We have been playing together for many years, and now we are getting ready for yet another tour. The American fiddler Ruthie Dornfeld and I met in the mid 80’s, and we have performed together ever since – not the least in the Danish-Finnish-American trio ACO (American Café Orchestra.
During the last couple of years we have mostly been playing as a duo, and this time we will start the tour in Germany at the small but progressive Windros Festival, which is situated in Schwerin, the second largest city in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. This is by the way where the Danish king Valdemar Sejr, was kept locked up together with his son, after they were taken hostage one night in May 1223, by the German count Henrik of Schwerin.
At Windros Festival we will be playing concerts with a mix of traditional and new music, we will be playing for dancing, and we will take part in the international festival band ‘Windros Orhcestra’, which will follow tradition and rehearse and work for a few days up to the festival, to perform a one hour festival concert at the mainstage Saturday night.
The band will consist of the following musicians:
Jo Freya (GB): Saxophones, Clarinettes and Vocals, Ruthie Dornfeld (USA): Fiddle and Vielle, Morten Alfred Høirup (DK): Guitar, Vocals, Doc Rossi (USA): Cittern, Guitar, Michael „Wacki“ Waterstradt (D): Doubble Bass and Wolfgang Meyering (D): Mandola, Mandolin, Percussion and Vocals.
We are looking so much forward to meet some of the many exciting German bands who has reconnected to the German folk tradition during the last few years, and after doing so, we will continue to Denmark, to play a handful of concerts at Frederiksberg (Copenhagen), in Dragør nor far from Copenhagen, in Vejstrup on Funen, and finally in Aarhus, Jutland (More info here)
After the Danish part of the tour, Ruthie will return to Seattle where she lives, and we will meet there to tour already in November 2019, but I will write more about that on a later occasion.