About
The music of Fru Skagerrak takes you on a journey through Scandinavia; from lowlands to mountains, from slow airs to lively polkas, in major and in minor, and everything in between. Fru Skagerrak- ”Lady Skagerrak” – are three master musicians – one from each Scandinavian country: Maja Kjær Jacobsen from Denmark, Elise Wessel Hildrum from Norway and Anna Lindblad from Sweden.
Fru Skagerrak plays old and new folk tunes from Denmark, Sweden and Norway, and sings in all three languages. With their combination of groove, presence, and a lot of great stories, the trio has won the hearts of audiences in many countries, playing concerts at the big scenes – like Australia’s Woodford Folk Festival with 150,000 visitors – to the smallest concerts – 15 seated in Edinburgh, Scotland – and everything in between. Through exstensive touring in Australia, Europe, Canada and the US, Fru Skagerraks music now appears razor sharp in both expression and intensity.
In 2011, these three globetrotting musicians met for the first time at Tønder Festival, Denmark’s biggest Folk Festival, in a roaring session that had engulfed the backstage bar. Through the mayhem of tunes you could feel a certain Scandinavian groove, and in that moment the connection between these three fiddlers was clear. After meeting at Tønder Festival for three consecutive years, Fru Skagerrak finally saw the light of day in August 2014.
The trio brings together the diverse traditions from each of their homelands, which surround the Skagerrak strait. Through a repertoire of traditional tunes, new compositions, and songs in their respective languages, they express their kinship and love of their shared heritage. The result is an explosion of the sounds that exist in Scandinavian music today.
The self-titled debut album was released in May 2016, and their second album “Ankerdram” was released in April 2018, both with the Danish lable GO’ Danish Folk Music.
Anna Lindblad (SE)
fiddle, vocals
Anna Lindblad is a versatile fiddler from Sweden. Her powerfull fiddle playing is steeped in groove, joy and presence. Anna is just as oldfashioned as she is innovative and with a nod to the tradition she brings her music forward, blending all her diverse musical interests into a very special voice that’s all her own. With a heart beating for Swedish tradition she is not afraid to mix it up with other musical ways of expression. Besides her Swedish fiddling she also plays Québecois, Irish, Cajun and Old-time, always with a smile and a contagiously positive attitude and spirit.
Anna has a Master’s degree in Swedish traditional music from the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, and is a member in Swedish folk pop band LYY, Anna Lindblad Trio (with Ryan Drickey and Anders Löfberg), and Swedish folk big band Folk All-in Band (FAB). Anna is also frequently playing for traditional dancers and teaches fiddle classes both at home and at different workshops and camps around the world.
Elise Wessel Hildrum (NO)
fiddle, vocals, recorder
Elise Wessel Hildrum is one of quite few norwegian folk fluteplayers. She grew up playing mostly classical music, but “discovered” the world of folk music at the age of 20 and decided that this was what she wanted to play. As a recorder player it was natural for her to learn the norwegian “sjøfløyte” (sea-flute) tradition from Numedal. This has been the core of her repertoire through several years of folk music studies. She studied for two years in Rauland, four years at the Norwegian Academy of Music (as the only one to date to have done a folk music performance degree on the flute), she has been on exchange programmes to both Malmö (Sweden) and Newcastle (UK) and twice she has won the flute category in the national folk music competition.
After finishing her folk music degree, Elise has been working as both flute and fiddle teacher, both at workshops and seminars and with private pupils, even at the Academy of Music in Oslo. In addition to this she has been studying languages part time at the University of Oslo
Maja Kjær Jacobsen (DK)
fiddle, vocals
The fiddle playing and singing of Maja Kjær Jacobsen is beautiful, playful and experimental. She has travelled and performed in many different countries, presenting her ”darling”, the exotic sounding traditional music and gorgeous songs of Central Jutland in Denmark, which has caught the attention of her audiences as well as many critics. Her own compositions radiate a special power, and she can bring out cinematic soundscapes from both her more delicate tunes as well as the raw reels.
Maja has a Masters degree in Traditional Music from the Academy of Music, Southern Denmark in Odense (DK), and besides Fru Skagerrak she plays in the duo Maskineri with guitarist Søren Vinther Røgen. Her former bands include the fiddle duo Maja & David (with Québec fiddler and foot-tapper, and a member of La Bottine Souriante, David Boulanger). Maja also teaches – both fiddle, singing and dancing. She is also researching the music from her home, and in 2019 she published the tune book “Nodebog efter Kristen Jensen & Anders “Top” Andersen”, presenting 199 tunes from her home region. She has been nominated several times for a Danish Folk Music Award; in 2017 as “Composer of the Year” and in 2019 for “Traditional Award of the Year”.