Hurv KRCD-37: Historic recordings of Swedish folk music X: Like a butterfly

Otto Larsson

silverbasharpa

Otto Larsson (1898-1972) is a musician who touches you more than others, not only musically, but also his person. Ever since I heard some recordings of him at the beginning of the 1970s he has been my favourite nyckelharpa player, though when the recordings of Sigurd Holmberg (released on Hurv KRCD-27) turned up he got a strong rival.

In some ways they represent the same silverbasharpa tradition (the Karl Anderén line) but still have completely different playing styles. Sigurd plays heavily and has a dark tone in his nyckelharpa. Otto on the other hand has an airy and clear tone and plays with a light rhythm.

Otto Larsson’s life history captures your interest in a special way. He was in his way as close to a "blues man" as you can come in Swedish traditional music — the wandering fiddlers of times passed by also come to mind. He was partly a rather reserved person and his biography feels a bit "secret" — for instance there are very few photographs of him. But the stories he told his friend Simon Simonsson in Uppsala make him stand out as one of the most colourful musicians of the 20th century in Swedish traditional music.

The booklet contains 32 pages of detailed notes in both English and Swedish, as well as a rich treasure-chest of archive photos.