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1985

Eric Hector from the folk music group Sågskära took the initiative for the first Bordunstämma at Korrö (bordun = drone, stämma = a gathering of folk musicians!). During the folk music wave of the 1970s, and into the early 1980s, there had been a growing interest in older instruments. Instrument makers were gaining in experience, the mid 1980s showing proof of this in the form of a few ambitious bagpipe festivals in Dala-Järna, one bordunstämma in Sörmland, and last but not least, the bordunstämma at Korrö. This first year was marked by continuous rain, but everyone found a place in the barn, and all performers were served food during the interval. During the concert on saturday afternoon, all the musicians sat on the floor before an open fire. Amongst those who participated was the music professor Ludolf Lützen from Köln, who at this time had a summerhouse in the neighbouring village of Linneryd. Lützen would become a regular guest during the following years. Per-Ulf Allmo had with him his lira-playing friend Ira Meyer from Kiel, who would also return to Korrö for many years to come. Instrument maker Harald Elofsson from Ormeshaga (who almost never travelled) was a prominent guest (not least for us in Sågskära). Amongst the special guests was also a very unknown (at this time) bagpipe-playing youngster from Karlskoga-trakten – Anders Stake (now Norudde). The festival’s initiators, the folk music group Sågskära with Eric Hector at the forefront, had a record-long concert of the type they have never had time for again during following Korrö festivals. Olle Paulsson documented the event on video, and Radio Kronoberg made a live broadcast. The festival was put on with support from Studieförbundet FS during the first year.

Sågskära

Eva Blomquist-Bjärnborg & Sabina Kristensen
Stefan Ekedahl & Betty Binder
Fiffe
Christina Frohm & Anders Eklund
Eugen Joss
Ludolf Lützen
Ira Meyer
Olle Paulsson
Harald Pettersson
Anders Stake (Norudde)

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1986

The second Bordunstämman was also marked by really bad weather. As if from nowhere appeared the grand old man of nyckelharpor, Gösta Sandström, together with a group of friends from Täby. Harald Pettersson, who played at the festival in its first year, returned with his newly formed Jum Jum Band. Special guests were Jan Winter and Anders Rosén – the latter would become one of Korrö Festival’s most frequent guests. During the morning (before the concerts) David Kettlewell held a workshop on “The essence of drone music”, at which the participants sang “Hej, sa Petronella” in multiple harmony. A remarkable experience for everyone involved! During the concert David used a record number of instruments! Faithful Korrö fans may remember how the entire hearthstone was filled with diverse epinettes (member of the zither family) and dulcimers …

Jum Jum Band
Röda Hnud
Sågskära
Täby Spelmansgille (Gösta Sandström, Leif Nygren, Kjell Wigfors & Sten Steinholz)
Krösakapellet
Roger Gustafsson
David Kettlewell
Ludolf Lützen
Ira Meyer
Jan Winter & Anders Rosén
Harald Pettersson
Eva & Sabina
Christina Frohm & Anders Eklund & Pär Furå
Lennart Carlsson
Bengt Andersson
Stefan Ekedahl

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1987

Would the Bordunstämman survive following the first two tremulous years? A planned instrument builder’s course at Grimslöv’s Folkhögskola under the leadership of Ingvar Jörpelands had to be cancelled due to insufficient applicants. On top of this, the stämman’s economic situation was deteriorating; there was a smaller audience and fewer participants than the previous year. Perhaps this was due to the fact that this year Friday was the main day, with concerts and performances. Saturday was devoted to song workshops, with teaching in Gunilla Lundh-Tobianssonss house in Värends Nöbbele. Märta Ramsten from Svenskt Visarkiv took part in the song workshops, and documented the entire event on behalf of the archive. In the evening there was barn dancing back at Korrö, to the customary play list (those who wish to play for dancing write their name on a list). By this point, people in the “inner circle” had already begun to talk of expanding the Bordunstämman to a real “Folk Music Festival”. This year’s special guest was Eugen Joss, who played the Hungarian lira. Among those participating, the large newly formed local group Pumpapaj & Kalvadans gained attention.

