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Featured
Entertainment
Saturday Evening Headline
Entertainment - October 10, 2009
Dance to Live
Music at the
Svensk Hyllningsfest Street Dance
Dance the night
away to the sounds of "Split Decision" and "The Blades".
"The
Blades"
Hailing from Salina, Kansas, "The Blades" are a nine-piece Horn Band with an energetic sound. Their catchy pop-rock brand of rhythm and blues makes them right at home at any kind of a venue.
The band's offerings come from the sounds of powerful groups including Blood Sweat, and Tears, James Brown, Delbert McClinton, Sting, Chicago, and many many more. "The Blades" are the Horn Band that you are waiting to hear!
"The Blades" combination of tradition and an energetic live show make them one of the best bands in the Midwest. "The Blades" have appeared on many stages large and small. Energy, Power, Excellence! An experienced band with a GREAT sound!
Members:
Loren Banninger - Bass
Dean Kranzler - Drums
Greg Boyle - Guitar
Tim Arkebauer - Vocals
Steve Leuth - Keyboards
David Cooper - Saxophone
Quentin Breese - Trumpet
David Koetting - Trombone
C.A.Ritter � Bass Trombone
"Split
Decision"
Split Decision started out in the basement of a friend's house, three firemen with an interest in music wanting to get better. We had a guitar player, drummer and a bass. We soon added another guitar player/vocalist. We plodded along for about three months before we realized we weren't getting any better. We knew the problem was that we had no Kick A** guitar player. We stated looking and ended up winning the lottery. Jake Montoya joined the band and was not only able to lead us into the next level but into three or four levels above that. Jake is a gold mine, he is able to not only play the guitar extremely well, but able to teach other members of the band what they need to be doing to make the sound right. At this point we decided that we deserved a name. The choices were "Rescue Me," my favorite or "Fahrenheit." The vote was 2 to 2 with one not willing to vote. Someone said "well then it's a Split Decision," hence the name. We also added an extremely talented singer, Tim Roets. We play about 65% modern country with the rest being southern rock mixed with other types of partying music. Jerry Short, Todd Welsh, Jake Montoya, Tim Roets would like to invite everyone to come and enjoy a live energetic show with "Split Decision."
Björksta Folkdanslag
Björksta Folkdanslag, or shorter Björkstalaget was founded in 1923 to encourage traditional Swedish folk dances and to counteract the modern dances that were coming from the United States at the time. The latest "one step" and "two step" were considered vulgar or even sinful. The Charleston was just beginning to become known in the USA. Members of Björkstalaget were supposed to promise not to dance those modern dances, or at least not to dance them when wearing the traditional folk dance costumes.
Björksta Folkdanslag is now Umeå's oldest folkdance group and has about 80 members. We are a nonprofit and nonprofessional dance group.
Originally, the dance group had its own musicians, and danced only to live music. However, in 1956 they found it necessary to buy their first tape recorder. We do not have our "own" musicians now but "borrow" them from wherever we can. During our trip to the U.S. in October 2009, about 20 students from the municipal Umeå Music School will provide us with music.
At every midsummer and on the Swedish national day (June 6) we wear traditional folk dance costumes and mostly dance traditional folk dances. Sometimes with live music, sometimes with recorded music. During the rest of the year we present a few formal folk dance shows, but mostly dance for the fun of it.
Folkhettan och Folkfräs
"Folkhettan" is made up of high schoolers, and the name implies "really hot folk music". "Folkfräs" is made up junior high schoolers, and the name is best translated as "sizzling-hot folk music". Now, which one is hotter, I ask?
Folkhettan and Folkfräs are a part of the Music School's ensemble activities that are directed toward folk music. The groups are led by Lena Sparresäter, violin, and Torbjörn Sundlöf, guitar.
The main instrument is the violin, but accompanying instruments such as guitar, base violin and pump organ are included. The main part of the repertoire is Swedish folk music, but influences from other cultures' folk music are also included.
These music groups are a visible portion of the municipality's culture life, and during the years they have performed on many of Umeå's public stages. Collaboration with other nearby countries, such as Finland, Norway and Denmark has been going on for several years.
The pictures are from last summer's big event in Kaustinen, Finland, at which about 450 young people from Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway played music together during the big, yearly folk music festival.
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