Kevin Henderson comes from the Shetland Islands, one of Scotland´s archipelagos with one of the richest fiddle traditions in the world. He is regarded as one of Shetlands finest fiddle players and is in high demand around the world.

He began playing the fiddle at the age of 9, studying with the highly renowned Shetland fiddler Trevor Hunter and at the age of 10 studied under the late great Willie Hunter, arguably Shetlands finest ever fiddler.

He is a founding member of award winning Shetland powerhouse, Fiddlers’ Bid, formed in 1991, has been a member of folk music legends, Boys of the Lough, since 2001, a member of Scottish super group Session A9 since 2004 and co-founded the Nordic Fiddlers Bloc in 2009.

Sebastian Bloch is one of the exciting new names on the thriving Danish folk music scene, bringing a fresh and innovative approach to the genre. His professional music career started at the age of 17, playing electric guitar on large amplifiers as a member of several rock bands. In parallel with his attraction to the electric guitar, Sebastian's upbringing as the son of a sailmaker and a jeweler fostered his appreciation for the handcraftsmanship of acoustic music which led him to explore the world of folk music. This sparked his interest to pursue studies at Skurups Folkhögskola in Sweden, and the Danish National Academy of Music, where he developed a profound connection with the traditions of Nordic folk music. As an active internationally touring and recording artist, Sebastian plays with bands such as Mads Hansens Kapel, breathing new life into the Danish instrumental

tradition, The Good Tune, where he regularly presents fresh and captivating live-recorded folk music videos to thousands of followers, and Helene Blum & Harald Haugaard Band, where he contributes with the distinctive rhythmic playfulness that he is well known for. Drawing from his eclectic musical influences, including rock, jazz, folk, and classical music, Sebastian is always striving to create music that is both rooted in the traditions of the folk music traditions that he loves and is yet alive and breathing in the present day.

Sara Pajunen is a composer-improviser and an audiovisual artist based in what is now called Minnesota (USA). Trained as a violinist and employing locally-responsive media ranging from field recordings to drone imagery, her work is motivated by interactions between her ancestral roots, American cultural histories, and connection to our environments through sound.

Pajunen has released six albums using folk and traditional music as the basis for singular collaborations. Her interests also lie in blurring human perceptions and cultivating presence through listening, using sound to shift our relationships to our surroundings and accepted histories. Longterm project Mine Songs: Sounding an Altered Landscape employs acoustic violin and hardanger d’amore, environmental recordings, image, historic material and processed sound to create a variegated depiction of Minnesota's Mesabi Iron Range, her childhood and ancestral home.

Pajunen has performed extensively in North America and Europe and her work has received funding from the Jerome Foundation, Minnesota State Arts Board, Kone Foundation, New Music USA, American Scandinavian Foundation, and the Arts Council of Finland, amongst others. She holds classical music degrees in both the United States and Finland and a Master of Music in Contemporary Improvisation from New England Conservatory.

Paul Dahlin is a Swedish-American fiddler from Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was heir to a rich tradition of music from the Swedish province of Dalarna. His maternal grandfather is Ivares Edvin Jonsson. His uncle is Bruce Johnson.

By the time he was 17, Paul was performing regularly with his elders at Swedish American events. As he mastered the idiom, he moved into the lead role while playing with his grandfather, who had Americanized his name to Edwin Johnson, and Uncle Bruce. The three fiddlers called their group the American Swedish Spelmans ("folk instrumentalist") Trio.

Dahlin began teaching Swedish instrumental music at the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis. In 1985 he developed his class into the ASI Spelmanslag ("fiddlers' team"). When the group performed in 1989 at Sweden's largest folk music festival, Musick vid Siljan, Dahlin was hailed by his Swedish colleagues as an important keeper of a deep musical tradition that includes wedding tunes and dance melodies that are more direct and less ornamented than some strains of contemporary Swedish fiddling. His original composition "Danielpojkens Polska" was selected from 40 entries as the most outstanding composition in its genre at Sweden's Dalarnas Hemygdsrings competition. The tune is in the traditional polska form. Not to be confused with the polka, it is the "oldest dance rhythm in Sweden" and is considered by some scholars as a predecessor of the triple-meter waltz.

