a great challenge and art to never judge people by their looks. I try to work on that every day.

Reflections of light and water

A sunny afternoon near the beach on a winter day.

Walk by the sea.

Blue sky after days of rain.

I've spend time with a group of youngster & three other youth leaders, totally marvellous group! Confirmand group.

Four days we shared talk, songs, playfulness, deep talk, games, movie (Matrix I) creativity, candy-eating, prayers, friendship at the youth camp.
Us grown ups enjoyed the beach walk most, perhaps.
Pilgrim walk.
To me it was one of the great parts, as I always like to be outside
with the sky as my ceiling.

The power of play is my greatest memory of this camp.
Thank you for the play!
Long live playfulness!

Eva

Irmelin on Germany tour

Irmelin diary, May 2013

Three concerts in three very different venues.
First concert was a big hall, Altes Elwerk in Greifswald. Chamber music feeling, a wonderful audience giving us the most heartful response.
Second concert in an out door venue on the country side, Venne Früling Folk Festival. Beautiful small, families, young people, rain and sunshine in mix, and a super nice sound. Thank you sound engineer, and thank you lovely audience!
Third concert in a club in Berlin. In the nice area of Prentzlauerberg, full of small and hidden pearls of culture everywhere. Great night out in Berlin. Met lovely people in both audience and the local arrangers, promoters of vocal music and excellent artists, Mattias and Tania. 

Greifswald, Nordischer Klang.
Sun + dark sky, I like!

Walking in town, first night.

Fish with green fish-bone are a lovely tasting fish. Dinner on a boat in the canal.

Hotel Galerie. I can recommend this place. Nice paintings in my room. The chinese lucky cookie had a good line saying:

Sometimes, travelling to new places can bring great transformation.

On the road towards Osnabrück and the small village Venne.

Us having the best spot in sunshine on Venne Früling Folk Festival.
Outside the café where I expected Aragorn sit in a corner. Instead I saw 4 Gandalf walking around on the festival area.....

Astrid's garden. A truly inspiring place to retreat after concert. Frogs singing in the pond.

Last day in Berlin. Haus der Sinne.
Tango, lindy, blues dance on some evenings, and now, vocal evening with choirs and Irmelin!

Back stage in the dark cellar.....
What can be more Berlin than a club like this.....

German audience, what a wonderful tour we've had meeting you all great people! Hope to see you soon again!
Eva

Good continuation

God fortsättning/Good continuation!

Snowfall and totally white landscape here! The soft snow makes everything a bit silent and peaceful, wich is exactly what I like. We do a some really warm, heartful but casual meetings today, gathering around the coffé and x-mas cakes that has been the family traditions since long.

Train between Göteborg and Falun is sometimes including a stop in Örebro. We had the pleasure to have "fika" (coffé and bread) at the cosy café next to the train station. Very good service by the man running the café.
Best hot chokolate with wipped cream, said my daugther.

John Lindberg Trio is perfoming today in Övertänger, Enviken:


Have a nice and swinging day!
Eva

Soon off to Herräng!

Soon, very soon, we're off to Herräng. I will not post bloggs frequently from now but totally disappear into the world of dance. My time will for the next week be from midnight til morning. Happily my daugther got a spot at the swing kids course this week, she's so much looking forward to this! Swing kids are like a camp of it's own and I will not be needed there daytime as a parent.



So at daytime I will sleep, hang out on the Herräng beach, meditate about summer and let my subconsious work on preparations for the concert with Bengt Hallberg wich is coming closer. Yes, I've brought my song book to keep the lyrics close at heart, for this special occasion.




It will be Leo's first Herräng, our little dog. He's a young one and I have good hope he will charm people around us. He's learning so quickly, like youngsters, and he will fall into the rythm. If you have any experiences you would like to share about how to camp in tent with a dog, I'm eager to hear!

Stay well everybody! Let the summer take over, and nothing can stop the international openminded crazy creative Herräng spirit!

Eva

Kieslowski memories

Excuse me, is your name Marie Veronique?

A man asked me in the train. If my name is Marie Veronique. His voice asked in a soft and polite way, giving a slight impression that he felt uncomfortable to ask me.

Things like this can start my fantasy. What would have been if I had a french double name? How would that have formed me? What comes with a name? How much do we build up in expectations when hearing a name?

Who could this Marie Veronique be, the woman he must have thought of when he saw me? What was their history together? Long lost friends? The man must have been maybe 10-15 years older than me. What was their relation?

Are we twin-like, this woman Marie Veronique and I?

Could it be like the mesmerizing movie La doble vie de Veronique, by Kieslowski? I've seen that film a couple of times and I'm still fascinated by the whole story. And of course, the great soundtrack and the choir music. It's a story about two young women who are born at the same day in different countries, and they don't know each other. But they have a feeling of a presence of another twin somewhere, a secret twin.

Have you had a feeling of a presence?

The man who asked me went to by coffee or something in the dining-car, and we never saw eachother on the train again.

Hommage to a black back pack.

Some time ago, when Rosenbergs 7 was touring all over, I bought myself a black back pack, a ryggsäck. Made of thick fabric, with a hidden pocket where the straps could be hidden during flights. Of the brand Naturkompaniet. This was in the 1900-hundreds, well, it could have been around 1995. Now, some 17 years later, this black back pack is still serving me, as a long time companion and best friend. Zippers are original, I have only made one repair where a seem has given up. My friend is here in the photo to the left:


How many places have you and I seen together? You are a great globetrotter, my dear back pack. On ALL my tours you have been my favourite bag. Sometimes far away to South Africa, USA, all over Europe. You have followed me all over Sweden too, and our neighbour countries in the north.

I have started to wonder now if I should give you some holiday. I think you deserve that. Sit and dream of all the travels we made, and not carry too heavy luggage. We'll see, on some special occasions you and I will still travel together, I'm sure.

You are the type of stuff I like so much. Made in such long life quality that I can give you to next generation. Care and repair is always good. When I think of how the ground crew on airports treat bags, then I think it must be some magic with this bag, how well preserved you still are after many flights each year.

A couple of times you went missing after transfers with delay. Every time you kept coming back. I never worried too much, I knew we will meet again.

I went to the store where I bought you, Naturkompaniet. Unfortunately they don't have back packs of the brand Naturkompaniet anymore. I planned to go find you a partner, you see? Yesterday I ran into a bag just by chance when I was shopping in Falun. I was at Cykel and Fjäll to buy some spare parts to bikes, and on the floor there was one bag in the colour of Falu red paint, the last one of its type. A bag made for expeditions to Himalaya I should say, in really thick fabric and really well made zippers. Yes! Suitable for a touring musician.


Shopping in Falun has been wonderful! Not to speak about yesterday too, for the first time in many years I was shopping together with my sister! My best buy was a black dress for Irmelin concerts, plus equipment for my new ZOOM. If you are shopping in Falun and looking for some vintage clothes, go visit Myrornas. Oh heaven, so many dresses! This is the summer when I started to dress like Hemulen, one of the caracters in Tove Jansson stories. Oh, he's one of a kind, academic interests of botanical collections, of sports, and he's not a friend of the hattifnatts. He's always dressed in a dress.

I can agree.

You are always dressed in a dress.


Eva