Pumpapaj & Kalvadans
Sågskära
Eva & Sabina (+ Mats Thiger)
Jahlaa
Blekingegänget
Eugen Joss
Ludolf Lützen & Friedbert Dels
Ira Meyer
Lennart Carlsson
Ole og Lone
Bengt Andersson & Ralf Sköld
Harald Pettersson
Joóp Árpád
Stefan Ekedahl & Betty Binder

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1988

Rainy weather and plenty of mosquitoes far into the night on Saturday. This year also saw a repeated effort to organise the instrument builder’s course at Grimslov’s Folkhögskola the week before the bordunstämman, but just as in 1987, there were too few applicants and the whole project had to be put to one side. On the other hand, the stämman reverted to the original format, with Saturday as the main day. This year the stage was placed along the longest side of the barn. In the morning Marie Gustafsson (now Länne Persson) held a well-attended workshop in the barn on drone music. This was the last year to have organised catering for all the guest musicians at the barn before the dancing began on Saturday evening. Amongst the guest musicians this year were three young people in the group “Krösakapellet”, who would go on to be much talked about in folk music circles in Sweden – Olle Paulsson, Erik Pekkari and Johan Hedin!

Krösakapellet (Olle Paulsson, Johan Hedin & Erik Pekkari)
Sågskära

Ingvar Jörpeland
Ludolf Lützen
Ira Meyer
Ole og Lone
Anders Rosén

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1989

In 1989 the third attempt to establish an instrument-building course the week before the Bordunstämman was made, and this time it was a case of third time lucky. The instrument course, led by Harald Pettersson, devoted most time to making bagpipes, and the course was combined with playing, dancing and song courses. The remaining teachers were Mats Edén, Leif and Inger Stinnerbom, Toste Länne, Magnus Gustafsson, Gunilla Lundh-Tobiasson, Marie Gustafsson and Eric Hector. Almost one hundred participants gathered at Grimlövs Folkhögskola. On Friday afternoon all the participants travelled from Grimslöv to Korrö, to take part in another new feature of the 1989 stämma – namely the “pre-stämma” on Friday evening. Bordunstämman had developed into a two-day event (even if this concept had already been tested, if somewhat indirectly, in 1987). In addition to the week-long course, Marie Gustafsson held a Saturday morning workshop about ballads for people at the stämma. For the first time Bordunstämman received some decent coverage in the national press, in the form of a large article in Svenska Dagbladet by Carl-Gunnar Åhlén. Artists to take note of this year were, amongst others, the South American harpist Adrian Miranda, the Dutch epinette player Paul de Haan, and the French bagpipe virtuoso Dominique Paris. Also noteworthy was Leif Stinnerbom’s first solo performance after his split from Groupa…

Sågskära
Västerängstrion
Le Bacmes

Paul de Haan
Lars Högberg
Ludolf Lützen
Ira Meyer
Adrian Miranda
Dominique Paris
Harald Pettersson
Anders Stake (Norudde), Ulf Karlsson & Göran ”Freddy” Fredriksson
Leif Stinnerbom
Anders Rosén & Joja Geijer
Stefan Ekedahl
Bengt Andersson & Pelle Ragnarsson & Johan Hedin

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1990

1990 was the “Year of Folk Music”. This had a noticeable effect on Korrö, with more performers and a larger audience than in the past. The “pre-stämma” on Friday evening was now well established, and the youth hostel showed the first signs of being overfull. The festival poster also advertised camping facilities for the first time (on the field alongside the road 122). During Saturday morning Marie Gustafsson held a workshop on medieval ballads. “Jams”, a group from former East Germany, performed at Korrö as part of a tour organised by Owe Ronström. There were many German musicians this year! David Kettlewell returned to Korrö for the second time – he had had a course with some friends (under the name “Löfsjömusiquen”) on Öland the week prior to the stämma. One of the group members was a young Johan Hedin who also returned to Korrö for the second time. “Ingemar i Uråsa” appeared for the first time with a caravan, diverse products on sale and Chinese lanterns. The study association Vuxenskolan i Tingsryd became co-arranger of the festival for the first time.