Skål Klubben Spelmanslag is a traditional Scandinavian folk orkestra, founded in 1990, that plays "gammaldans" music of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark on fiddles, accordion, guitar, pump organ, and double bass. The orkestra is comprised of 14 traditional folk musicians from central Minnesota.

Skål Klubben Spelmanslag was featured in the national broadcast of River of Song, Music on the Mississippi, on PBS television. They have traveled twice to Scandinavia to take part in music festivals and learn new tunes, and have hosted many Scandinavian groups on tour in America.

The orkestra has three recordings to their credit and have performed annually at many festivals around the midwest. They have been regulars at the Minnesota State Fair, Nisswa-stämman in Nisswa, MN, and Nordic Fest in Decorah, IA.

Ponyfolk was formed in 2014 by Clifton Nesseth (vocals, strings, guitar, keys, synthesizers) and Paul Sauey (vocals, strings, guitar, bass). Based out of Duluth and Minneapolis, MN, the pair’s multi-instrumentalist abilities and vocal harmonies have carved them out a reputation of creating maximalist soundscapes that are defined by droning layers of guitars, strings, and a synth bass. They're Nordic roots are ever present in harmony and modality.

Pony’s music has been described as “the dark side of Simon & Garfunkel” and “early Pink Floyd mixed with the Lord of the Rings soundtrack.” That said, they'll be "keeping it trad" at the stämma.

Traveling on a modern “Snoose Boulevard Highway,” Tjärnblom’s repertoire consists of Swedish, Finnish, and Minnesota tunes, old and new, both for dancing and listening. The band took its name in honor of a band member’s Swedish grandfather; translated from Swedish, Tjärnblom means “woodland lake flower”. Tjärnblom’s instrumentation features Swedish nyckelharpa (a folk instrument with 4 playing strings, 37 keys and 12 resonating strings, played with a short bow), mandolin/guitar, cello, and harmonium (a portable type of pump organ). Tjärnblom’s arrangements draw on traditional styles -- countermelodies, harmony and rhythm -- sometimes going in nontraditional directions. On occasion, näverlur (a birchbark natural horn) and water drum add unique sound color. Tjärnblom has recorded two CDs, “Nicollet Island Waltz” and “Starry-Eyed”. A third CD is due to be released in summer 2023. As a group, Tjärnblom has studied with Swedish musicians, Leif Alpsjö, Maria and Anders Larsson, and Finnish musician, Arto Järvelä.

Ameriikan Poijat (Boys of America), Finnish American Brass Septet, was founded in 1990. They’ve played performances in some rather unusual settings, such as in an ice arena, in fishing boats on the Finnish Perhojoki river, on a raft in an abandoned mine, at Finnish border defense installations, at a McDonnell-Douglas military aircraft plant, in a Wisconsin cow pasture, on a Florida beach, at an instrument museum, in a barn, and in a one room schoolhouse. This seven-piece group is very mobile, and the Finnish brass music we celebrate seems to have drawn us off the beaten path. Made up of Midwestern musicians, some of Finnish descent, we have been sharing the charm of the old Finnish brass band music and have also performed the newer compositions for septet that have proliferated recently. They have traveled all over the United States and to Finnish communities in Canada. 2017 (Finnish Centennial) was their sixth tour of Finland.

They have released six CDs and have published their sheet music for other bands to play.

Ross Sutter is best known as a singer of Scandinavian, Scottish, and Irish songs, and for his wide repertoire of American traditional and popular songs. He accompanies

himself on guitar, dulcimer, button accordion, and bodhran. He has performed at countless venues throughout the region and beyond, from concert halls to libraries and

schools, from senior centers to international festivals. For some years now, Ross has served as the MC and leader of dancers around the majstång at Swedish midsommar

celebrations, including New York City’s in Battery Park.

