Lofoten in July

Tomorrow we fly from Stockholm, Sweden, to Oslo, Norway, to Bodø, Norway to Leknes on Lofoten, one of the few flat places in the Lofoten area of Norway that is big enough to build an airport. Lofoten is a popular vacation and tourist area in northern Norway. We will spend several days in a rorbu (fisherman’s cabin) with our Norwegian friends Roald and Jorunn. Here is a link to Kalle’s Place near Kabelvåg (http://www.kalle.no/overnatting/rorbu-no-1-2-3-med-2-soverom) and two other links to some nice pictures of the area (http://www.kalle.no/galleri/kalle_i_lofoten and http://promonorge.no/webcam/kabelvag/).

Look up Lofoten, Kabelvåg, Norway in Google Maps to get a good view of where Lofoten is in Norway. When we leave Kalle’s Place, we will take a bus northeastward to Narvik, NO, a 4-hour trip. Later in our travels we will take another bus from Narvik south to Bodø, a 6-hour trip. Lots of twisty roads and great views!!

Lofotposten.no, the local online newspaper, has a webpage where numerous webcams can be accessed http://www.lofotposten.no/webkamera/ . Along the right side of the page are squares for each area that has a webcam. These webcams are widely distributed along the chain of islands (which are mountain tops sticking up above the water).  Click on “Se webkamera “ in each square to see the current picture from that camera. There are many other picture collections available on this site – if you don’t read Norwegian, just click on any promising item.

It has been a bit warm here in Stockholm…25 C (77 F), which isn’t too bad, though it is more humid than we are used to.  We’re rather looking forward to Lofoten’s promised 11-15 C (50-59 F).  We have packed up some of our “Iceland” clothing to send home, but have kept some with us for the upcoming week above the Arctic Circle.

Låtkurs på Ekebyholm (Tune-course at Ekebyholm)

While Lars was off touring mines and iron-works, Sheila was at the 5-day nyckelharpa course at Ekebyholm Slott (Castle) in Rimbo, Sweden.  It’s a fairly intensive week doing little other than playing Swedish folk-music in a lovely environment.  This led to not very many photos being taken…

Now… the word “castle” probably brings up an entirely wrong image for most of our readers.  In Sweden, this word is often applied to what we would more likely call a “manor”.  In this case, the original building was built in the 1600s, but attained its current appearance in the 1700s.  Here is the castle itself, and then the view from the front steps.  Sheila’s room was in the main building, on the attic floor all the way to the right as you look at this photo.  You can’t see the window, it’s around the corner.

Sheila was happy to discover that her roommate would be Marita, who she had already met at the Midsummer party.  You couldn’t ask for a better roomie!  And the attic placement of the room meant it was easy to stay up late for the “visstuga” (“song-cabin”…singing folk-songs in a large group), and then just walk down the hall to bed.

Lessons were in another building.  The Ekebyholm property belongs to the Seventh-Day Adventists, who operate a school there during the rest of the year, and lessons happen in the school building itself.  Looks pretty much like a school….

The schedule was as follows: arrive before 11 a.m., get your room assignment and key, and move in before the orientation meeting at 11.  Assignments of groups for classes are posted…this is always a bit exciting, to find out who you’ll be spending the week with.  Classes start after lunch….there is a complicated chart posted showing which group visits which teacher at what time.  Sheila’s Group 7 (aka “The International Group”) started at 1 with Markus Svensson, for a double session ending at 2:30.  There were 4 people to start with: Sheila, Fred and Toby from El Cerrito, California, and Marielle, from Brussels, Belgium.  In the middle of the class, Karin decided she did not care for her original group and joined Group 7.  Lessons were in English, as neither Marielle nor Toby speak Swedish.  Changing groups is expected and encouraged, especially early in the course—it’s hard to learn much if your group goes at a radically different pace than you do.

After the first batch of lessons, the teachers gather and discuss assignments for private lessons, while any first-timers have a separate orientation session.  The assignment of teachers is a high point—as part of the application process you are asked for first and second choices.  Some teachers are HIGHLY sought-after!  There was much speculation among the participants….”Who did you ask for?  Oh, me too.  Everybody wants him this year.”  When assignments were posted sometime during the evening, there was a huge crowd around the whiteboard.  Sheila got her second choice, which turned out to be a really good fit.

