Call in your reservations for our September 22 show with Väsen to 401-725-9272.
The musicians of Väsen take the traditional music of their native Sweden and blend it into a mixture of distinctive rhythms, gorgeous melodies, and unstoppable grooves. Mikail Marin plays viola, Roger Tallroth plays 12-string guitar, and Olov Johansson plays nykelharpa – a bowed, 16-string instrument related to both the hurdy-gurdy and the fiddle and unique to Sweden. In 1990, Olov became world champion of both the modern chromatic and older historical nyckelharpas at the first-ever Nyckelharpa World Championships at Österbybruk, Sweden. The trio has been performing and recording together ever since. On their return to Blackstone River Theatre they will be celebrating their 30th anniversary!
Väsen is a band people both critics and audiences rave about – mere praise doesn’t seem to be enough. According to the Utne Reader, the band “treads an enchanted territory between classical, folk, and pop.” National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” put it this way: “The absurdly broad term world music is rendered useless in the face of these musicians who play with such genuine passion and glee that everything on the globe seems to disappear except their hometown fires. This is local music in the best sense of the term – believable, human-scaled, and fluent in the international language of musical interplay.” The word väsen has several meanings – spirit, essence, noise. This talented Swedish trio conveys the essence of Swedish traditional music with a joyful noise that is very likely to raise your spirits!
*All ticket prices include a $1.00 per ticket restoration charge
