Harv

Arv Sweedish Folk Duo Must Traditional Image

For a young band, Harv has a long history. The Swedish folk duo of Magnus Stinnerbom and Daniel Sanden-Warg, both of whom play fiddles, might only be in their early 20s, but they musical past has plenty of depth, as their playing on Must (Northside) shows very clearly.

"We've been together eight years," recalled Stinnerbom. "We were 15 when we are began. Actually, we began a year earlier, but back then we played Jimi Hendrix. Daniel played guitar and I played drums."

Traditional folk music wasn't something that exploded on them. For Stinnerbom, it had been around all his life, since "my father is a musician (and a former member of pioneering Swedish folk band Groupa), and plays folk music, so I've heard the music over and over again. I love it, I always have. But when you're 14, you want to do something different."

It wasn't long before Stinnerbom realized that his heart belong to traditional music, however, and he tired to convert his partner.

"Back then we played Jimi Hendrix. Daniel played guitar and I played drums."

"I finally played folk music for Daniel, and he fell in love with it, and that gave me a security," he recalled. "Suddenly, you can say, ‘We're going to show everybody. We're going to take over the world!'"

The first performance of the new Harv, which translates as harrow or plough, came in 1996, when they provided the music for a production of Hamlet, and their first CD appeared a year later, "just the two of us, and it was just tunes from our part of Sweden, our chance to show people where we're from, and explore on our tradition. Then we could build on that."

Build on it they did with Must. As well as fiddles, the pair include willow flute, jew's harp, moraharpa (a type of nyckelharpa), and viola d'amore in their instrumental arsenal, giving them plenty of texture and color. Add to that guest appearances by Vasen's Roger Tallroth and Hedningarna's Bjorn Tollin and you have a band that's stretching its wings, not only playing traditional pieces, but also original material, like Stinnerbom's "Kvartetten."

Stinnerbom, who is also a member of Hedningarna, finds nothing unusual in the idea of two young guys, as far from the old image of folk music as possible, making these kinds of sounds; if anything, he believes, it's an inspiration.

"You get two young guys onstage in fashionable clothes and attitude. We're very secure and I think it shows. People our age see we're not old folkies in dirty clothes. We're like them and playing this music, and it has energy, and they can relate to it."

Harv

"Back then we played Jimi Hendrix. Daniel played guitar and I played drums."

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