Folkvocal day 3 in Stockholm

Today is the World Day of Voice!
What can be a better idea to celebrate than to spend a full day with these powerful and creative song sisters? A capella at it's best.

Amazing how much flow we've had the two past days. The music is coming together beautifully. We have come to the point of putting the whole set together. There are already clear links between some songs, patterns that will go in and out of each other. Yet we have to decide who will sing what, a sort of casting for the different roles.
We are four composers in this and it's definitely four unique voices with so much personality. We are also united by the roots of our vocal tradition.

Can't wait to meet with the four other singers who will together with us make the full ensemble.

Susanne Rosenberg
Maria Misgeld
Ulrika Bodén
Eva Rune
Lisa Laestander
Karin Ericsson Back
Maja Eriksson
Sofia Sandén

Mark the day in your calendars. Please come and share this unique event with us when we perform the piece in Stockholm on the 18th of June.

In the studio composing music.

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.

Walk with light steps

Circular economy.
Second hand is first hand.

Mirror second hand. Wall clock from Lisa Tofft.

The old school art of re-cykling. Weavers created rugs with many patterns out of worn out clothes and fabric. Your favourite dress in wich you danced all night long might be the material that carries your foot steps.....

Handcrafted rugs.

Handcrafted bed cover. Leo on top of things.

Dior Lounge Wear, Saks Fifth Avenue. Nylon with zipper front. From the 70's?
The colors and patterns makes me happy every day.

Eva

Between singing and spoken word

Our days of work is just over.
Susanne, Maria, Ulrika and me singing all day long. Preparing for next step of contemporary composing within the folk music context.

Increadible how the paradox of time is confusing my mind. Time went so quickly. At the same time it feels like I've been there in the sweet little village of Noraström for a long time. We manage to do so much together with the music.

Ideas we brought into our project has now been tried out in reality. Many improvisation structures has been very fruitful. We go back home now to compleete the music for the larger ensemble. We'll be 8 folk singer performing this!

Below Susanne and Ulrika are singing  instantly from a book of hilarious written text, deep and poetic. It requires long experience to do it in two part singing. We all took turns doing improvisations, and sometimes all four at the same time.

Eva

Folkvocal - the never ending river of melodies

Doing what we like most.
Singing full days. Creating new songs.
Exploring new grounds the way just we can do.
So much fun, sometimes we just explode in laughter.

Improvising music with these three amazing ladies is a never ending river of melodies where we set sail and aim for new horizons.

What happens is that we have a common ground in the folk music that makes it very easy to start. Where it all ends might be something no one expected. Four personalities but a common language.

The yellow house to the left is where we stay. Prästkragens Inn.

Springtime is in the air.

Ulrika Bodén.

Maria Misgeld.

Susanne Rosenberg.

Here you can see more, Folkvocal, Susanne Rosenberg

I don't know if it's the fresh air or all the focus and creativity that makes us sleep early in the night. Tomorrow is a new day in the djungle of music!
Eva

Retreat for music writing

Time to open the door to the musical treasures.

For three days I will be away in the far north of Sweden, outside Sundsvall in a small village. Together with the amazing singstresses, Susanne Rosenberg, Maria Misgeld and Ulrika Bodén I will dig deep and weave a totally new creation of vocal music. Contemporary folk songs.
Putting pieces together, contributing each one of us, circling the ideas around and try it out live.
This is the first meeting. So far we have been preparing one by one at home, just mailing ideas to eachother.

So I'll put my boots on the ground and go to the living room song circle.

We'll stay at a small countryside inn, a house build 1810 for the priest and his family in those days. I imagine the walls are full of forgotten songs.

Eva

Equinox, my kind of spring

Flowers found at dog walk in the forest.

I'm doing a three week focus on Alexander Technique-challenge starting yesterday on equinox, the day when time is equal day and night.
Each day we participants give ourselves 20 minutes laying on the floor stretching out our spine, expanding our length in a soft way. Breathing, staying actively awake but relaxed.
My kind of spring :-)