Erland Westerstrom interview

Erland Westerstrom joins me on episode 92.
Erland is from Sweden, where he studied Swedish folk music on the harmonica at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, with Filip Jers as one of his teachers there.
Erland released a solo harmonica album in 2020, Andas! (Swedish for breathe), where he makes use of drones, polyphonic rhythms, tongue spilts and other techniques to create self-accompaniment to the melodies of the traditional tunes he plays.
Erland’s latest band is with the trio Västanvinden. This sees the harmonica combining with great effect with the clarinet and cittern, with the harmonica used as much for chordal accompaniment as for melody.
A big part of Erland’s music is playing for dancers, who are part of the show in Sweden.
Erland also does some harmonica maintenance work as well as teaching in Stockholm and online. He is touring with the Västanvinden trio in Europe later in 2023.

Links:

Erland's website:
http://www.folkmunspel.se/english

Contact:
erland.westerstrom@icloud.com

Blog:
http://www.folkmunspel.se/blogg

Custom harmonicas for sale:
http://www.folkmunspel.se/till-salu

Great resource for traditional Swedish tunes:
folkwiki.se

Audio-Technica ATM350 mic:
https://www.audio-technica.com/en-gb/atm350

Videos:

From Andas! Album:
https://youtu.be/6E3jK0Hj71I

With Bjorn Gardner:
https://youtu.be/6E3jK0Hj71I

With Vastanvinden trio:
https://youtu.be/eNDmadf1k0M

Tremolo playing:
https://youtu.be/7CXqJ4-v1wU

Graduation concert:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKKNMHmeR6o

Podcast website:
https://www.harmonicahappyhour.com

Donations:
If you want to make a voluntary donation to help support the running costs of the podcast then please use this link (or visit the podcast website link above):
https://paypal.me/harmonicahappyhour?locale.x=en_GB

or sign-up to a monthly subscription to the podcast:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/995536/support

Spotify Playlist:
Also check out the Spotify Playlist, which contains most of the songs discussed in the podcast:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5QC6RF2VTfs4iPuasJBqwT?si=M-j3IkiISeefhR7ybm9qIQ

Podcast sponsors:
This podcast is sponsored by SEYDEL harmonicas - visit the oldest harmonica factory in the world at www.seydel1847.com  or on Facebook or Instagram at SEYDEL HARMONICAS

Chapters

• 1:33 Erland is from Sweden, and specialises in Swedish folk music
• 1:54 Folk music scene in Stockholm is there, if you look for it, with Erland discovering it in his early 20s
• 2:27 The Swedish for harmonica is Munspiel, which translates as ‘mouth play’
• 3:03 Erland’s first instrument was the clarinet, and started playing harmonica in early teens
• 3:49 How learned the clarinet and played in an orchestra
• 4:18 Doesn’t play much clarinet these days, replaced by the harmonica
• 4:48 Similarities between clarinet and harmonica, including the breathing technique
• 5:39 Mainly learned to play the harmonica by ear
• 5:51 Two advantages of being able to read from sheet music
• 6:16 Doesn’t play the chromatic, with the diatonic suiting the style of music Erland plays
• 6:36 Reads sheet music for playing the diatonic
• 7:06 Studied harmonica on the folk course at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm
• 8:15 Filip Jers also studied at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, and was one of Erland’s teachers there
• 8:37 Also had tuition on the course from violin, accordion and flute, and how that influenced harmonica playing
• 9:44 Dancing is an integral part of Swedish traditional music
• 10:42 Info on Swedish folk music, with much of it deriving from Poland (Polska)
• 11:16 Polska is not the same as Polka, being a three beat rhythm, but different from a waltz
• 11:54 How much is Swedish folk music played outside of Sweden
• 12:59 Link on podcast page where interested people can find resources to learn Swedish folk music
• 13:33 Most Swedish folk music is played in 1st position on harmonica, although Erland uses other positions when required
• 14:14 Also uses some minor harmonicas
• 14:20 Adds overblows and bending on his playing of folk music, which hasn’t been done much by other traditional Swedish players
• 15:07 There are other harmonica players of Swedish folk music, but Erland is one of the few actively gigging
• 15:27 Filip Jers plays some folk, but is more of a jazz player
• 16:08 How Erland started playing folk music on the harmonica, after initially playing blues
• 16:40 Tried to play folk music on clarinet at first, but found it fitted better on harmonica
• 17:30 Started playing in a student folk group
• 18:17 First recordings were with Bjorn Gardner, who is a folk singer songwriter
• 20:19 Released a solo harmonica album in 2020: Andas! (Translates as breathe), recorded at the end of studying at the Royal Academy
• 21:40 The harmonica works very well as a solo instrument
• 22:56 Records one song with a harpist on the album
• 24:48 Use of a drone in solo harmonica song
• 25:26 Makes use of polyphonic techniques, including different tongue spilts
• 27:02 Tries to find out how many chords are available to play on the harmonica (mainly using two notes)
• 27:33 Sometimes uses different tunings, mainly for minor tuned harmonicas (not for major)
• 29:03 Example tuning modification on minor tuned harp is to raise 6 draw a semi-tone
• 29:37 Uses different tongue splits to produce different intervals, drawing inspiration from fiddle players
• 30:43 Creates a drone tuning: which can be done using 2 draw / 3 blow, but Erland tunes 1 draw down a tone to drone on same notes on 1 hole blow and draw
• 32:39 Does anybody else play drones in this same way?
• 33:23 Erland gets a different sound than typical harmonica players due to his polyphonic techniques
• 34:29 Interprets a solo vocal line on harmonica in Polska efter Måns Olsson
• 36:05 Nominated for Swedish Independent Music Producers award for Andas! Album
• 36:21 Album with trio Västanvinden, and how came to combine with a clarinet and cittern
• 38:42 Does a lot of chordal accompaniment on the harmonica with this trio
• 39:34 Often plays two holes to the melody on harmonica to add texture
• 39:53 Playing in unison with the clarinet to create almost a ‘third instrument’
• 40:46 Melodic sections played on harmonica
• 41:36 Plans to release more albums with Västanvinden trio, playing traditional tunes from different parts of Sweden
• 42:17 Trio has been working a lot with two dancers recently, where the dancers are part of the show
• 44:12 Erland also plays the Harmonetta: a harmonica with buttons
• 46:50 Erland also offers maintenance and customisation of harmonicas
• 47:39 Teaches harmonica, both in person and online, and in group classes in Sweden
• 48:21 Enjoys teaching beginners because reminds him to work on the fundamentals
• 48:52 Plays some tremolo harmonica, inspired by Finnish player Jouko Kyhällä
• 51:15 10 minute question: 1. Learn new tunes, 2. Breathing / tone exercises
• 52:04 Harmonica of choice: Hohner and Seydel brands
• 52:24 What difference Erland sees from using custom combs
• 53:17 Uses overblows, reasonably sparingly
• 54:09 Amplification: uses PA
• 54:21 Cups a small condenser mic: ATM 350
• 55:36 Doesn’t use any effects pedals, a little reverb through PA
• 56:09 Future plans: upcoming gigs in Sweden and Europe, including playing for dances