the ODÉN FAMILY

This all-musician family comes from Sörmland in Sweden. They play the old Swedish folkmusic in a traditional way with special emphasis on dance rhythms. The members are: wife, Lena Odén, fiddle/vocals, husband Christer Odén, fiddle/accordion and 17 year old daughter Agnes, nyckelharpa/fiddle. A couple of years back Lena and Christer released their first self-produced CD together with their friend Ola Brostam on nyckelharpa Ola is not with them on this journey but their 15 year old son Stefan is (as a photographer, he´s into rock himself).

The heart and soul of the Odén family is the native folkmusic of nothern Sörmland, especially the tunes from Fogdön outside Strängnäs. Typical rhythms of this region are "slängpolskas", "hamburskas" and waltzes, which they perform in spirited renditions at local village gatherings and dancehalls. Also, if requested, or if the spirit moves them, they can play polskas, shottishes, mazurkas and polkas from Dalarna and many other places in Sweden. They have performed in the dance halls of Stockholm and all over Sweden, but none of this means as much to them as performing in their home district, there they truly feel their purpose, giving courses, researching tunes, and keeping the traditions alive.

Both Lena and Christer are more or less self taught musicians and became hooked on folkmusic in their early 20's. Their civilian work is within healthcare and church respectivley but music is taking a great deal of their time. Lena received the bronse medal from the Zorn foundation two years back and another diploma in 2002. Their daughter Agnes was thrilled to earn her first diploma the same year. She is now attending the folk music gymnasium in Rättvik playing both nyckelharpa and fiddle. Christer won the silver Zorn medal some years ago. This bestows upon him the title of "riksspelman" or fiddler of the realm. He loves to dig into dusty archives for the old tunes that no one has ever heard of.....it's his specialty!

the Odéns can be reached at christer.oden@swipnet.se

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