LIVE ENTERTAINMENT
Revel in the eclectic mix of entertainment, featuring traditional dances and lively music that capture the spirit of Nordic culture across the Pacific Northwest. Friday evening sets the stage for music and dancing near a blazing bonfire, while Saturday showcases the traditional Midsummer pole raising.
FRIDAY SCHEDULE
5 PM
Doors
5:30 PM
Nye Algen
Dance lesson
7 PM
Dan Schlesinger
Euphonium and more
8 PM
Joseph Linahon
Viking ballads
9 PM
End
SATURDAY SCHEDULE
10 AM
Vasa Rosebuds
Dance group
11 AM
Tulehoidjad "Torch Bearers"
Estonian dance
12 PM
Portland Nordic Chorus
1 PM
Midsummer Pole Ceremony with David Elliker-Vagsberg and Vasa Rosebuds, Tug of War
2 PM
Fossegrimen
Traditional music
3 PM
Granstrom, Rogers and Admund
Songs from Sweden and Oregon
4 PM
Nye Algen
Traditional Norweigan and Swedish folk music
5 PM
End
Nye Älgen "The New Moose"
At the core, Nye Älgen is Dave Weisel on accordion and Kim Majors on fiddle. They have been playing Nordic folk dance music for decades and dancing longer. Dave and Kim decided to collaborate musically, they have friends join them frequently - this time it is Michelle Majors adding another fiddle. You can catch them playing regularly for the Nordic social folk dance group, Norske Rundansere, most Monday nights at the Nordic Northwest Nordia House.
Hapsala
The folk dance band called Hapsala has played for Scandinavian dances throughout Oregon for many years. We have often played for dance events at Nordia House, Camp Menucha, Midsommars, weddings, and other special events.
Our members are Liina and Erik Teose on accordion and guitar, Wendy Temko on fiddle, Fran Tewksbury on wind instruments, Ellen Hansen on fiddle, and Denis Wilkinson on fiddle, clarinet, and recorder. Liina Teose has received awards internationally in folk dance instruction, and leads a local Estonian dance group. Several of our members are also dancers in Norske Runddansere, the Scandinavian dance group which meets every Monday night at Nordia House.
We specialize in the old and new dance music from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Estonia and Ireland. We bring lively, varied tunes to the dance community in Portland. We invite you to join us today, and experience the pleasure and good cheer that Scandinavian dancing has brought to generations of people from the North Country. We will have a special guest dance instructor, Joan Bennett, who will invite you to join us on the stage for some easy group dances. Come join us for the fun!
Vasa Youth Group
Currently under the direction of Christine Smith. Vasa Rosebuds have routinely performed and led majstång dancing at Midsummer celebrations in Portland and Astoria. Within the past 5 years, they’ve traveled internationally to dance and participate in Midsummer celebrations in Sweden and Canada. In December they were featured at Nordic Northwest's ScanFair in Portland with a dance performance and a Lucia pageant. Additionally, they have performed many times at the Junction City Scandinavian Festival, participated yearly in the Junior Rose Festival Parade, and danced at many other local multicultural celebrations. They also performed at the Grand Opening of IKEA in Portland.
Tulehoidjad
Estonian folk dancing
Tulehoidjad "Torch Bearers" is the Estonian folk dance group of Portland, Oregon. Formed in 1950, Tulehoidjad has taught Estonian folk dances to the four generations of Estonian immigrants and many American friends. Keeping Estonian traditions alive and teaching Americans about Estonian folk dance are the primary aims of Tulehoidjad folk dancers.
