Multe profile picture

Multe

Traditional Nordic Music for All Occasions

About Me

Multe takes its name from the Scandinavian root word for cloudberry , the rare slow-growing sub-arctic bramble fruit found throughout the Nordic countries. A wild plant, it needs sunny exposure and grows in acidic ground where other crops are not possible. The taste is both tart and sweet—like life itself. That’s Multe!

Multe plays traditional acoustic music from the Nordic countries and their immigrant communities in North America. It's music with an incredible energy and drive that is different from other Northern European styles of traditional music. Most of the music is dance music: waltz, polka, schottis / reinlender, tango, hambo, snoa, pols, polska and more!

Multe is committed not only to sharing traditional Nordic music, but also to learning it well. Some of our members have spent countless hours dancing and playing with musicians in the Nordic countries -- from small huts on farms to festival hall dance floors. A number of our members regularly study with “tradition bearers” and master teachers through personal instruction and courses offered in Norden and North America, allowing Multe to learn and polish their material "in tradition," adding an authenticity and ease to Multe’s performances and presentations.

Multe grew out of the rich Nordic-American music and heritage scene in Northfield, Minnesota USA. Members of Multe have performed at folk music/dance venues in Canada, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the USA, including the American Swedish Institute , the Minneapolis Institute of Arts , Musik ved Siljan, Nisswastamman , Nordlek, Norsk Hostfest , the Norwegian Folk Museum, Stavanger's Emigration Festival, among others.


My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 1/30/2008
Band Website: multe.org
Band Members:

Multe's current drupelets represent a combined direct heritage in the Nordic countries and decades of experience studying and performing traditional music and dance:Jon Thore Bjork (5-row chromatic button accordion, guitar) Drew Dixon (guitar) Brad Easterson (fiddle, mandolin, recorder) Eric Paulson (bass) Virginia Windschitl (fiddle) and, when possible, by Ruth Marie Sylte (piano accordion, portable pump organ, vocals) and sometimes by Andrea Een (fiddle, Hardanger fiddle)

For more information, see our official Multe web site at http://www.multe.org and our Facebook Fan Page .
Influences: Multe takes our best inspiration from past and present musicians and groups whose music our members have had the privilege of experiencing "live", including -- but not limited to:
    Flukt (Norway) Haugaard & Høirup (Denmark) Kvarts (Norway) Peter "Puma" Hedlund (Sweden) Hallingdal Kraftlag (Norway) Honndalstausene (Norway) Lars Skjervheim (Norway) Østerdølenes Spellmannslag (Norway) Rättviks Spelmanslag (Sweden) Bjørn Ståbi (Sweden)

Sounds Like: Nothing you'd usually hear in North America!
Type of Label: None

My Blog

New Norwegian hardingfele fiddle tune inspired by Northfield!

There's a new hardanger fiddle tune inspired by Northfield night life...sorta. :-)Sturla Eide, a musician and composer from Orkdal, Sør-Trøndelag, Norway, has composed and recorded a hardingfele (Norw...
Posted by Multe on Tue, 11 Mar 2008 06:27:00 PST

PRESS RELEASE: Annual St. Urhos Day Celebration in Northfield

Northfield, Minn.The Twin Cities' Finnish-American dance band, Finn Hall, and Northfield's own Nordic dance band, Multe, will co-headline the annual St. Urho's Day celebration on Saturday, March 15 a...
Posted by Multe on Wed, 27 Feb 2008 09:24:00 PST

ArtOrg gig report up!

We've got a brief report on last night's ArtOrg gig on our Multe web site as well as a link to ArtOrg's Flickr site with pictures of the evening. The event attracted the largest audience so far in Art...
Posted by Multe on Sat, 16 Feb 2008 02:28:00 PST

Tonight - at the Reub AND the Cow!

Tonight Northfield's ArtOrg sponsors an evening of traditional old-time Scandinavian dance music on Friday, February 15 at the downtown J. Grundy's Reub 'N' Stein Upstairs at 503 Division Street, Nort...
Posted by Multe on Fri, 15 Feb 2008 04:08:00 PST

New tunes by Peter Hedlund

Peter "Puma" Hedlund, one of Sweden's top nyckelharpa players, has just posted some new tunes to his MySpace site. Peter recorded the tunes with a couple of Norwegian friends, Ronny Kjösen and Öystein...
Posted by Multe on Sat, 09 Feb 2008 06:22:00 PST

Takk til Arne Moslåtten!

We want to officially / blogfully thank Arne Moslåtten [MySpace | Facebook] in Norway for providing wonderful pictures of multe (cloudberries) taken in Norway for use on our http://www.multe.org web s...
Posted by Multe on Sat, 09 Feb 2008 06:15:00 PST

Multe.org opens; drupelets rejoice

It's been warp speed this week -- in gammeldans beat/takt, of course! Our web site is now up and functional at Multe.org. Thanks, Drew!
Posted by Multe on Tue, 05 Feb 2008 12:11:00 PST

Gratulerer om Spellemannspriser 2007!!

We just received an e-mail from our friend, Gunn Sølvi Gausemel, telling us about the 2007 Spellemannspris (Norwegian "Grammys") awards. Congratulations to Sigrid Moldestad, fiddler from Nordfjord who...
Posted by Multe on Mon, 04 Feb 2008 03:58:00 PST

Multes MySpace site debuts!

We've been talking about it far too long -- so it's time to get Multe a web presence on MySpace. And here we are! It will be fun to see what friends stop by to say hello...
Posted by Multe on Mon, 04 Feb 2008 03:53:00 PST