Väsen and the nyckelharpa

[Lucinda DeWitt]

This afternoon I stumbled upon a video of the Swedish folk group Väsen performing at the Cedar Cultural Center in 2008. The trio consisted of a viola, guitar, and "nyckelharpa"--a bowed AND keyed string instrument. According to Wikipedia, "it is a string instrument or chordophone. Its keys are attached to tangents which, when a key is depressed, serve as frets to change the pitch of the string." (you can see one at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyckelharpa)

I was fascinated and want to learn more.
Anyone who knows this group and/or more about nyckelharpas, please let me know.

BTW, the video of the CCC performance was on one of the local public access channels. It is viewable online at:
http://www.mtn.org/Video/community/shows/2009/nordicroots08e.html

Thanks! Lucinda

[Yolanda Y. Williams]

The nycklharopa sounds like a type of hurdy gurdy. These instruments were quite popular in early western art music and fell out of favor with the standardization of instruments and instrumentation. Musicians were far more creative with the instruments available. Consider the fact that the saxophone wasn't even invented until the 1800's. Did you get a change to see them live?