Folke, Emma & Josefina – Kontakt

I det lilla skapas det stora. Med fem små toner tar Folke, Emma & Josefina kontakt med omvärlden, blickandes ut från de Västmanländska gränserna. Favoriseringen av Västmanlandslåtar är oundviklig och grundat på den kärlek trion känner till musiken som odlats och knaprats i hemmamiljön. Orädda för att skapa nytt material, invävt i det redan etablerade, bjuder Folke, Emma & Josefina på dagens Västmanländska folkmusik.

“Swedish traditional folk music on keyed fiddle (nyckelharpa) violin, guitar, Swedish bagpipe and härjedalsfluet” English translation of all text in the convolute included!

“Out of the small comes the great. With five small notes Folke, Emma & Josefina make contact with the outside world whilst gazing out from the boundaries of Västmanland. The favoring of tunes from the area of Västmanland in Sweden is inevitable and founded in the love the trio has for music that has been grown and tried in a familiar environment. Fearless in the creation of new material, which is woven into the already established, Folke, Emma & Josefina treat us to today´s folk music of Västmanland.”

Josefina Paulson plays the Swedish traditional folk instrument “nyckelharpa” (keyed fiddle) that goes back 600 years in time. She has been touring Australia for the first three month of 2013.

CD Review by Ian Dearden

Listening to this delightful album is a slightly unnerving experience – the style of arrangements is very familiar (very much in the vein of contemporary Celtic tuneplaying, especially the guitar vamping), but the tunes are quite unfamiliar.

This trio of Folke Dahlgrens (guitar, pipes and whistle), Emma Svensk Gunillasson (fiddle) and Josefina Paulson (nyckelharpa) hail from the central Swedish province of Västmanland, and they play a mixture of traditional tunes, and original tunes placed squarely in the Scandinavian folk tradition.

Unlike most celtic instrumental bands, the bulk of this trio’s repertoire consists of polkas and waltzes, with a couple of ring-ins for good measure, including one tune inspired by that well-known Scandinavian(?) songwriter Chuck Berry!! And to wrap it all up, the title tune, Kontakt, written by guitarist Folke Dahlgrens, is based on the five notes used to communicate by the extra terrestrials in Steven Spielberg’s ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’!!

An important factor in the compelling “sound” this trio put out, is the interplay between Emma Gunillasson’s exquisite fiddle playing, and the haunting sound of Josefina Paulson’s nyckelharpa (literally a “keyed harp”, similar to a hurdy-gurdy but played with a bow).

Josefina Paulson has toured extensively as a solo nyckelharpa performer (including appearances at the iconic Woodford Folk Festival), and has received extensive accolades and recognition for her mastery of the instrument.

However, in any group, it is not just about the technical skills of each of the players (all three members of this group are blessed with prodigious talent), but also their ability to work seamlessly together as a single unit.

In that respect, they can’t be faulted.

This is a richly rewarding, hauntingly nuanced journey through contemporary Scandinavian tune playing that will delight you aurally and move your feet as well.