Per Gudmundson & Bengan Janson
Hjeltamôs won a Swedish Grammy in 2019
Two of the major voices on the Swedish folk music scene
Two of the major voices on the Swedish folk music scene today have released their first duo album on Country & Eastern at the Ransäter Festival on June 8, 2018. The album is called “Hjeltamôs”
Says Per and Bengan:
“The music we play is traditional music in which every performance builds on a long chain of historically-transmitted knowledge. The roots of the music are found in Sweden’s peasant society, in the music of the summer pastures, baroque music and church music. It offers fantastic openings for us to create something new by fusing history with our own musical identity – which has been formed by music that has left a lasting impression on us – and the world around us today. This fusion need not be dramatic – the music thrives on subtlety. In Sweden we often look upon the tradition as something static and museal. Yes – it can be, if we lock it up and throw away the key. Nothing could be more wrong!”
Folk music has been a corner stone
of Bengan’s music-making since first he met Björn Ståbi in 1989. Björn also helped Bengan and Per to get in touch with one another around a year later.
With his fiddle and his Swedish bagpipe, Per has a long and winding musical road behind him as a member of Frifot and together with Björn and other musicians. Our musical identity spans from jazz, world music and classical music to the rich springs of the music of Rättvik and Orsa.