Dinner was at 5, then dance lessons (hamburska and Upplands slängpolska) at 6.  At 7:15 every evening there was a concert.  Sunday’s was Magnus Holmström (nyckelharpa) and Markus Mikael Räsänen (accordion).  After the concert, the group broke up into smaller groups for jam sessions.  Sven-Olof held forth in the dining-hall, playing traditional tunes at a gentle pace.  Another group was playing the same tunes in the library, but faster, and with some more complex tunes.  At 10, many people went up to the attic to sing with Eva.  With a view toward the intense week of music ahead, things wrapped up pretty early, around midnight.

After breakfast at 8, private lessons started.  This is a major feature of Ekebyholm…everyone gets 4 half-hour lessons with one of Sweden’s best nyckelharpa players.  Plus 5 group classes…a lot of information and technique is imparted during this short week.  Sheila’s lessons weren’t until 11, so she had the morning free to practice (or goof off, but that would kind of defeat the purpose).  There was a coffee-break (fika) at 10:15…the first of three every day. 

Markus Svensson was Sheila’s teacher this year.  He teaches at the Folkhögskola on Gotland…the word translates as “high school”, but it’s more like a college devoted to the arts.  Magnus teaches Swedish folk-music to people who play any manner of instrument, even if he does not play most of them himself.  So, he has spent a LOT of time thinking about what we play and how we play it.  There were lots of bowing exercises and discussion of how to add expression.  Toward the end of the first session, he recorded a tune for Sheila to work on over the next three days…Svanpolska fr. Gotland (Swan-polska).  Sheila thought “Oh, help!  I’ll never be able to play THAT!”  Lots of rolling-bow and flageolets (flute-notes or overtones).  But, with a lot of practice, she CAN actually play it, though not as quickly as Magnus.  While we would love to post a video of Markus playing the tune, Sheila neglected to ask for permission to do so.

Practicing for lessons happens either in your room (by agreement with roomie) or, preferably, out in the park.

There are usually lots of orange plastic chairs scattered all over the area, each with its very own student intently playing a new tune, singly or in groups, or sometimes with people just playing for fun.

The days passed quickly…breakfast, practice, lesson, lunch, singing, group lesson, practice, dinner, concert, dancing/playing/singing until the wee hours.  Rinse and repeat.  Monday, we had a special guest for a short lunchtime concert…Nisse Nordström, who had just been awarded the Zorn Gold Medal for lifetime achievement.  He played for about 20 minutes, together with his playing partner Ann-Christine Granfors.  Monday evening’s concert was from the teaching staff, each of whom played one solo piece or duet, plus a couple of tunes from the whole gang.  Tuesday’s concert was Josefina Paulson with Torbjörn Näsbom, two of the teachers who had “discovered” each other the previous year (Josefina’s first as a teacher), and who play together with great skill and glee.

Wednesday evening was different…dress rehearsal for the farewell concert to come, plus a chance to show off for your fellow students.  First, we all crammed onto the very tiny stage in the chapel to run through our repertoire of five tunes and two songs (most of them learned during the past couple of days).  This was followed by all manner of presentations; Jalle “List-man” had compiled statistics for the 38 years of the course (some 2500 attendees, made up of 825 individuals from every province but one in Sweden plus 8 or 9 countries), Marielle played a medley of 3 Belgian folk-songs, the Japanese contingent showed up with a Taiko drum/nyckelharpa/singing trio, and lots more fun.

Thursday was much like the other days, except for the growing realization that it was your last chance to 1) get that tune right, 2) record more tunes for later study, 3) sit and play tunes with your new friends, 4) say good-bye, etc., etc.  Oh…AND pack, and clean your room. 

