Aug 7 - Almost forgot a most interesting evening
Back to the evening of August 7th as I realized I never talked about the fantastic Music Festival in Orsa (a town about an hour from Rattvik). Krister and Sasa had never been, but had always wanted to go. What an evening - singing and listening to Swedish folk music.
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| Everyone lined up in the streets to march to the small town square. |
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| Young and old alike came carrying any instrument they could play. |
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| Sure...play a string bass sideways - why not? |
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| Some even dressed up for the occasion with no instrument to play. |
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| This character is a "one-man-band" |
We passed a fun restaurant on the street with the most gorgeous flower garden in front. The city of Orsa is connected with one of Sweden's largest lakes -Siljan - through a southern water passage. The town is quite small, but the food is good and everyone came here this evening for what they are famous for - the annual folk festival which happens once every year in August.
We saw a lot of characters in the street, some musicians, some not. Some were just crazy specatators like Krister and Rich.
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| Instruments were big or small - it didn't matter. Some carried just a little shaker. |
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| Note the buttons down his guitar strap - you get a button each year you register and participate. |
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| This guy must have had three dozen pins - WOW...when did this thing first start? |
After the initial parade of musicians marching and playing, different groups scattered throughout the town to jam. They congregated in the streets, at the park, in bars, in music stores, you name it. We went from place to place to enjoy the bluegrass, folk, rock, fiddling, and so many fun styles of music.
This guy was so cute. He owned a restaurant catering business, but was most well-known because he played the voice and was the inspiration for
"The Muppet Show's" Swedish Chef.
He was such a hoot and made everyone go crazy with laughter.
Of course, I had to go up and meet this celebrity and get a hug from him. Meet Svenska Kocken.
It started to rain, so we went into a restaurant and there were about 20 fiddlers playing in a circle. They played for a couple of hours - different folk tunes from various regions. Sasa knew each one of the tunes and where it originated. It was interesting how one would start up, then another would join in, and finally everyone would begin playing the tune. No music was needed.
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| These two were the BEST - so competent on their fiddles. |
Time to go to the back room of the local music store and take a little shot of tequila - YUK! I guess you put salt on you hand, lick it, then down the shot glass of tequila.
CrAZy WiERd
FUnnY
SilLy
NO - Rich & I didn't try this - we just watched.
Time to eat - we were all starving after all this music.
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| Looks good - Sasa had this fish and vegetables and fries |
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| Rich and I shared a Turkish pizza with sausage, peppers on a white sauce - quite good |
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| One last dueling duo - they were amazing |
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| Sasa and I had a great evening and it was good that she finally got to get away from all her work. |
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