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The Repairmen at Wussow's. Photos by Jill Fisher.

There was plenty of music to enjoy this past week — something for everyone’s taste. 

On Tuesday, Feb. 25, I got out to Wussow’s in West Duluth with the express purpose of hearing the newly formed band Korona. While this four-piece group may be new to me, three of its members are not: Garth Anderson (drums), Joshua Tesch (guitar, vocals) and Joe Anderson (saxophone); I can’t say I have seen its fourth member previously — Grant Joseph Carl (bass). 

Garth and Josh both also play in the Repairmen, which opened for Korona, and in Landscapes. This musical chairs business makes it difficult sometimes to distinguish between the bands. 

That said, it was impressive to see Garth switch from drums with Korona to guitar with Repairmen and to listen to him sing several of his original compositions. Both bands provided good listening.

Two days later, on Feb.27, I was off to see Father Hennepin at Bent Paddle. I don’t see this group playing around so much. The last time was July 3 at Glensheen’s Concerts on the Pier (reviewed in the July 11 Reader) so I skipped a couple other enticing gigs in order to see them again. 

Father Hennepin

As they did last summer, they played a mix of covers and original compositions. On this evening Jim Hagstrom, rather than Brad Nelson, played drums. The rest of the lineup — Scott “Starfire” Lunt, Ted Anderson, Jimi Cooper, Bob Olson and Suzi Ludwig — remained intact.

I see that Father Hennepin is classified as alt-country, but this is far too narrow a category. Yes, they certainly do justice to the country tunes they cover, but country-rock might be a closer description or even folk-rock as applied to several of their original tunes. 

Lunt’s lovely “White Pine” was one, another was his wistful “Wood and Ashes.” One might say they are just plain good ol’ rock and rollers, or maybe “eclectic-rock” works as a descriptor. 

Father Hennepin

In any case, this band is really great to dance to. I certainly was in my happy place, especially when they played a polka! It’s always fun to see Susi doing her thing with the accordion on that tune as well as “Mama’s Got a Squeezebox.”

Friday evening, Feb. 28, the Curmudgeon and I made our way to Sacred Heart Music Center to check out the Finnish band Frigg that is on tour in the U.S. 

Before hearing them we got to experience the all-female quartet FYRA (Fire in Norwegian). Now here was some enthralling instrumental music best heard in a place like Sacred Heart – acoustic, strings, wooden flutes and something like a bagpipe. These four lovely and talented ladies are based in the Twin Cities area. 

Renee Vaughan plays the nyckelharpa, an unusual instrument from the “old country” as we Minnesotans of Scandinavian ancestry are wont to call it. 

FYRA

Sarah Pradt plays the hardingfele (a Hardanger fiddle, the national instrument of Norway), Erin Wash plays cello and Laura MacKenzie rounds out the sound playing flutes and a säckpipa.

FYRA’s 45-minute set was focused on traditional Nordic music that was composed by or about women. Without lyrics, these tunes, which ran the gamut between exotic and dreamlike melodies to uptempo dances, could just as easily have been written by men. 

But until full equality is reached I guess these designations by gender are necessary to ensure well-crafted tunes by females are heard at all. 

At this concert we heard works by Finland’s Maria Helena Spoof, Sweden’s Christina Bruun and Ida Gustafsson, and Norway’s Ingunn Bjørgo. In addition to these older traditional tunes, we heard the wonderful fresh composition by celloist Walsh: “Klumpig Schottische” that spurred some folks to get up and dance.

FYRA's Renee Vaughan

Vaughan provided commentary on the construction of the two more unusual instruments — the nyckelharpa and the hardingfele, both of which have a second tier of resonant strings beneath the strings that are actually bowed. She also provided interesting historic details about the women who wrote and performed these works. 

One commentary included the scandalous fact that a long-ago female duet actually played their music in a tavern! 

The audience was thus primed for the headliner, Frigg. Six musicians made up the group that performed on this evening. The regular members are Alina Kivivuori (fiddle), Esko Järvelä (fiddle, piano, harmonium),Tero Hyväluoma (fiddle), Petri Prauda (mandolin, cittern, bagpipes), Juho Kivivuori (double bass AKA standup bass) and Topi Korhonen (guitar). 

Not all of the noted instruments were in evidence this evening nor all of these musicians; the female fiddler, Veera Kuisma, was a stand-in for one of the regular fiddlers.

Frigg

Frigg’s music is touted as an amalgamation of traditional Nordic fare and Americana bluegrass, which is referred to as “nordgrass.” Yet only one of the tunes they played was introduced as such. 

With this in mind, I seemed to hear something similar to the face-paced and intense music of Trampled By Turtles. 

Like FYRA, this band included an instrument new to many of us — the cittern, which I initially thought was a lute. But in speaking with Petri Prauda after the concert, it was discovered to be a flat-backed instrument (a member of the lute family) dating back to the Renaissance.

The audience, which filled about two-thirds of the seats, was definitely up for this style of all instrumental music. There were original numbers, waltzes and driving numbers played in unison with increasing tempos and abrupt endings. The audience clapped along rhythmically on several tunes, encouraged by Prauda. And there were couples dancing to several of the tunes (I did a little solo dancing myself to a few of the livelier ones).

Dancing to the music of Frigg

Because I saw and spoke with a number of local string musicians who attended the concert, I understood that this group is known and respected. Here is background that violinist Eli Bissonette (who is a member of Hot Club of Duluth) shared with me about Frigg:

“Frigg’s members are either from or have spent a lot of time in Kaustinen, Finland, the nation’s folk music capital. Also, Frigg’s members have mostly studied in the Sibelius Academy folk music department, which is known internationally to produce some of the world’s most accomplished folk musicians. Most importantly, they’re good down to earth, thoughtful people, who create and thrive together in beautiful close-knit musical communities.

“Over past centuries, fiddlers from Kaustinen and villages surrounding Kaustinen have created unique localized fiddle tunes and styles. These have emerged largely from the very old agrarian Crown Wedding tradition, where the fiddler often had to lead marches and dances for days on end, without the luxury of a bass or other backup instruments. This resulted in the need for fiddle styles to incorporate unique rhythmic characteristics, that an individual player weaves into the melody by using special bowing techniques that help inspire listeners to dance. In modern times, great folk groups such as Frigg and many others from the Kaustinen area have connected with audiences around the world, while still honoring these old rooted Finnish musical traditions.

“Frigg should be as famous as Led Zeppelin, they are a multifaceted musical organism of brilliance and genius; spiritually significant and relevant for the past 25 years and still going strong. Duluth is immensely fortunate that Frigg returns to perform here, and I hope they continue coming back to inspire audiences.”

Frigg’s tour had them traveling from Duluth to Minneapolis to perform at the American Swedish Institute and the Cedar Cultural Center before heading east for concerts around New England. 

The last musical outing of the week for the Curmudgeon and me was the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra concert on Saturday, March 1, at Symphony Hall in the DECC. 

Now, despite having played the violin in my school orchestras way back when, I was out of my ken with regard to this level of classical music. The last time I saw the DSSO was way back in 1989. Both of us were quite amazed at how large the DSSO is: 76 musicians plus the conductor (Dirk Meyer). Talk about a big sound! 

Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra

At this concert, pianist Natasha Paremski was the featured soloist playing Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op 11 which consists of three movements — Allegro maestoso, Romanze-Larghetto and Rondo-Vivace. 

The Curmudgeon, who took piano lessons in his youth, remarked on Paremski’s light, nuanced touch. No heavy handed, unduly dramatic treatment here. 

After the intermission two other pieces were performed: a modern composition, Symphony No. 4, Heichalos by Jonathan Leshnoff that was commissioned by the Nashville Symphony Orchestra and Debussy’s La mer (the sea). Both were warmly applauded by the audience.

There was a large turnout for this concert, though the hall wasn’t at total capacity. Still, it was amazing to me to see what a significant following the DSSO appears to have, especially in comparison to the many other musical offerings there are at places like the West Theatre and Sacred Heart. 

It was very cool to see Erin Aldridge in her concertmaster role with the DSSO since I am most familiar with her as a member of Danny Frank and the Smoky Gold. Not only was there Aldridge playing with the orchestra, but also Gordy Lewis (who plays with the country-rock band Boxcar) in the double bass section, plus a few others who perform with groups I regularly see. It was an illuminating evening all around.

Sunday I watched the Academy Awards ceremony, as I religiously do every year, but this time with heightened interest to see whether the Dylan biopic movie would receive any Oscars (it was nominated in six categories). 

Nope, not a one! 

Timothée Chalamet, who was nominated for best actor, was in the audience, radiant in a canary yellow suit that caused emcee Conan O’Brien to joke he would not be hit when riding home on his bicycle. I wasn’t all that surprised. But I was surprised by Mick Jagger coming on to announce the winner in the Original Song category. He joked that Dylan had turned down the invitation to do this. 

When it came to the award for best Documentary Short, I was pleased that The Only Girl in the Orchestra won. It’s about Orin O’Brien, a double bass player in the New York Philharmonic symphony orchestra under the direction of Leonard Bernstein. I got to see the documentary film at Zeitgeist a couple weeks back and really enjoyed it.

UPCOMING: Here’s what I’m looking forward to in the coming week: Theory of Light with guitarist Andy Lipke at Caddy Shack on Friday evening. This same evening the Shane Nelson Band, a trio including Traxx Nelson and Rick Brunner, will be at the Cobalt Lounge in the Black Bear Casino. On Saturday, March 8, you can bet I’ll be back at Earth Rider’s Cedar Lounge for its Bock Fest featuring music by Boss Mama & the Jebberhooch.

See you out there!