Shortly after dinner, we loaded into cars and headed for Rimbo Church, built in the late 1400s and later reconfigured in the 1700s.  It has lovely paintings from the 1500s.  Sheila’s little phone-camera doesn’t do it justice,

but you can see some better pics here (scroll down to bottom of page): http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimbo_kyrka

We played our concert, scholarships were handed out, and then we marched out of the church to the strains of Fasterna Brudmarsch (Fasterna Bridal March).  Then, time for a last fika and hugs all around as we said goodbye to this year’s Låtkurs på Ekebyholm.

Engelsbergs Bruk and Falu Koppargruva

No, we have not finished our trip or gotten tired of posting every day. We have gone our separate ways for a few days, thanks to different interests and capabilities. Sheila went to Ekebyholm for their annual nyckelharpa course and Lars went north to visit the locations two of Sweden’s best preserved mining and smelting operations, both  continuously active from perhaps 1000AD to 1900s, with surviving building and equipment mostly dating from 1700s to late 1900s.

First was Engelsbergs Bruk, where iron ore was smelted from at least as long ago as 1200-1300s to 1919. Next was Falu’s Koppargruva, which was the major source of Sweden’s wealth in 1600s, from sale of copper, and Falun was then well on its way to becoming Sweden’s largest city. Both are now listed among UNESCO’s World-class cultural monuments. Here is link ot UNESCO’s list http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/556 . See also http://www.worldheritagesite.org/sites/engelsbergironworks.html and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Copper_Mountain , http://www.falugruva.se/en/.

Engelsbergs Bruk was a major iron smelter in 1700-1800s, even into early 1900s, and the well appointed living quarters for mine directors and their families are evidence of this. Here is a picture of a decorative tower on the left side of the “manor” house, then one of the front, then one of the other decorative tower.



Visiting technical experts, etc. had a nice place to stay, too.



Industries such as this became factory towns in the sense that they provided housing and services for employees. Often these employee facilities were well equipped with latest technical advances, such as laundry equipment, and bakeries. The laundry at Engelsberg still has a few working washing machines, hand-powered, and a large “ironing” machine. Dirty clothes went into the perforated ball, which was rotated in a tub of water by turning the hand crank. It was said to work well.



The “Big Iron” (center picture) is also driven by a large hand cranked wheel. The cloth/clothes to be pressed were placed on the large, polished stone slab, then two “rolling pins” (one seen here) were placed on top of the clothes and the overlying weight (in the wooden box) was lowered onto the rollers. As the hand-cranked wheel was rotated, the overlying weight rolls forward and back in a reciprocating motion. Yes, the poster is an ad for laundry powder.

Bakeries were pretty typical for the 1700-1800s and apparently provided bread for a reasonably low price. You have likely eaten bread or pizza baked in similar ovens.



Falun Koppargruva is presently a big hole in the ground, and has been since late 1600s when large parts of the mining area collapsed because so much rock had been removed by largely random construction of tunnels and rooms, laying above each other in a 100 meter plus tall “termite house”. These collapses caused extensive damage to the mine, as it was then, and doomed Falun’s chances of becoming Sweden’s largest city in late 1600s-early 1700s . Fortunately, the largest of these collapses happened when miners were not down in the mine. This collapse was not unexpected and, in longer perspective, allowed mining of ore not yet mined because it was in areas of rock that provided support. From the overlook area, even the widest angle lens my camera is still not even close to adequate (see above listed link for better overview).



The widely accepted tale about how this mine was discovered involves a ram and a patch of ocher-colored ground, similar to the flat-topped yellowish hill in the left hand picture. This ram has become the symbol of Falu Gruva (Falu Mine). As the story goes, this ram got the front of its horns and much of its fur coated with this ocher-colored soil, which caused an observant farmer to follow this ram to the source and then dig deep enough to know that he had found something important.



Over the following 100s of years copper ore was removed by methods not much more advanced than used by the farmer that followed his ram – basically shallow pits dug by hand. Then, as the need to dig deeper became essential, one of the early facilitating mechanical devises was winches, first powered by people, then horses, and then waterwheels became the primary power source for expediently getting people deep into the mine and getting the ore up to the surface. Over the centuries, waterwheels and the water distribution channels, streams, and dams that powered them became very elaborate, advanced and expensive. The machinery they powered also became more and more sophisticated, culminating in mechanical marvels made of wooden beams and cunningly designed metal attachments. Ultimately, this technology could move more mined ore from deep in the mine to the surface than the miners could keep up with, day in and day out.



