Livet I Finnskogarna -- Mandolin

Livet I Finnskogarna (English translation: Life in the Finnish Woods) is a famous Swedish accordion piece and seems to be a Swedish song written perhaps about a vacation in a Finnish forest? This is something a little different for me on YouTube.

But in addition, to Celtic music I also like to listen to Scandinavian music especially fiddle tunes from that part of the world and they are great fun to play on the mandolin as well. Of course, many of those fiddle (and accordion) melodies are dance tunes as well.

Livet I Finnskogarna is obviously a waltz -- and its interesting because it has three parts. It is unsymmetrical however. The first time through each part is played 2 times (i.e., a a b b c c)-- but on the second round it is a different pattern (i.e., a b c c a). So it might sound a bit confusing -- at least it was to learn!

It was written by the famous Swedish accordion player and composer, Carl Jularbo. I learned this tune as well as a number of other Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish dance tunes off a great LP recording project from the 1980s entitled Scandinavian-American Folk Dance Music which was produced by the fine Minnesota Scandinavian Ensemble who are based in St. Paul. I am playing along with a digitized version of their version of the tune here -- I probably could have increased the volume of the recording a bit. Also for the accordion players I realize now that I am not in the standard key for the song. I did not realize that until recently as I just used the same key as the Minnesota group's record.

It is played on a 1920 Gibson F-2 mandolin with GHS silk-bronze strings and a Wegen TF-140 pick.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Livet
• Finnskogarna
• Mandolin
• Swedish
• fiddle
• tune
• Finnish
• Scandiavian
• waltz
• Gibson

[BulowWilliam]

Fantastic! Mostly you hear this tune on the accordian or the fiddle. However, the swedish tunes sound equally great on the mandolin. Good job! Greatings from Sweden!

[Mandolin1944]

@BulowWilliam Thanks for the kind remarks. I had not looked at this video for a while and now see it is a bit rough but it is indeed a great song to play. Thanks for the visit!

[onewomanandsomesongs]

Man, I wish I could play the mandolin like this....great job again. :) Guess I'll just settle for my uke, hehe.  You got a great collection of t-shirts, btw.

Janet

[Mandolin1944]

@onewomanandsomesongs Thank you so much for the comments. What did we do before YouTube? (<:

[isabellanakahara]

@doccalley - Yeah, I loved the tone it had. It was a shame. Oh well...

How did you come across yours?

[doccalley]

@isabellanakahara I hate to hear about vintage instruments being stolen. Those old Martin mandolins were nice for some kinds of music --they were flat tops instead of arched. They have a lot of sustain so they are ideal for "sing along" instruments.

[doccalley]

Pretty cool! I really like polkas and other folk dances! They sound good on the mandolin -- I guess that's not too surprising because a lot of polka bands carry a tenor banjo -- anyway this is a great tune. But you can't beat those northern folks for a polka eh?

[Mandolin1944]

@5041carol -- weird carol, I wrote a response to your note and its nowhere?

[Mandolin1944]

@5041carol The "Jenny Lind" polka was written to honor the (Ms. Lind -- aka the Swedish nightingale) who toured the USA under the sponsorship of JP Barnum in the 1800's. It has four parts. In the USA we use the A and B part for the "Heel and Toe" polka. IMO the song predates and has no relation to the fiddle tune Jenny Lin -- though some have claimed there is. BTW history seems to indicate that Ms. Jenny Lind was a wonderful human being who gave most of her wealth from singing to the poor.

[isabellanakahara]

@Mandolin1944 - Hey my dad had (unfortunately, "had"-it was stolen) an old oval hole Martin Mandolin probably from the 40's ? or 50's?... It was a really neat mandolin. Yours has that really rich, deep mellow sound that I just love.