The Journey Begins



A lot of people ask me, "how did you get into playing the nyckelharpa?" I usually tell them I already played a lot of Swedish fiddle tunes on the fiddle, and I wanted to learn to play them where I presumed they were originally written -- on the nyckelharpa. Little did I know when I asked to borrow a nyckelharpa for the week long Nordic Fiddles and Feet festival in 2019 I would be embarking on an epic journey to find the ideal nyckelharpa of my own from Sweden. 

I fell in love with the rich, mellow, resonant sound of 16 strings and a curved wooden bow made by Sören Åhker I borrowed at NFF 2019. Bronwyn Bird, who taught at camp that year, said, "Hey, I used to have that exact model harpa!" And so did a lot of prominent players. So I e-mailed Sören several times about a commission and even had a friend contact him for me to no avail. There are very few nyckelharpa makers in the US who are experienced builders or even make traditional C-G-C-A tuned models, so I began the wild goose chase journey to find a good harpa from Sweden. 

       

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