Mines become water filled, which limits their depth. Waterwheels were also the power source that drove elaborate systems of wooden pumps that could remove water from the deepest parts of the mine (about 200 meters). Yes, these wooden pumps were marvels that needed constant attention – imagine a cadre of “human ants” scrambling up and down long, steeply inclined, wooden ladders to keep hundreds of pumps repaired, pumps made of wood with birch-bark gaskets. Each individual pump raised water about 7,0 meters on average and was about 10-20 cm in diameter, so keeping a 200 meter deep mine, with 100s of tunnels and rooms, dry enough to be mined was no small feat. Do the numbers, if you are curious ………… Unfortunately, Lars did not get a good picture of such pumps.

Here are some pictures of building important to the last few centuries of this mine’s operation. The first picture is of the main building, presently the museum. The building in middle picture was built in 1910 and housed assaying and other technical services.  The tall building in the right picture is from 1970 and houses the headframe of a mine shaft.



The last picture is of the building over the main shaft, where one can see all the way to the bottom of the mine. 

Tours down into Falu Gruva take you along wooden walkways, through narrow, low tunnels, everything wet from dripping water. So, each person gets an orange hat and cape – the hat to keep you from banging your head repeatedly on jagged rock edges, if you do not duck enough (knocking your plastic head protector on the ceiling makes a loud “thunk”, often followed by the sounds of several others having the same experience – most common on the way down). The cape lets you hear and feel the frequent drip-drip of rust-colored acidic mine waters, while staying dry.

Midsommar i Lid 2013

On Midsommars Afton (Midsummer Eve) we drove to the little town of Lid in Södermansland to celebrate Midsommar with Eva Tjörnebo and Kjell Landström and friends. We got there 15 minutes early, so we behaved like real Swedes and found something to do, so that we did not come even a minute too early. Lid has a church from 1300s or so, which in Södermansland typically have their bell tower separate from the actual church. This practice leaves the bell tower intact should the church burn. This is important because the bell tower was the community’s means of sounding alarms about fires and any other sudden emergencies.

Typical of many medieval churches in Sweden, the ceiling has been decorated with painting of various scenes – in this case of devils being driven out by Archangel Michael.  Despite being in a tiny village of only 200 people, this church is quite well-known, as the paintings are by the most famous practitioner of this style, Albertus Pictor.

Here is our host’s home, a typical red-painted house, with white trim and a reddish-orange tile roof. Missing from this archetypical Södermanland scene is a large Swedish flag on a white flagpole.  The house was built sometime in the 1700s.

The first “official” activity was to provide the music for “playing up” Lid’s Midsommarstång--like a Maypole, but with flowers and no ribbons. After the pole is upright, people spend the next 30-60 minutes dancing around it. Ever since Eva and Kjell moved to Lid, they and their friends have “played up” the Midsummer Pole and provided the traditional music for the dancing.

After the Midsummer Pole gig the next agenda item was a very unusual event, escorting a bridal pair, and their bowtie-wearing dog, to a surprise wedding in a neighboring house. Of course, this required a bit of practice and meeting the priest, while awaiting the bride and groom’s arrival. This involved both of them sneaking out of their parent’s home, where there was already a party in progress.

After surprising all the relatives with the arrival of a marching band of nyckelharpas, (not to mention the unexpected wedding!), a traditional wedding song was performed. Then the nyckelharpa band marched back to Eva’s and Kjell’s home for the main activity—eating and drinking!

Then, after the first round of food, brännevin (akvavit, taken neat, with a Pan-Nordic addition from Sheila of a bottle of Icelandic brännevin, seasoned with some moss from the highlands of Iceland, a real “taste of Iceland”) and accompanying snapsvisor (drinking songs), the increasing “breeze” instigated a chorus of “There’s a Cold Wind Blowing from the Sea” and it was time to head to the “back porch” for dessert and to watch the local bunch of rådjur (red deer) browse their way across our view.