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Los Angeles Times, Concert Preview >>
Sweden isn't usually included on lists of world music hot spots, but the trio Väsen is rapidly raising the country's profile. The group has influenced a generation of progressive American string players with a textured blend of traditional terpsichorean melodies and beautiful original compositions. Väsen's recent surge of visibility in the U.S. is mostly due to an ongoing collaboration with renegade fiddler Darol Anger and mandolin wizard Mike Marshall, a lineup that makes its L.A. debut with a free show at the Skirball Cultural Center on Thursday.
Since their days as founding members of David Grisman's "dawg music" quintet, Marshall and Anger have worked extensively as a duo and launched several stylistically expansive ensembles. They were already familiar with Väsen's music before they first encountered violist Mikael Marin, 12-string guitarist Roger Tallroth and Olov Johansson on nyckelharpa, a traditional Swedish string instrument, several years ago at the Lotus Festival in Bloomington, Ind.
"We flipped out, finally understanding how they make this amazing music," Marshall says. "The guitar is tuned so low that Roger plays it as a hybrid. He's improvising bass lines like a jazz musician, reharmonizing the melodies. On the CDs it's hard to tell what they're doing."
In 2007, Marshall and Anger released an eponymous album with Väsen on Adventure Music. While Marshall often doubles melodic lines with Marin and Johansson, Anger provides extra propulsion with his "chopping," a percussive rhythmic technique he perfected with the jazz-infused Turtle Island String Quartet. "It's all dance music," Marshall says. The trio's influence has already permeated American fiddle camps, bluegrass festivals and string workshops.
"Now when you go to jam sessions people start playing Väsen tunes," Marshall says. "The stuff they write has this iconic and timeless quality. There isn't a show I play with those guys when I don't become completely unglued and can't believe what I'm hearing."
-Andy Gilbert 07/19/09 >> go there
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