Sofia Joons, Emma Härdelin and Meelika Hainsoo, with Toivo Sömer and Janne Strömstedt
Strand Rand
Folk songs from the west coast of Estonia
$16.99

Listen (MP3 samples):
"Look after your house" (Sofia)
"Wedding in Kana" (Emma and Janne)
"Oh, my ship" (Sofia and Toivo)
"Christmas Day" (Meelika)

Full text printed in Estonian and English

The musicians:

• Sofia Joons comes from southern Sweden. She has studied swedish fiddle tradition in Västergötland, Malung and Härnosand. As her fathers family had fled from Soviet occupied Estonia in 1944, she came to visit Estonia at the beginning of 90-s and decided to stay for a while. She has been teaching and studying trad. music at Viljandi Cultural College and lately graduated from the Department of Sociology at the Estonian Institute of Humanities. As a fiddler, singer and teacher, she has brought Swedish traditional music a lot closer to Estonia while rediscovering ancient Estonian coastal Swedish culture has helped her a lot in defining her identity and position in Estonia today. Sofia plays bowed harp and fiddle
• Meelika Hainsoo (vocals, fiddle) is a young singer and fiddler from Põlva, South-Estonia.
• Emma Härdelin (vocals, fiddle) is the daughter of the celebrated Swedish traditional fiddler Thore Härdelin and plays in a number of ensembles including Triakel and the rock group Garmarna.

• Toivo Sõmer comes from South Estonia, studied classical guitar at Tartu College of Music, Estonia, and has a background in folk music, rock & jazz.
• Janne Strömstedt (harmonium pump organ) was born and raised in Östersund, Sweden and is also a member of Triakel.

see also: Chorales and Wedding Music from Runö

More about the music
In the spring of 2001, organizing a series of traditional music concerts called "The Golden Swedish Time", there turned up an idea to record a CD of Estonian Swedish songs. Sofia Joons presented the main concept, Emma Härdelin (Triakel, Garmarna), a young Swedish singer and fiddle player already known to the world, consented to join, Meelika Hainsoo introduces the tunes of the Estonian villages of the same region and there are some other musicians involved. The interest towards the cultural heritage of Estonian Swedes is growing both in Estonia and Sweden. Several well-known Swedish musicians have introduced some of these tunes in their concerts and on CDs, including Triakel and Frifot who performed in Estonia during the series of concerts "The Golden Swedish Time".

Sofia Joons, who has returned from Sweden to the land of her grandparents - Estonia, and is partially an Estonian Swede herself, has dealt with this tradition for several years now.

Estonian coastal-swedish tradition might be of interest both eastwards and westwards, introducing that part of the Estonian cultural heritage which on one hand stresses the ancient relations with the nordic countries, on the other hand Estonia' s openness to different cultures. Swedish participation relates us to the growing wave of interest towards the nordic ethno music, closely following the celtic wave, and helps to place the Estonian tradition into the same context. Bowed harp

Bowed harp (stråkharpa/talharpa), an important musical instrument for Estonian Swedes and also familiar to the Estonian players, was picked by Sofia as a suitable vehicle to wander into a "lost" world and discover it. A low "imperfect" hoarse timbre, similar to the human voice, is charming in dance tunes and extremely suitable for accompanying one's own singing as a "second voice". Estonia was probably the last place on earth where this formerly widely used archaic instrument was traditionally built and played. In some places in coastal Swedish area it was taken as an ordinary skill.

Estonian coastal Swedes

Swedish settlements along the coastline and on western isles existed for more than 700 years. These were not Swedish colonies but culturally and administatively rather independent communities with rich traditions, folklore, conservative lifestile and different dialects. The people, who considered Estonia to be their homeland, were just beginning to build up a common identity in the 1930 -s, when Soviet occupation brutally confiscated their homes and lands and most of the people fled overseas. There is a good historical and ethnographic presentation of that culture in the museum in Haapsalu.

"...the songs float in a beautiful, sharp-edged aesthetic haze of isolation... Stand...Rand is a beautiful album, pristine and austere, gray weathered buildings on a forested shore." Judtih Gennet, RootsWorld (Read the full review)

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