Swabian Quartet

Svøbsk Kvartet, or Svøbsk as they called themselves during this concert, is a group of four from Denmark. They all play their respective instruments, with Maren Hallberg on accordion, Jørgen Dickmeiss on violin, harmonica and guitar, Theis Langlands on piano and harmonica, and Simon Busk on percussion. When the stage was first lit up I thought it was a slightly overdressed drum, but percussion consists of drums, cymbals, cowbells and more. They introduced themselves in a wave almost, it started with Theis playing some short symphonies on the piano before he introduced himself, when he was done he continued playing. Then Jørgen started playing the violin, before introducing himself and then continuing to play. This continued through the two remaining introductions. In the end, four instruments were mixed together in harmony; violin, piano, accordion and percussion.

After a short while of random playing, they started the first song. Svøbsk play a mix of traditional and modern Danish folk music, and it was easy to hear that this was what they were reaching for. They were also reaching for the children's attention, as there was a slightly different piece of music where Maren and Simon jumped down from the stage and then ran around among the little ones sitting closest to the stage to pretend to hit them on the head to make notes. For this, Maren used spoons, while Simon used a metal stick that you should really use for a triangle. It's easy to see that Svøbsk has a lively soul. Because there was also a conversation between Theis and Jørgen, but not with words. They used a harmonica. This little harmonica conversation then led to a dance between Jørgen and Maren. After the little dance, they took a little break from the music, because now they were going to teach the audience the lyrics to a Danish song. "In a way, this was a very interactive performance, as they talked a lot with the audience at the same time as they taught us a text. The fact that they ran around among us was just a plus. This performance was easy to enjoy even though there was a lot going on on stage at times.

Written by Sandra Aadalen