Väsen is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

band from

Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inha ...

, founded in 1989, consisting of Olov Johansson (

nyckelharpa A nyckelharpa (, "keyed fiddle", or literally "key harp", plural ) is the national musical instrument of Sweden. It is a string instrument or chordophone. Its keys are attached to tangents which, when a key is depressed, serve as frets to cha ...

) and Mikael Marin (

viola The viola ( , also , ) is a string instrument that is bow (music), bowed, plucked, or played with varying techniques. Slightly larger than a violin, it has a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of ...

). Previous members include André Ferrari (

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

) and founding member Roger Tallroth (

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

), the latter of whom announced his departure from the band in 2020 to focus on new projects. they have released 20 albums, featured on others, and have toured every year also outside of Europe. Since 2002, however, performances outside Sweden have tended to not include André Ferrari, owing to his reluctance to tour internationally and the economic advantage of a trio. Since then, Väsen has released eight albums (''Trio'', ''Keyed Up'', ''Live in Japan'', ''Väsen Street'', ''Mindset'', ''Live på Gamla Bion'', ''Brewed'', & ''Rule of 3'') in this “strings-only” format. The band played on

Nordman Nordman is a Swedish duo founded in 1993, that mixes folk music with rock and pop. This genre is called etnorock or folk rock in Swedish. The group consists of Håkan Hemlin, as singer and frontman, and Mats Wester, who plays the nyckelharpa, as ...

's debut album in 1994. On the

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

group

JPP J.P.P. is a group of Finnish folk musicians from Kaustinen. The group still uses the Kaustinen traditional settings with fiddles, harmonium and double bass, although their arrangements are more advanced than those of earlier generations of tra ...

's album ''String Tease'', they were guest artists on two of the tracks. They also regularly play with the American musicians Mike Marshall (

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

) and

Darol Anger Darol Anger is an American violinist and founding member of The David Grisman Quintet. Career Darol Anger entered popular music at the age of 21 as a founding member of The David Grisman Quintet. Anger played fiddle to David Grisman's mando ...

(violin).

History

The band was founded in 1989.

Members

* Olov Johansson (

) * Mikael Marin (

) * André Ferrari (

; former) * Roger Tallroth (

; former)

Discography

* ''Väsen'', 1990 * ''Vilda Väsen'', 1992 * ''Essence'', 1994 * ''Levande Väsen'' (Live), 1995 * ''Spirit'', 1997 (Compilation: 15 tracks from the first four albums, plus 5 new tracks) * ''Världens Väsen'' (Whirled), 1997 * ''Gront'', 1999 * ''Live at the Nordic Roots Festival'', 2001 * ''Trio'', 2003 * ''Keyed Up'', 2004 * ''Live in Japan'', 2005 * ''Linnaeus Väsen'', 2007 * ''Mike Marshall and Darol Anger with Väsen'', 2007 * ''Väsen Street'', 2009 * ''Mindset'', 2013 * ''Live på Gamla Bion'' (CD + DVD), 2014 * ''Brewed'', 2017 * ''Rule of 3'', 2019 * ''Duo'', 2021

Featured Performances

* Snarky Puppy ''

Family Dinner – Volume 2 ''Family Dinner – Volume 2'' is an album by American jazz fusion group Snarky Puppy that was released on February 12, 2016. Track listing All songs arranged by Michael League. Bonus DVD and digital download tracks Personnel * Michael Leag ...

'' - “I Asked” feat.

Becca Stevens Becca Stevens (born June 14, 1984) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist who draws upon elements of jazz, chamber pop, indie rock, and folk. Early life and education Stevens was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina as the youngest ...

and Väsen (Track 1), 2016 * Snarky Puppy ''

'' - “Be Still” feat. Becca Stevens and Väsen (Track 9), 2016 * Snarky Puppy ''

'' - “Shapons Vindaloo” feat. Väsen (Track 11), 2016

References

External links

Official home page
Swedish folk music groups Musical groups from Uppsala {{Sweden-band-stub