|
Nisswa stamman festival goers at last years concert.
|
|
What started as a small Scandinavian folk music festival featuring Minnesota musicians has grown to include international groups and the Swedish ambassador to the United States this year.
Nisswa-stamman will mark its 10th anniversary Friday and Saturday, June 12 and 13, with workshops and concerts involving more than 150 traditional performers from Scandinavian countries and the United States.
"It's a pretty unique event," said Paul Wilson, a rural Brainerd musician who came up with the idea for the st確man and has organized it ever since.
Four featured Scandinavian musical groups will help celebrate the 10th anniversary of Nisswa-stamman, one each from Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway. The musical trio returning from Sweden was the first international group to perform at the st確man, when it was in its second year.
Music workshops also will highlight the 10th anniversary of the st確man, with 14 workshops planned for musicians.
And Jonas Hafstrom, the Swedish ambassador to the United States, will attend with his 16-year-old son and a representative from the Swedish American Institute in Minneapolis
"I think that's quite an honor. For him to come all this way is pretty neat," said Lee Anderson, a Nisswa resident who was instrumental in getting the first st確man off the ground.
Wilson and his wife, Mary Abendroth, perform with Sk畦 Klubb, a large fiddling folk orchestra, and Sk畦musik, a smaller group. They had traveled to Sweden and Norway and saw how the popular music festivals were run.
"We had been playing Scandinavian folk music for quite awhile before I decided to get crazy and do this," Wilson said of the st確man. "I already had a nice network of musicians who I knew would do it."
And he knew the Nisswa Pioneer Village grounds would be the perfect setting amongst the Norway pines.
"This is the kind of place where they usually hold these fiddlers gatherings," Wilson said. "I just looked at it (Pioneer Village) and said, 'This is perfect.'"
Anderson owns the Nisswa Area Historical Society property and was all for Wilson's idea for a festival.
"He's a Swedish American and interested in his heritage, so I pitched the idea to him in an e-mail and he said, 'This sounds like a great idea,'" Wilson said, noting the Nisswa Area Historical Society also is instrumental in the st確man's continued success.
The festival has grown from Minnesota musicians performing on a main stage and in a little tent to encompassing all of the historical society grounds and other area venues, including a Nisswa church, the American Legion and area homes.
"The first year was amazing. There was such a good turnout right away and everybody loved it," Wilson said.
Anderson had the idea to invite a Scandinavian music group to Nisswa the second year of the festival. Since then, other Scandinavian musicians have heard about the st確man and have attended.
"Word of it is growing over there, too," Wilson said. "Every year we've been able to showcase two or three groups from Scandinavia."
But the idea behind the st確man remains for it to be a venue for Minnesota musicians.
Wilson credits Anderson and Stewart Mills as major sponsors responsible for the st確man's continued success. He also appreciates a committee of people who are instrumental in helping organize the festival each year.
Nisswa-stamman schedule
Nisswa-stamman schedule
Friday, June 12
･ Instrument and dance workshops at various locations.
･ Concert at 7 p.m. at Lutheran Church of the Cross in Nisswa, $15 for adults and $5 for kids 12 and under at the door only.
･ Dance at 9 p.m. at the Nisswa American Legion, $5 or free to concert goers.
Saturday, June 13
･ Fiddlers parade at 10 a.m. in downtown Nisswa, ending at the Nisswa Pioneer Village.
･ Festival starts at 10:15 a.m. at the Nisswa Pioneer Village, $10 for adults, $1 for kids ages 5-15 and free for kids under age 5. The festival will feature folk music all day on five stages, all-day dancing next to the main stage, dance workshops in the dance barn, ethnic foods, childrenﾕs tent with daylong activities and jamming folk musicians wandering the grounds.
･ Smorgasbord from 4:30 to 7 p.m. at the Nisswa Community Center, $15.
･ Dance at 7 p.m. at the Nisswa American Legion, $5 or free to festival goers.
