Hurv KRCD-25: Historic recordings of Swedish Folk music II:

Tunes from Orsa II: rare recordings, 42 solo tunes played by five founder-members of the Orsa spelmanslag, the Fiddlers' Ensemble, with one duet

Very conscious of the importance of the living tradition, he was also generous in teaching tunes to younger fiddlers, and when the Orsa spelmanslag (Fiddlers' Ensemble) was created in 1948, the 70-year-old was the self-evident leader.

In the autumn of his life, his daughter Gössa Anna Andersson (1906-1999) became her father's playing partner and companion. The pair undertook tours throughout Sweden, and they met with great approval everywhere they came. Anna always played a sensitive second part of her own invention.

Gulis Erik Andersson (1885-1961) was one of the most important bearers of the Orsa tradition, and these seven tunes - the only ones he recorded - are the oldest documentation in sound of the old Orsa playing style.

Gulis Erik was a forest- and farm-worker, a remarkably happy person who enjoyed the company of others and was therefore well-liked, very popular among other fiddlers, and played often with them; and when the Orsa spelmanslag was started in 1948, Gulis Erik was an obvious member and teacher.

Lovar Erik Ersson (1881-1963) had an old-fashioned style, clear, clean and sparing of trills. The only fiddler in his village, and self-taught, he was a good singer who knew many of the old songs. The tunes here are the only ones he recorded.

Henning Snitt, nephew to Gulis Erik, absorbed the old tunes as a boy and memorised them. He often played at home, but seldom took an active part in fiddlers' meetings, until he started playing with the Orsa spelmanslag. His skilful playing of the old tunes as well as his good humour and easy ways, made him a much-liked fiddler among fiddlers. There was a lot of music in the farms around the Orsa village of Åberga, where Elings Samuel Ersson lived (1906-1990): his Erik and his uncle Jonas, as well as Samuel's own brother Erik, were all fiddlers. He imbibed the old Orsa way of playing with his mother's milk and amassed a fine repertoire of tunes from the northern part of the parish. Alongside the Orsa tunes, he was also very fond of the 'rolling bow' tunes from the neighbouring province of Hälsingland. The booklet contains 20 pages of detailed notes each in English and Swedish, as well as a rich treasury of archive photos.

list of tunes