Petrichor - the scent of rain

My daily joy.

My daily challenge.

Creating my own music.

So this is the first announcement, I will record a solo album by the end of October this year.

And it's the first album on my own label.

After a long row of amazing collaborations I have decided to do something like this. Channel all the lyrics and melodies that I have made myself.

When I look at all the twelve songs I have choosen for this album, I notice there's rain in several of them.

Rain as the sign of freedom, water of life, of relief.

And there's a lot more coming too. I go to my roots, I have a lot of inspiration from my mountains where i grew up. It's also about dance.

I will let you know more as the work proceeds.
You are most welcome to  check my blog for more updates around this new baby of mine.

Eva

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!

August 9, Tove Jansson birthday

With all my heart I want to celebrate the author and artist Tove Jansson who would have turned 100 years today. She's one of my house godesses.

Tonight we celebrate Tove and raise a glass of apple lemonade in her honour.

As a sign of my affection of her work and life I have been to the forest today and enjoyed an enchanted moment with my daugther and our little dog. Walking back home in the light rain of a summer afternoon. That we fancy rain might be one of the links back to Tove Jansson's writings. In her books the stormy and rainy weather is just making people more filled with energy and adventure.

I brought a water lily and some spicy scented myrica for Tove.

In my young years my mother used to read loud from Tove's books in the evenings. It was a casual and yet highly appreciated little reading ceremony we did every evening. Gathered around the kitchen table we sat listening to the advetures of all the creatures and animals living in Moomin valley.

Later on I read some of her other books. And books about her and her artistry. Once I have seen her paintings in an exhibition at Millesgården. Fantastic!

Earlier today I enjoyed going to the local second hand market. I found two green silk tops and a white lovely transparent blouse with embroidery on the back. The shirt is smaragd green, and that is a color for Tove, I think. In her writing Tove is very specific with colors.

I also found two tea cups of the kind my grand mother Agnes always used.

Eva

Yoda of the scythe

It totally made my day, meeting with master Birger.
We sat talking about how to cut the meadow with a scythe. All about technique, weather conditions, general advice, and how to maintain the scythe and make it sharp.

Birger went after his best scythe, the one he used in competitions as well as in daily work on his farm lands.
Carefully cutting the grass, beautiful and neat.
He also let me cut the grass and corrected my technique. The tip of the blade must be more parallell to the ground. He make half moon shaped cuttings but slightly shorter from side to side than I tried to do it before.
It was truly a special feeling to hold on to this scythe that has served so long in his masters hands. As if the iron handles had softened and transformed in the contact with human hand.
Birgers lovely wife Terese came to sit with us too and we all had a good talk in the summer afternoon.

I was suggested to go to Birger if I wanted to know deeply about the traditions. He's the elder, the knowledge holder of the traditions that passed down in generations. He had a lot to tell, I say! This is indigenous knowledge for me, connected to the life in harmony with nature here in the north. Connected to my family roots of farmers in Dalarna.

Birger with his scythe.

Birger gave me this whetstone to sharpen my scythe. An honour to be given such!

A rose that unfolded this morning in my garden.

Summer workshop week with Myst

Music is in the air.
Myst have had a week together in Göteborg. Long time no see, but now we've had full days of digging into our music again.

God is in the small details.....

Three days rehearsals and two days recording. One new song has seen the light, Ahmad wrote the piece and Eva added some lyrics. It's called "A Song I Wrote For You".

Seven songs from our repertoir last year has been recorded for demo, that makes eight songs all in all this week.
Here's some pics from work in the studio:

Martin and his new tattoo.

Youssef Hbeisch, percussion.

Ahmad Al Khatib, oud.

Martin Holmlund, double bas. Sara Nilsson, violin.

Eva Rune, vocals.

Pure love for sounds and voices

The creative has a good soil here.
Key persons make a huge contribution in bringing the good things together. Thank you so much initiative makers, crew and leaders of this lovely voice festival, Naturstimmen - Klangfestival in Alt St. Johann, Toggenburg.
The pure love for sounds and voices made a great impact on me.
For example:
This house with a black smith on the bottom floor, powered by a water wheel. Water and fire energy steaming up in the rest of the house.
On the other floors in the house it was room after room filled with  music of many kind. Music therapy, music exploring, music to touch and be touched by. Instruments with pentatonic scales so beginners can feel the happiness of being creative with tones. And vibrations.
On the top floor Irmelin had our course every morning, sharing the songs of the north. Thank you participants who signed up to spend four whole days with us. We had a lovely time with you!

Here's Bernhard Betschart performing his pure yodel from Muotathal. Irmelin had the pleasure to perform together with him on the night out at the lake Schwendisee in the Alps of Toggenburg. Nature gave us blessings of rain and it was pure life being there listening to Beny's yodel answering in with our shepherd calls from the north.





“Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?”
― Mary Oliver

After Toggenburg I continued to Hochdorf to work with cellist Annika Dobler, a long time music partner. We were both members of Rosenbergs Sjua and have several tours together all around in many countries.
The magic linden tree in their garden. Perfect for en evening session with music in the garden.

Last concert was performed in a local church in Hochdorf in the morning, Annika and me singing away in a non-picture-only-colors-and-shapes reformert church. It was a cleansing experince and very etheric.
Then finally, time to just relax!
On my last day in Switzerland I had an afternoon & evening free. We took the train to Luzern. Annika and Alain showed me around to their get-away-places of tranquility in the middle of a city.
Seebad in Luzern.

Seebad in Luzern. My friends grandmother used to come here every day.

My first swim for this summer, in Lake Luzern.

Strolling the streets of Luzern on a summer evening.

Have a beautiful day out there!
Eva

Klangfestival Naturstimmen in Toggenburg, Schweiz, here we come!

Dear folks, Irmelin is on a lovely and powerful journey in Toggenburg, Switzerland. Seeing old friends and making new friends. We have learned how the deep, gritty, real old school yodel goes. Going wild. We have shaken hands with the local people and heard the cow bells from morning to night on the mountain slopes. The real deal.
We have made concert and shared moments of thrill when our calls tear the air, when our soft songs whisperes in your hearts. In the meeting with you lovely audience, we create together. A special song for someone special. It's only happening here and now.

Six brave and skilled students, each one with power in her voice, are in our course of swedish shepherd calls & diddling dance tunes. We are so grateful for being here.

Last night we did our out door concert with voices in shepherd calls, alps, cow horn, natur juuz. Thank you all for coming out there, I think we all felt deep in our hearts how nature and humans and animals are all one together.

A room with a view.

"Disbelief in magic can force a poor soul into believing in government and business.” ― Tom Robbins

This machine cleanse your soul.

Participants and Irmelin in our voice course at Naturstimmen Festival 2014.