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Ale Möller Band
Bodjal

Ale Möller comes full circle. From the bouzoukispellman who learned Swedish folk music on a Greek instrument so many years ago comes a stunning new album of music that starts with those Greek roots, and then explodes across the continents. With Maria Stellas and Mamadou Sene on Greek and West African vocals, a core band of Moller's strings, accordion, flutes and voice, Magnus Stinnerbom (fiddles, mandolin), Sebatian Dube (bass) and Rafael Sida Hulzar (percussion). Guest performances include Jonas Knutsson (sax), Shirpa Nandy (Indian vocals), Kurash Sultan (Uyghur vocals) and Mats Oberg (keyboards).
From the sweeping sound that Filarfolket created 2 decades ago, Moller and company have created a worthy heir to the global sound of Sweden.
I'll stick my neck out in March and say "Record of the Year 2004."

Listen:
Ilios
Bodjal
Styggen
Tango Greco...

Read the RootsWorld interview with Ale Moller

More music by Ale Moller

The musicians:

• Ale Möller: mandola, accordion, flutes, shawm (skalmeja), cow horn etc.
• Maria Stellas: Swedish-Greek singer and dancer. As a singer she has specialized in older Greek songs, primarily from the Rembetika repertoire of the early 1900s. Her dancing is the oriental dance "Raqs Sharki" (or belly dance).
• Mamadou Sene: singer and acrobatic dancer from Senegal. Before moving to Sweden he was a soloist in the Senegalese National Ballet.
• Magnus Stinnerbom: young master fiddle player from Värmland who specializes in polskor from Jössehärad, as well as music from the Swedish-Norwegian border area. Member of folk music groups Harv and Hedningarna.
• Sebastian Dubé: double bass player from Quebec, Canada who is both classically trained and a virtuoso jazz musician. Currently also plays with The Swedish Chamber Orchestra, based in Örebro.
• Rafael Sida Huizar: Mexican percussionist who came to Sweden back in the 1970s as a member of a Mexican rock band. A percussionist with profound knowledge of Afro-Cuban and Latin drum traditions.

Official bio and press:
During the past several years, the main focus of Ale Möller's musical creativity has revolved around a clear premise where, in a series of noteworthy projects, he has worked with the meeting between musicians from different cultures and traditions. In the Ale Möller Band – a diverse, colorful group of musicians – the nucleus of the participants from these projects are reunited. It is the quintessence of Stockholm Folk Big Band, World Music Laboratory and the various constellations that brought about the fantastic evenings in the tent at the Falun Folkmusic Festival. A super band that has already won a large audience through last year's intensive touring.

Ale Möller (born in 1955) is a constant explorer, always on his way somewhere. Firmly anchored in traditional music, Möller has taken the forefront and expanded the borders of Scandinavian folk music in groups and projects such as Filarfolket, Nordan and Frifot. But the journey began in jazz; for quite some time, his great favorite was trumpeter Clifford Brown and the trumpet his primary instrument. A meeting with Greek musician Christos Mitrencis in his hometown Malmö sent Möller headlong into Greek music and a passionate relationship to a new instrument, the bouzouki. In the years that followed, Möller toured with a Greek orchestra, both in Sweden and in Greece. Recurrent collaboration with composer Mikis Theodorakis evolved into poignant experiences, both in the music itself but also in the intense relationship between the culture and the identity he found in Greece. This eventually led to a turning point.

A growing insight that the strength in Greek music was not merely a question of melodies and musical notes but primarily a connection to its own history prompted him to return home again to explore his own roots. This was in the beginning of the 80s and Möller moved home to Sweden, to Dalarna where the master fiddle players were found. The next ten years were dedicated to traditional music, to learning the songs and getting to know the people behind them and, not least, to fight against the preconceived notion that they can only be played on the fiddle. Möller wanted to use his bouzouki and instead attempted to "translate" over to the instrument. But in order to succeed, the instrument needed to be modified, not only in a purely technical sense so as to be able to play the scales but also to find the right feeling and sound. In cooperation with various instrument makers, Möller has developed his own version of the mandola, an octave mandolin, with an extra base drone, movable "pin-point capos" and quarter-tone frets for microtonality.

Along with personalities such as Mats Edén in Groupa, Möller was a central figure in the search for new directions and new sounds in Swedish folk music during the 1980s. With regard to records, the decade saw the release of five albums with Filarfolket and several albums under his own name. He also collaborated on and produced numerous records, including vocalist Lena Willemark's first solo album (recently re-released in a remastered version, AMCD 722).

Improvisation is an important component in Möller's musicianship. He has often played with jazz musicians and improvisational folk musicians from different cultures. An important place for these meetings to take place was the world music group Enteli (1985-1995), made up of Möller, Willemark, jazz saxophonist Jonas Knutsson, keyboard player Johan Söderqvist and percussionist Bengt Berger. The same desire for introducing freedom and improvisation in a folk music context can also be said to characterize Möller and Willemark's two trend-setting and very successful albums on the international ECM label from the middle of the 1990s: Nordan and Agram. Among other things, Nordan won a number of awards including a Grammy here at home and the Deutsche Musikkritikerpreis in Germany.

There are clear, strong ties between the folk music arenas in Sweden and those in Norway, and Möller has been deeply involved in a number of key projects in Norway as well. The main examples of this are the more tradition-bound collaborations with Harding fiddler Gunnar Stubseid and singer Kirsten Bråten Berg. Bråten Berg's "Min Kvedarlund", which was painstakingly produced by Möller (who also played the majority of instruments), is a classic. The album was awarded a Norwegian Grammy.

In the trio Frifot, Möller and Willemark are joined by one of Sweden's most appreciated and respected master fiddle players, Per Gudmundson. The group holds a special place among the greats of the Swedish folk music scene. Since its formation in 1987, Frifot has been at the forefront of those active on the more tradition-oriented part of this scene. Extensive touring has also brought Frifot far beyond the borders of Sweden – most recently they paid their first visit to Japan in December 2003, and a new visit has been planned for the autumn of 2004. Frifot's latest album, "Sluring", was recently awarded the Manifest Prize (Manifestpriset) and has also been nominated for a Grammy.

Ale Möller's collaboration with Shetlandic fiddle legend Aly Bain has also received much deserved recognition. In 2001, they jointly released the CD, "Fully Rigged".