Quest for the Harpa

      Fast forward to September 11th, 2021 and I scooter along the canal through a foggy Turku, Finland. I can't fathom today is the day I get my new harpa, that day I've been dreaming of for over two years since I fell in love with the nyckleharpa at NFF 2019. Not only do I get to pick up my brand new instrument, I get to meet its builder, Bosse Nilsson!  Bo generously met me and a Fulbright friend in Turku, Finland as a halfway point between Helsinki, where I am researching Nordic Music and String Pedagogy at the Sibelius Academy for my Fulbright grant, and Bo's residence north of Stockholm, Sweden. He and a friend took a long ferry just to hand deliver my new instrument to me, and I am so thankful! He gave me a tutorial on how to take the key box apart to do repair work if a key sticks (this happens a lot in New York humidity especially!), and I was thrilled to do a demonstration and play the harpa for him. He lit up with joy when I warmed up on Spelmansglädje, an Erik S