Terrific stories

I am currently going through the mastodontic "Svenska L�tar" series of folk music (mostly fiddle) transcriptions from the whole of Sweden, and besides music there are quite a few interesting facts and some truly terrific stories.

Some are obviously apocryphal, such as fiddlers bringing back the dead to dance, being "in league with the devil" or with N�cken, the mythical master fiddler who created all kinds of trouble. Or the fiddler that was seen talking to his fiddle like a person, with it standing up by itself and bowing in response to him! Others are true but quite amazing.

Johan Ankarloo of N�sum sometimes, after a few brews, in the middle of the dance fell asleep - without ceasing to play. Apparently this could be noticed only by that he never stopped, and that he didn't play the repetitions correctly, until he awakened!

Several wedding fiddlers were so popular and oft-engaged the arrangers felt they had to smuggle them to the location in a closed wagon several days before. One had the reputation of "even being able to make the tables and chairs dance!" This was no exaggeration, in fact - he usually tied a long rope around all the furniture which he innoticably manipulated with his feet while playing, causing them to shake and move.
/�

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Thanks Mats,

You're right, those are great stories!

take care,

--Dan Stearns

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mats �ljare" <oljare@...>
To: <metatuning@yahoogroups.com>; <oddmusic@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, March 20, 2002 4:14 PM
Subject: [metatuning] Terrific stories

>
> I am currently going through the mastodontic "Svenska L�tar" series
of folk
> music (mostly fiddle) transcriptions from the whole of Sweden, and
besides
> music there are quite a few interesting facts and some truly
terrific
> stories.
>
> Some are obviously apocryphal, such as fiddlers bringing back the
dead to
> dance, being "in league with the devil" or with N�cken, the mythical
master
> fiddler who created all kinds of trouble. Or the fiddler that was
seen
> talking to his fiddle like a person, with it standing up by itself
and
> bowing in response to him! Others are true but quite amazing.
>
> Johan Ankarloo of N�sum sometimes, after a few brews, in the middle
of the
> dance fell asleep - without ceasing to play. Apparently this could
be
> noticed only by that he never stopped, and that he didn't play the
> repetitions correctly, until he awakened!
>
> Several wedding fiddlers were so popular and oft-engaged the
arrangers felt
> they had to smuggle them to the location in a closed wagon several
days
> before. One had the reputation of "even being able to make the
tables and
> chairs dance!" This was no exaggeration, in fact - he usually tied a
long
> rope around all the furniture which he innoticably manipulated with
his feet
> while playing, causing them to shake and move.
> /�
>
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--- In metatuning@y..., "Mats Öljare" <oljare@h...> wrote:

> Some are obviously apocryphal, such as fiddlers bringing back the
dead to
> dance, being "in league with the devil" or with Näcken, the
mythical master
> fiddler who created all kinds of trouble.

Näcken was the name of my mother's dog. He sometimes created
all kinds of trouble also, but he was a good-hearted beast
and meant well.

--- In metatuning@y..., "Mats Öljare" <oljare@h...> wrote:
> Several wedding fiddlers were so popular and oft-engaged the
> arrangers felt they had to smuggle them to the location in a
> closed wagon several days before. One had the reputation of "even
> being able to make the tables and chairs dance!"

Sheesh. About all I'm able to make happen at the weddings I go to is that t=
he room starts spinning after the bar's been open for a while...

Good stories, Mats. In a DVD put out by the National Geographic that is bac=
kground on the myths and making of the film version of "The Lord of the Ring=
s" (whew, run-on sentence!), they profiled a Norwegian singer/fiddler of the=
old Finnish folk songs/tales. Somewhat related to the Kalevala (sp?), I did=
n't catch all the details but the gist was that this man was the last person=
of the oral tradition, and many, many songs and tales would be lost with hi=
s passing if not learned, transcribed, or recorded. There is an effort ongoi=
ng, but oral traditions are fragile things, maybe *especially* these days...=

Cheers,
Jon