A Brief Introduction per 2005-06-01

Falun Folkmusik Festival started in 1986. The festival was the first major event in the Nordic countries that presented Swedish and Nordic traditional music parallel to locally rooted music from other countries and continents. World music and Nordic traditional music side by side on equal footing.

The combination of the two, and the firm view that music with distinctive local character can and should be presented together, is the trademark of the festival. This concept is still very much unique. Spelmansstämmor, those very Nordic meetings of traditional fiddlers and other musicians, and other events focusing on our own traditional music continue to live healthy life’s since decades. All over Europe a large number of festivals have sprung up within the framework of what is loosely termed World Music. But no other event has created a similar balance between the local and the global music. Yet not ending up with just a blend, but rather – in a true sense of the word – a glorious mix.

Occasionally the terms are difficult to handle. The Swedish term folkmusik seems to bring very different associations to an American, who often thinks of something in the singer/songwriter tradition. Whereas we mean traditional music. A brief look in some dictionaries actually suggests that a more true translation would be country music. Which seems to open up whole new ways of misunderstanding.

Being unceasingly curious about and open to music rooted somewhere beyond our own horizon is probably the reason why Falun Folkmusik Festival has an inclination towards presenting new music. New not only in the context of lesser known, but rather new as in being the latest in the never-ending development of traditional music. We are therefore more prone to present utility music, that is music that is alive, growing, developing, changing and merging, than museum pieces of folklore.

The festival and the other activities have had different principals. A foundation initially operated the festival for the first eleven years, later transferring the task to a non-profit association. When the association due to several years of financial difficulties made closure in early 1999, the Falun Folkmusik Festival Ltd assumed responsibility.

Falun is a small community and local politics tend to be more a question of personalities than dogma. The festival encountered various difficulties in the past years with the local council, finally necessitating the filing of a law suit in late 2003. The ensuing legal battles led to the festival being blocked from all public financing in 2004. A reconciliation was reached in March 2005 whereby the local council paid a substantial settlement fee but at the same gained full control of the Falun Folkmusik Festival brand name.

The 2005 edition of the festival will therefore be organised by a number of different companies according to the settlement contract. Falun Folkmusik Festival Ltd will however continue to organise concerts with traditional music while other events will for the period of 2005 - 2007 be program with a distinctly more local view.