Swedish stars collaborate with local folk musos

| Monday September 17, 2012 00:00

Among the three Swedes expected here are Leif Karlsson and Gšran Premberg. Karlsson is one of Sweden's leading percussionists, specialising in Medieval and Renaissance music. He was a member of the percussion ensemble Kroumata from its foundation in 1978 until 2008.

Born in 1958, he studied at the Ingesund College of Music in Arvika and subsequently joined the Vasteras Symphony Orchestra. During the1970s, he worked as orchestral percussionist with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and the Drottningholm Opera.

As a member of Kroumata, Leif Karlsson has toured to some forty countries and taken part in international festivals such as Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Inventionen Berlin, Wien Modern and Hong Kong Arts Festival.  He is also the music director and conductor of Norrbotten Youth Symphony Orchestra, a position he has held since 1991.

Since December 2009, Leif has been based in Gothenburg, working with the musical life at 'Kultur i VŠst' (Culture in the western region of Sweden). Premberg is a highly regarded fiddler from Gothenburg. He has spent the last twenty years exploring the music of the island of Orust in the county of BohuslŠn in the far west of Sweden. The music has been passed on from elder fiddlers and adapted from old recordings. Before that, he was awarded the honour of Rikspelman (National Fiddler) in 1977. The incredible diversity in the Western Swedish music has surprised many folk musicians throughout the years and Gšran has heavily specialised in this area.

This has resulted in two CD productions, OrustlŒtar and Tjo. In recent years he has been performing in the band Majornas 3dje Rote, a truly Gothenburg-profiled group with hundreds of performances and a CD release to their name.

The most important thing about playing music is to do it well. Gšran strives to use the region's folk music to produce good music. This often demands that you cross borders, both physically and mentally, and is one reason why he thinks NAFCo is one of the most uplifting events there is within the fiddle music circuit. Like most professional folk musicians, Gšran both performs and teaches.

The workshop will run from Tuesday to Saturday at Oodi College of Applied Arts and Technology,  while the festival will be on Sunday at Eros Garden in Tlokweng, starting from 2:00 pm.

In the evening, still on the day, starting from 7:00 pm till late, local and the Swedish artists will perform.Admission for the evening show is P50 only.  The afternoon show will be free.The initiative is put together by the Botswana Folklore Association.