Bart Sutter is the author of ten books, and the only writer to win the Minnesota Book Award in three different categories. He has read his poems in venues that range from Pittsburgh’s International Poetry Forum to The World of Accordions Museum, from the American Swedish Institute to Braham Pie Day. Bart has had four verse plays produced,

including Cow Calls in Dalarna, the premiere of which was sponsored by the Swedish Cultural Society of Duluth.

When Ross and Bart perform as a pair, their work has the kind of counterpoint and easy intimacy unique to sibling acts.

The ASI Spelmanslag is the fiddling group of the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis, Minnesota. We play the traditional folk music of Sweden, primarily from the region of Dalarna. Their repertoire includes traditional dance tunes such as waltzes, schottisches, and polskas.

The Twin Cities Nyckelharpalag (Key Fiddle Group) was formed in 1998 to practice and perform Swedish folk music. Their repertoire is drawn mostly from folk tunes in Uppland, Sweden, where the nyckelharpa tradition has its roots. Whether leading a procession, playing for dancing, performing in concert or providing focus for special events, the TC Nyckelharpalag enthusiastically carries on Swedish traditions through music. In performance members of the group wear folk-dräkt, folk costumes modeled after clothing worn on special occasions in the 19th century. The group is based in Minneapolis/Saint Paul, Minnesota and affiliated with The American Swedish Institute.

Back by popular demand, Arnie Arneson leads this crowd-favorite youth group through a musical journey of traditions. Part chamber-orchestra, part dance band, part comedy troupe, you'll find yourself mesmerized by these talented youth.

For many years, Arnie has been a huge inspiration for countless students, and his work to keep traditional and orchestral music accessible in and around the Brainerd area has been deeply inspiring. Don't miss this group when they perform at the festival!

Hütenänny was formed in 2007 by a group of friends that play regularly in the Northern Roots Session in Northfield, Minnesota. Always looking to the North for their inspiration, Hütenänny primarily plays old-time dance music from the Nordic countries, but might also throw in a tune from the British Isles, the Shetlands, Canada or the American Midwest. A typical Hütenänny set includes waltzes, polkas, schottisches, hambos, polskas, and marches. Since several of our members are also singers, you might hear a folk song or sea shanty thrown in for good measure!

Lauluaika, Finnish for "Song Time", is a group of musicians who share a passion for singing and playing Finnish folk tunes for audiences who enjoy listening or dancing. Their repertoire includes Finnish couples dances such as waltzes, polkas, humppa, jenkka, mazurkka, and hambo, as well as lively group dances for all ages to enjoy. ​

Lauluaika musicians play a variety of instruments including mandolin, two row button accordion, violin, guitar, bass, octave mandolin, harmonium, jouhikko, kantele, nyckelharpa, and percussive instruments such as tambourine, and pimpparauta.

An accordion, Irish pipes and a nyckelharpa walk in to a bar... and the music was really good... no joke!

The McNordiques blend Celtic, French and Scandinavian music in a way that shines through to make your toes wiggle with joy. The McNordiques are Tom Klein (uilleann pipes), Dan Newton (accordion), and Renee Vaughan (nyckelharpa). Together, it's a unique sound... one you are not likely to hear anywhere else!

Elise grew up in the Chicago area immersed in her Swedish roots - including language, folk dance, singing and music. During high school and college, she studied in Sweden and graduated from Gustavus Adolphus College with a major in Scandinavian Studies. During her decade as the Executive Director of Swedish Council of America, she received the Raven award in Uddevalla Sweden and the Hans Mattson Plaque from the American Embassy in Sweden - both for her work in Swedish America. She is actively involved in the Nordic community in the Twin Cities as well as a 30+ year teacher and director at Sjölunden the Concordia Language Swedish Village.