Info

Welcome to my musician website! Already since my childhood I've had a big fascination for music. I started playing the guitar when I was just around 10 years old and my enthusiasm for music has stayed with me ever since. Various other instruments and experiments with different styles of music followed.

For many years now, my focus has been on folk music, whether traditional or modern. What I particularly love about this genre are the strong melodies, the groove, the wonderfully friendly interaction between the musicians and the direct contact with the audience. Instrumentally, I am currently focusing mainly on various plucked instruments and the Swedish nyckelharpa.

I am very grateful that I have the opportunity to bring my own music to the world with my various projects. I play concerts in many different European countries, e.g. Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden. I have received a lot of praise and appreciation from the press and our listeners for my albums. I also teach music courses at home and abroad and organize course weekends for the nyckelharpa and folk music several times per year.

On this page you will find more information about me, my instruments and my projects. Hope to meet you at one of my concerts or workshops!
-Björn

Instruments

Guitar

Guitar Portrait

The guitar has accompanied me since my childhood. It is my first instrument and with it I discovered my fascination for music. I received lessons from Evelyn Dupke and Bernhard Sperrfechter. After also having played a lot of classical and electric guitar in the past, I now mainly play acoustic steel string guitar in the open DADGAD tuning.

What I love about the guitar is its versatility: from strong rhythms, delicate melodies, to sensitive fingerpicking, the instrument offers me a wide range of musical expression, which I love to incorporate into my projects.

Nyckelharpa

Nyckelharpa Portrait

Since the end of 2014 I've been playing and exploring the Swedish Nyckelharpa. 12 resonance strings are responsible for the special sound of this bowed instrument. They provide the characteristic reverberation of the nyckelharpa and work almost like a built-in reverb effect. With the nyckelharpa I also dedicated myself a lot to traditional Swedish music, among other things by many musical journeys to Sweden. The private lessons I received from Josefina Paulson were especially formative for me.

I play a four-row nyckelharpa (CGDA) built by Johannes Mayr a three-row nyckelharpa (CGCA) built by Olov Johansson, a kontrabasharpa built by Olle Plahn and a moraharpa built by Stefan Ekedahl.

Cittern & Waldzither

Cittern Portrait

Besides the guitar, plucked instruments in general hold a great fascination for me. Especially instruments from the family of the cisterns and bouzoukis are very close to my heart. They allow a very lyrical style of accompaniment, which I enjoy a lot, and on top of that they are also wonderfully suitable for playing melodies.

At the moment, I play a modern Swedish-style cittern built by Søren Vinther Røgen and restorated Böhm Waldzithers built in the early 20th century.

Highlights

A small overview of venues, festivals and workshops I got to play or teach for:

  • Balfolk Café Nijmegen (NL)
  • Castlefest (NL)
  • Ettlinger Folknacht (DE)
  • Eurofolk Festival (DE)
  • Festival Mediaval (DE)
  • Folk im Fluss (DE)
  • Folkclub PRISMA Pforzheim (DE)
  • Folkclub Zürich (CH)
  • Folkival (DE)
  • Folklorum (DE)
  • Folktage Ilmenau (DE)
  • Halsway Manor (UK)
  • Klangrauschtreffen (DE)
  • Kulturhaus Mikado (DE)
  • Kulturzentrum Dieselstrasse (DE)
  • Midsommarfest Brno (CZ)
  • Muziekclub 't Ey (BE)
  • Nürnberger Borduntage (DE)
  • Nyckelharpawochenende (DE)
  • Rudolstadt Festival (DE)
  • Sang & Klang Festival (Online)
  • Sommer Borduncamp (DE)
  • Sommerbordunale (DE)
  • Spielkurs Pipenbock (DE)
  • Stichting Draailier en Doedelzak (NL)
  • Tanz & Folk Festival Berlin (DE)
  • Vertanzt (CH)