Day 81: Harmony

In a wine cellar at Hesselby Slott, a group of people gather in a circle to sing traditional Swedish folk songs. Folk songs are, as the name implies, songs of the people, passed from generation to generation by repetition. They originate in villages and towns, typically in the country or mountains, and spread via troubadours and regular folk from mouth to ear.

This was one of the sessions at the Stockholm Folk Festival that I was most looking forward to and it didn't disappoint. Anyone in the circle was free to take up a song, some of which were familiar while others were new to most of us. The session took flight whenever a tune was familiar to most and then the room filled with voices singing in spontaneous harmony. I so admire the ability some people have to weave a tune around another tune in a way that pleases the ear of the listener. Many of the participants in today's visstuga (as it's called in Swedish) were obviously experienced folk tune singers and it made me so happy to be part of the beautiful music we created together.

Click on the photo below for a bit of a taste: