Bjornsdotter Reid / West Philadelphia Orchestra

Swedish fiddle duo / Music from Hungary, Macedonia, and Serbia

Workshop information

In the Swedish fiddle style called grovt och grant (rough and shiny), two musicians play the same melody an octave apart, exploiting the difference in tone at different registers for a fuller whole. For Alicia Bjornsdotter Abrams and Emma Reid, the phrase has a second meaning. This was originally dance music and needed to be rhythmic and powerful, but fiddlers love to decorate and the tunes leave plenty of room for elegance and beauty. It is the shine – the intricate ornaments and the playful counter-melodies – that tickles the heart and inspires the imagination. It is the roughness – the stamping of feet and the bite of the bow – that makes it impossible to sit still.

The West Philadelphia Orchestra plays poignant melodies and frenetic, propulsive rhythms from Eastern Europe at dance parties, rock shows, concerts, celebrations, and neighborhood potlucks. Guided by drummer Gregg Mervine’s dream of creating a wild, obstreperous village band in step with West Philly’s DIY culture, co-ops, underground music networks, and proactive anarchist legacy, WPO originated as a weekly front-porch potluck and jam session, but with the participation of accomplished musicians from many backgrounds, it soon developed a regular repertoire for public performances and spun off a number of more specialized subgroups. Their Crossroads appearance will feature five members of the string section who have been studying Hungarian music with WPO member Janos Perge and Macedonian music with Elizabeth Shaak (who will make a special guest appearance at this event).

Listen to Bjornsdotter Reid or West Philadelphia Orchestra (but note that this is the full group and this program will be quite different.

Biographies

Bjornsdotter Reid

Emma Reid was brought up in the north-east of England and started playing the fiddle with her Swedish mother at the age of three. She studied Swedish folk music performance with Ellika Frisell and Sven Ahlback at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, graduating in November 2003 and has since completed a Masters degree in Music at Newcastle University. Emma regularly performs and teaches in Sweden, Britain and the USA. As well as performing solo she works extensively in several duos and is a member of the groups Methera Quartet, Ditt Ditt Darium and Tandoori. She has also enjoyed collaborations with storytellers and dancers, and was Musical Director of a Northern Stage production in February 2005. In May 2005 Emma released her debut solo album Snake Bow, and toured the UK with Folkworks Fiddles on Fire. Since then she has released three duo albums and set up an acoustic concert series at Izzy Young’s Folklore Centrum in Stockholm.

Alicia Bjornsdotter Abrams is a fiddler in the Swedish tradition but her repertoire stretches into Norway, Finland and the British Isles. Alicia has a strong sense of melody and timing and a playing that is both ornate and powerful. In Swedish traditional music, the fiddle often plays the role of a second voice, with harmonies and counter melodies that come through in her music. Alicia has played and studied with many of the influential fiddlers in Sweden, including Mikael Marin of Vasen, as well as with Shetland fiddler Aly Bain and has a performance degree in Swedish folk music from the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm. Alicia plays solo, as well as in the Swedish group Ditt Ditt Darium and Swedish-Breton group Anak. She currently lives in Philadelphia.

West Philadelphia Orchestra

The West Philadelphia Ochestra (WPO), plays poignant melodies and frenetic, propulsive rhythms from Eastern Europe at dance parties, rock shows, concerts, celebrations, and neighborhood potlucks. Guided by drummer Gregg Mervine’s dream of creating a wild, obstreperous village band in step with West Philly’s DIY culture – co-ops, underground music networks, and proactive anarchist legacy – WPO originated as a weekly front-porch potluck and jam session, but with the participation of accomplished musicians from many backgrounds, it soon developed a regular repertoire for public performances and spun off a number of more specialized subgroups. Their Crossroads appearance will feature five members of the string section who have been studying Hungarian music with WPO member Janos Perge and Macedonian music with Elizabeth Shaak (who will make a special guest appearance at this event).

Katt Hernandez received a BFA from the University of Michigan, and later took additional courses in international musical traditions at the New England Conservatory of Music. Her solo career is focused primarily on freely improvised music, but draws on her extensive study of sources including traditional folk and sacred music of the Middle East, Turkey, and Eastern Europe as well as Americana and the Maneri/Sims 72 note system. In addition to performing with Bowerbird, Soundfield, Ars Nova, and Nicole Bindler’s Dance Ensemble, she has toured with Vashti Bunan and Vetiver and played late Ottoman music with the Eurasia Ensemble and old-time, vaudeville, and early jazz in the duo Lindy’s Radio.

Janos Perge (violin)

Jacob Mitas (viola) is an musician, filmmaker and artist who works as a bow specialist at Philadelphia’s Vintage Instruments. In addition to WPO, he plays Brazilian music in the band Old Goats.

Brendan Cooney majored in Jazz Piano performance at Oberlin College and after running the music program at Friends Select School in Philadelphia for four years now directs the jazz program at Germantown Friends School in Philadelphia. In addition to teaching private piano lessons, he plays in several local ensembles as a pianist or banjoist and teaches music at Friends’ Music Camp in Olney.

Bass player Jack Ohly draws from a wide range of musical influences: low bowed upright bass to cavaquinho, long winding songs to basic forms, Romanian ballads to American murder ballads to samba from the drylands in Brazil. In addition to his work with WPO, he plays Brazilian music with Old Goats and in a number of solo and duo projects.

Ticket pricing

Standard price: $10
Special Supporters: $15
Discount price: $5 (for students, seniors, or if you can’t afford to come otherwise)
Children under 12: $5

Crossroads events are priced on a sliding scale. We are a not-for-profit organization and want as many people as possible to be able to come. If you’re unable to come otherwise, please pay the discount price, and, if you can afford it, please consider paying the supporter price so we can continue this policy.