My life and musicianship

Hi folks!

I am a 29-year old musician violinist from Sweden who just discovered Steemit through a good friend in the crypto-djungle. It sure sounds like an amazing new platform with a lot of potential that I can only begin to imagine - I’m excited to see where it will all go, so I thought I’d jump in on the train and try contribute something of my own!

So what I do for a living is I play the violin. And by ‘doing for a living’, I really mean it in the wider aspect - music is my way of living, too. I am not based anywhere at the moment; I travel to places I like and places I have concerts or other work (at the moment I am in Slovenia, mentoring at an international folk music camp - see http://www.ethno-world.org).

Genre-wise, I am a bit of a chameleon - an educated baroque violinist (classical music) from the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, I regularly perform with various baroque orchestras across Europe. I am also a folk musician specialising in Swedish folk, English/Celtic folk (which I also studied at Newcastle University, England), Balkan folk, and French ‘balfolk’. I play with ensembles including genre-wide Slovenian Symbolic Orchestra, French-style folk trio Triette, country-rock band Fed Horses, and my own line-up Ida and Other Bears, who present a wide range of folk music from across Europe in modern arrangement.
I also do a lot of improvisational music, and love to experiment with new things and concepts. ‘Genre’, is a term which is useful in helping us getting a reference point when addressing music - but it should never be allowed to restrict us in our imagination. To illustrate:
A normal weekend for me can consist of giving a workshop in folk music with youngsters on Friday, a gig in a rock club with a band on Saturday, and a Mozart mass in a church on Sunday. And that is just how I like it to be.

One of my absolute favourite things on earth, is meeting with musicians from different places and jam together. We might not know each other from before and might not even have a spoken language in common - but the music communicates all (well, most) of what needs to be said! Imagine a youngish swede like me, used to modern city life, meeting with an older person from rural Serbia; having almost nothing in common in terms of life circumstances, language, culture, experiences; there really seems to be almost like a wall of difference in between us that hinder most interaction - until I shakingly dare to take up a local ‘kolo’ (dance tune). Wow - the lighting up in their eyes at that moment! From then on it’s just easy!
It’s truly an incredible thing, this gift called Music, and the bridges it builds straight from one soul to another.

Here, finally, are some links to my music! Hope you’ll enjoy!

‘Den trasiga rocken’ - Swedish megafolk

'Tiskens klagan' - Swedish pop-it-up-folk

'Turkish march' Lully - French super baroque

Aurora Bachealis, concert w folk and baroque music mixed

'Doina/Ziganski Stakato', balkan folk party!!!

Enjoy folks, and see you around!

Ida Meidell Blylod