Playing for Open Hearts

My dear friend and fellow fiddler Ruth joined me to play at the funeral service for the mother of a friend of a friend a few weeks ago. Ruth has a open stout heart I trust, and I love her harmonies.

We could see the spire of the old country church above the July tall cornfields south of Minneapolis. A rainstorm had gone through the night before and washed everything fresh, making the air moist. Everything green seemed to be breathing deep breaths.

It was an honor to be in the presence of the dignity and deep feeling as the minister led the service outside at graveside, and family members spoke to their memories of their beloved mother, aunt and mother-in-law.

We started the service with three Swedish folk tunes as people were settling into chairs that had been set up on the grass. Their mother was Swedish, and her family members had farmed nearby and were some of the founders of the church.

I ventured a poignant Finnish funeral march I love at a moment in the middle of the service, and then Ruth and I finished up with a florid Swedish tune, the harmonies twining around each other.

Then, we went ahead, down to the church basement, and played another set of folk tunes in front of the piano as family and friends came down for the lunch that was prepared.

Afterward, the son who asked us to be there said we were “the glue that held it all together.” Another man came up to us at the lunch and said our playing and the setting reminded him of the film, Sweet Land. If you haven't seen this film, you are in for a real treat. It is a beloved first feature from Minnesota director Ali Selim. I've seen it three times and I'd go back again.

Again, it was an utter honor to be in the presence of such dignity and tenderness, and to serve at these moments of family transition and meaning. For the musician, it is a treat to play for the love of the music to such tender hearts.

Little Woman on the Run and Other Fragments of the Gone World

Chrissie Mahaffy – Folk Fiddles – Hearsay – Dance

Saturday, March 27^th, 8pm, Twin Cities Friends Meeting, 1725 Grand Avenue, Saint Paul, suggested contribution: $12 adults, $6 children

I think you’ll enjoy this evening of stories, hearsay, folk fiddles and dance at one of the Twin Cities favorite and intimate performance arts venues.

• Chrissie Mahaffy is a charming autodidact who is writing a book about her adventures with children in her home daycare (my daughters attended), Greenspoon, in Uptown Minneapolis. She has great stories about children, their dramas, foibles and culture, and is a pleasure to listen to.

• Some of the best fiddlers from the American Swedish Institute Spelmanslag (http://www.asispelmanslag.org/) will be playing. If you’ve never heard flat-out folk fiddling like this, with the harmonies and chording, you’re in for a treat. This is a living tradition, passed down from family members, from Rattvik, Sweden. Fiddlers planning to appear include Daniel Dahlin, Bruce Johnson, Jennifer Olsen Loayza, Kristen Ottoson Niehaus and Jamie Harris.

• All the music played is dance music. Gifted folk dancers Mary Hegge and Craig Johnson will model Scandinavian dances and invite us to participate. Mary is also a fiddler and Artistic Director of the ASI Spelmanslag. Craig is active in the local Scandinavian folk dance scene.

• I will contribute hearsay, and the feature story, "Little Woman..." which is about a troubling encounter I had a few years ago.

• In addition, I will explore a few small bits of folk culture that I think have compelling social and psychological relevance (the "Fragments of the Gone World"), and that might represent what poet Derek Walcott called, in his 1992 Nobel Prize acceptance speech, “fragments of epic memory.”

Come prepared to have a good time. I look forward to seeing you!

 (Photo above © Victor Medina of his dog, Flaco -- thank you, Victor!)

–      Stofer