The Swedish fiddler Lena Jonsson has created a unique style inspired by traditional Swedish music as well as many other influences. Today we’re focusing on the wonderful 3rd album by her trio, “Folk Covers” which celebrates many great folk music composers of today. I think you’ll really enjoy this uplifting conversation which features a lot of music, including Lena giving us some spontaneous house concert experiences, and clips from the new album, with insights into process of curating and interpreting these folk covers; please note the timestamps have the tune names. You’ll also learn about the Swedish folk scene and regional differences, her experiences studying both in Sweden and Boston at Berklee, her love of creative design and how to dance a Polska.

We get to hear some beautifully realized traditional tunes from Québec from traditional fiddler Alexis Chartrand. He talks about both groove and ornamentation in different traditional styles of fiddling. He talks very thoughtfully and about his background as a son of dancers, his explorations of tone colour with baroque violin, and some of his musical influences and inspiration.