Last year ten years had passed since the incomparable musician genius and friend Kjell Westling passed. We wanted to honor his memory by having a big party for him – for his friends, colleagues and everybody else that misses him but then the pandemic hit us. Now, things are slowly easing up and we hope to have the party at Fasching at 3 p.m. on Sunday November 21.
But before that two radio shows about Kjell are broadcasted on Swedish National Radio on September 4 and 11. Catch them at https://sverigesradio.se/…/musikmagasinet-kjell…
And before that a book about him, Kjell Westling och Musiken is published with tales by a lot of friends and colleagues. It will be released at Rönells on September 18th with quite a few of us talking and playing.
In our teens me and some friends used to gather in the spring to do parades and play at parties during school graduations, mostly dixieland music. There I met Kjell Westling who was famous for being able to play any instrument, sometimes he would go into a music shop on the way to the gig and by a cheap used instrument which he then used that night, it could be anything. He and I got along nicely playing games with the music (play anything in 7/8 or try to put a quote from another piece anywhere in whatever tune was being played etc. When I got interested in Hindustani music he took the bands (or whatever they are called) off a mandola so he could slide on it when we were copying Ali Akbar and Chatur Lal during our daily sessions at his or my home. We played A LOT together.
In 1969 we were asked to join Arbete & Fritid and played together with Roland. From then on we have been playing off and on together, the three of us or any two of us, on a number of occasions until Kjell left this world in 2010, and then, on the eve of January 25, 2019 Roland Keijser peacefully stopped breathing after some months of illness. Our loss is immense.
Here is a newly found video of Roland and Kjell Westling improvising together at ISKRA‘s 20 year celebration at Fasching in Stockholm. They improvise around Tenderly, Halling from Gudbrandsdalen, How Much is that Doggie in the Window och Changs Polska:
Here are som photos from a duo concert that Roland and I did in Gerlesborg.
