Featured Entertainers from Finland
Ancient Instruments and Angelic Voices

Kardemimmit takes you to a journey into the Finnish Midsummer’s magical night where the sun doesn’t set at all. The air is filled with the ancient mystery of time standing still and the nature is heartbreakingly beautiful at the peak of its bloom. Kardemimmit is the sound of the Finnish forest

Kardemimmit is a band of four awesome women playing the Finnish national instrument, kantele. The band members are Maija Pokela, Jutta Rahmel, Anna Wegelius and Leeni Wegelius. Kardemimmit are in charge of their own music – they compose, as well as arrange, write lyrics and produce. Alongside 15 and 38 stringed kanteles, singing has a big part in Kardemimmit’s musical universe where original pieces with a modern approach still have a strong foundation in Finnish, Eastern European and Scandinavian traditions. The Finnish reki-singing style, 19th century dancing music, Perhonjokilaakso kantele playing style, Eastern Finnish archaic improvisation and ancient runo singing are all present in Kardemimmit’s music.

Featured Entertainers from Norway

Sturla Eide is one of Norway’s most accomplished traditional fiddlers and Øystein Sandbukt plays acoustic guitar with an emphasis on Norwegian folk tunes. Sturla Eide has been fiddling since 1982 and is also a composer. His tune «Dimmisjonspols» («Discharge Pols») has become a household staple of the Scandinavian repertoire, performed in most folk music gatherings. Øystein Sandbukt started out as a rock guitarist but then got curious about Norwegian traditional music. He retuned his guitar like a fiddle with two bass strings, experimented, and found that he can play old fiddle tunes like fiddlers do. Together Eide and Sandbukt offer a fascinating journey through the vast range of Norwegian traditional fiddle and guitar tunes. Most of the main melodies fall to Sturla as he plays the violin and a wonderful Norwegian nine-stringed Hardangerfiddle. This music is interesting stuff. The basic tone will be familiar to any experienced listener of traditional Celtic music, but it’s not Celtic music, it’s Norwegian. Every melody in Norwegian traditional music is saturated by rhythm because the tunes had to be danceable by themselves a long time ago. The melody is in the rhythm and the rhythm is in the melody. Enjoy the energetic, edgy and powerful tunes presented on violin and guitar as Sturla and Øystein improvise over traditional tunes that could still be used for dancing. Everything is undoubtably pure Norwegian!

Patrick McMonagle has been folk dancing since high school in Seattle in the 1960s. He’s taught folkdance to University of Washington students and teaches at the Northwest Folklife Festival and the Junction City Scandinavian Festival. One of his regular teachers included Gordon Tracie whose Skandia LP he rereleased on CD in 1997. Currently Pat leads folkdances at the Swedish Club in Seattle.  Pat’s favorite joke:

“Why don’t dogs dance?”
“Because they have two left feet!”

Left feet aside, Pat will teach five short dance lessons at the 2020 festival and call mixers at the Friday and Saturday night open dances. No prior experience or partner is necessary.

“Leikarringen” means circle or round dance. The priority of this Portland group is the preservation of Nordic culture. The group’s ages range from 4 to young adult and they love to perform around the Pacific Northwest. They rehearse on Tuesdays in SE Portland and welcome new members. Check them out on Facebook too. Christie Stilson is director of the group and Ethan Hardy leads the Stor Leikarringen.

Note: Leikarringen likes to perform outdoors if the weather is nice. Look for them in front of the main entrance on Saturday.

From Portland

Returning to the 2020 Midsummer Festival after a long absence is Tulehoidjad, an Estonian folkdance group from Portland, Oregon. Tulehoidjad means Torch Bearers and was formed in 1950. They have taught Estonian folk dances to three generations of Estonian immigrants and many American friends. Keeping Estonian traditions alive and teaching Americans about Estonian folk dance are its primary aims.