PORT TOWNSEND — A popular band of master Nordic musicians, a fiddle trio from Norway, Sweden and the Shetland Islands, will make its first appearance in Port Townsend at 7 p.m. Sunday.
Tickets are $22 for general admission and $14 for youth for the concert at the Quaker Port Townsend Friends Meetinghouse, 1841 Sheridan St.
They’ll be available at the door and in advance at https://www.brownpaper tickets.com/event/3355296.
Clever arrangements
Known for clever arrangements, using the fiddles to create bass lines and riffs, the trio leaves the listener wondering how three fiddles can generate such amazing sound, organizers said.
Performing together as the Nordic Fiddlers Bloc, Olav Luksengård Mjelva (Norway), Anders Hall (Sweden) and Kevin Henderson (Shetland Islands) weave their respective traditions together to form a fresh sound, according to a news release.
The musicians augment the familiar fiddle with the sound of viola, octave fiddle and the ornate and unusual hardanger fiddle.
To date, the Nordic Fiddlers Bloc has toured not only in the Nordic countries but also the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Ireland and across mainland Europe. In 2016, the band released its second album, “Deliverance,” the followup to its debut album released in September 2011.
Mjelva is no stranger to the Northwest. He has performed and taught in the Pacific Northwest multiple times.
Beginning to play the fiddle as a child, Mjelva later branched out to play the hardingfele, which he uses in the trio.
A member of multiple groups, Mjelva has received the Spelemannsprisen, the Norwegian equivalent of a Grammy, for his debut solo album, and was the Norwegian Folk Musician of the Year in 2013.
Shetland’s finest
Henderson is regarded as one of Shetland’s finest fiddle players, organizers said. He began playing at the age of 9 and a year later was studying with Willie Hunter, perhaps Shetland’s finest fiddler of our time.
He is a founding member of the powerhouse Shetland band Fiddlers Bid, and is a member of the legendary Boys of Lough.
Hall is from Hälsingland, Sweden. He is multi-instrumentalist, playing fiddle, viola and hardanger fiddle.
Not only is he well versed in Swedish traditional music, but he also studied at the famed Ole Bull Academy in Voss, Norway. As a result, he is also well versed in Norwegian traditions.