Granstrom, Rogers and Admund
Granstrom, Rogers & Admund is a trio consisting of Jimmy Granstrom, Brent Rogers and Gunilla Admund. Jimmy is a songwriter who has had his songs played on the radio in at least a dozen countries on five continents. Together with Thomas Karlsson, he forms the songwriting duo Project Earthbridge (www.projectearthbridge.com), which have had their songs “Alicia” and “Made Of Stars” in rotation on the major Swedish regional radio station P4 Sörmland. Their most recent single “United We Stand As One” has been played on the radio from Sweden and France to California, Peru and Australia. Most recently, Jimmy co-wrote the song “Only Summer” by Green & Granstrom. Within a week of its release, the song had been played on the radio in seven countries on three continents. Brent is a professional musician, producer, audio engineer and songwriter who has worked with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London and recorded and released songs with the likes of Tim Gorman of “The Who” (www.brentrogers.com). Gunilla has previously performed with Jimmy and Brent at Midsummer and Scanfair in 2018 and 2019. At this year’s Midsummer celebration, Jimmy will provide spoken introductions and lyrical excerpts while Brent and Gunilla will sing a variety of original songs co-written by Brent and/or Jimmy, including Jimmy’s English translations of Swedish songs by both million-selling songwriters as well as up and coming artists.
Portland Nordic Chorus
Portland Nodic Chorus is a mixed community chorus celebrating their friendship and common interest in Nordic Culture and Music by rehearsing and performing music with a Scandinavian connection. They sing primarily in Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish, and English.
Dan Schlesinger
A contemporary approach to the traditional music, Dan will be performing Scandinavian folk tunes on euphonium with accompaniment. He plays a variety of styles of music, including jazz and classical, on euphonium & trombone. When the onset of the pandemic prevented musicians from performing alongside one another, Dan developed a "one man band" approach where he performs live as a single solo brass musician accompanied by backing tracks that creates a sound like an ensemble of instruments.
Joseph Linahon
Weaving together song and story, Oregon folk musician Joseph Linahon delivers a performance teeming with lore and melody. Join us to witness traditionally styled music, calling back to a time when the mysteries of our world and riches untold spurred on fearless adventurers! Learn of lessons long since written and stories long since told in what promises to be a lively performance from a rising artist in the North West folk scene.
Fossegrimen
Fossegrimen, the Eugene-based 5-member folk dance group, is named for a Scandinavian waterfall-dwelling folk creature that teaches people how to play the fiddle. The band plays a variety of Nordic traditional melodies, folk tunes which have been transmitted through the years from musician to musician. Fossegrimen plays both gammaldans (literally 19th-century Nordic “old dances" such as vals, schottis/reinlender, masurka and polkas) and bygdedans (Norwegian village dances such as springars, gangars, polskar, and polsdans) as well as set dances and mixers known as runddansere or turdans.
While most of the songs on Fossegrimen’s album "Vals til Claire" (2008) are from the 1700s and 1800s, the title track is an original written by David for Claire Elliker-Vågsberg. Fossegrimen provides the music for Scandinavian folk dances, weddings, festivals, and fairs. The group, which includes leaders David and Claire Elliker-Vågsberg; their son, Kurt Elliker (fiddle), Brian Wood (guitar and nyckelharpa), and Carson Krause (bass), wear bunader (traditional Norwegian folk outfits) for special occasions. David Elliker-Vågsberg studied violin and also learned to play the hardanger fiddle while he was in college. He also performs on fiddle and the nyckelharpa, as does Claire Elliker-Vågsberg. The hardanger fiddle, which originated in 16th-century Norway, has four top strings and four to five sympathetic strings and is tuned higher than a violin. The nyckelharpa, literally a “key harp” of 14th-century Swedish ancestry, is a bowed string instrument. It has 4 top strings played with a bow, 12 sympathetic strings, and a set of horizontal “keys” on the neck that the player depresses to fret the strings and change the notes. In 2003, Oregon Public Broadcasting's "Oregon Arts Beat" featured Fossegrimen on a program. Claire and David have traveled to Norway since 2015 to compete in a National contest known as Landsfestivalen i gammaldansmusikk as members of a fiddle group called Naustedalen Spelemannslag. The Landsfestivalen is a festival for which as many as 500 fiddlers and dancers of all ages compete.