Evald Thomsen (1913–1993) was a

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

fiddler and collector and promoter of

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. Born in Siem by

Skørping Skørping is a railway town in Rebild Municipality in Region Nordjylland in the geographic region of the Jutland peninsula known as '' Himmerland'' in northern Denmark. The modern town has a population of 2,971 as of 1 January 2022;Jutland Jutland ( da, Jylland ; german: Jütland ; ang, Ēota land ), known anciently as the Cimbric or Cimbrian Peninsula ( la, Cimbricus Chersonesus; da, den Kimbriske Halvø, links=no or ; german: Kimbrische Halbinsel, links=no), is a peninsula of ...

, Thomsen was taught fiddle from age 7, and played to local dances already as a young boy. He began to collect tunes and instruments. He founded the Rebild Fiddlers, and the Rebild museum of Traditional music. In 1931 he moved to

Funen Funen ( da, Fyn, ), with an area of , is the third-largest island of Denmark, after Zealand and Vendsyssel-Thy. It is the 165th-largest island in the world. It is located in the central part of the country and has a population of 469,947 as of ...

where his wife was from, and he stayed there to 1942 when he went back home to

Himmerland Himmerland is a peninsula in northeastern Jutland, Denmark. It is delimited to the north and the west by the Limfjord, to the east by the Kattegat, and to the south by the Mariager Fjord. The largest city is Aalborg; smaller towns include Hobro, A ...

. In 1971 he was made national When the

Folk revival The American folk music revival began during the 1940s and peaked in popularity in the mid-1960s. Its roots went earlier, and performers like Josh White, Burl Ives, Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Big Bill Broonzy, Billie Holiday, Richard Dyer-Benn ...

movement came to Denmark in the 1970'es he became an icon of the living tradition of Danish fiddle music, and he gained national fame, appearing in radio and television. In the 1960es he toured Denmark with a band composed of his son Hardy Thomsen (violin), his brother Hilbert Thomsen (bass), Hans Jørgen Christensen (violin) and Niels Vilhelm Hansen, (guitar and vocals). He also traveled Europe playing in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

, the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

and

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...

, and in 1976 he toured the US for a month. Together with other players from the first half of the 20th century like

Æ Tinuser Æ Tinuser (Standard Danish language, Danish: Tinus brødrene, English The Tinus brothers) was a Danish traditional music, Danish traditional band who were famous exponents of their genre from the 1950s to the late 1970s. The group consisted of thr ...

and Frederik Iversen, his versions make up the main stock of Danish traditional music. He is considered by many to be the single most important fiddler and promoter of Danish traditional music in the 20th century.Bæk, John. 2006. ''Dansk Spillemandsmusik 1660 – 1999 - med særligt henblik på spillestilen''. MA thesis from the university of Aarhu

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomsen, Evald 1913 births 1993 deaths Danish violinists Male violinists 20th-century violinists 20th-century Danish male musicians People from Rebild Municipality