Jams
Löfsjömusiquen (David Kettlewell, Johan Hedin, Karin Skoglund, Kjell Persson)
Sågskära
Vumpi Drängar

Bengt & Rolf Andersson
Lennart Carlsson
Joja Geijer
Alice Hensel
Allen Lake
Norbert & Hinrich Langeloh
Lone og Ole
Ludolf Lützen
Stig Norrman
Olle Paulsson
Anders Rosén & Harald Petterson
Trevor & Åke

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1991

Prior to the festival, three well-attended three-day courses were held: folk ballad singing with Gunilla Lundh-Tobiasson and Eric Hector, tune playing from Småland with Magnus Gustafsson and historical dances with Göran Andersson. A special memory from these courses is an unforgettable paddling expedition! Three young unknown men from Uppland had a new recording with them and performed for the first time to a really large festival audience – the men called themselves “Väsen” and they would return to Korrö many many times. As a result of Väsens performance, came Olov Johansson’s friends from the Irish trio Setanta, and from a collapsing Soviet Union came “Leningrad Folk Music Quartette” (while it was still called Leningrad). Anders Stake (Norudde) returned with his “Blå Bergens Borduner” and bagpipe maker and musician Alban Faust turned up for the first time. In the future he would become a regular guest nearly every year…

Blå Bergens Borduner
Leningrad Folkmusic Quartette
Setanta (Sean Craddock, Colette O´Leary & Jim Fogerty)
Sågskära
Väsen

Styrbjörn Bergelt
Alban Faust
Jörg Hensel
Ludolf Lützen
Bengt Löfberg
Harald Pettersson
Anders Rosén
Per Runberg

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1992

This year the festival was endowed for the first time with a large, multi-coloured printed poster. In connection with Bordunstämman the Zornmärke performance trials were arranged in Växjö. This meant that this year there were plenty of general folk music-related events in the Växjö area, and this in turn led to a raised interest in Bordunstämman. The group Rotvälta was heard for the first time at Korrö, and together with regular guest Anders Rosén was a young Jonas Åkerlund (who would later move to Småland and the Korrö area). From Norway came Håkon Asheim and Gisle Slötte, with a Valdresspringar record in their luggage.

Lima
Pumpapaj & Kalvadans
Rotvälta
Sågskära

Trad Lads
Håkon Asheim & Gisle Slötte
Alban Faust (Faust)
Felipe Flores
Johan Hedin & David Wemmert
Roland Keijser, Anders Rosén & Jonas Åkerlund
Luffe Niller
Joachim von Usslad

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1993

A week-long course in bagpipe making and playing was held prior to the festival, led by Alban Faust. A good twenty or so course participants struggled with their pipes, and it all resulted in, amongst other things, a series of news flashes on Swedish national TV. During the festival itself a record number of bagpipes playing together could be heard (all the course participants plus a few festival-goers). A funny, but also fear-inducing occurrence was when a female bagpipe player from Blekinge fell down from the stage during a concert, at which point the doctor had to be called for. This year was otherwise a fairly quiet year in Korrö’s development. Extremely bad weather took its toll on the event. This was the first year to have a small and humble information tent (hired from “Räppe Party Equipment” – with which the festival general and Toste Länne had endless problems in pitching), which required channels to be dug around it to drain away the water. RM:s Rotogravyr made small simple yellow signs for the campsite, festival and car park – signs which would be used for many years to come. Portaloos where hired for the first time to reduce the strain on the barn toilets. A few of Sågskära’s family members had to be hurriedly called in as parking attendants, as there was total chaos on the fields towards the bridge – this led to a completely new system of traffic management the following year. Gunnfjauns Kapell turned up for the first time – they would go on to become faithful Korrö fans, drawing with them whole clans of children, friends and musicians from Gotland…This year also marked the first appearance of Norwegian musician Ånon Egeland – he would also become a regular guest at Korrö…

Gunnfjauns Kapell
Irlandsgänget
Sågskära

Ånon Egeland, Tom W Rustad & Kari Lönnestad
Alban Faust
Rolf Grannerud
Helene Ingvarsdotter
Dan Johansson
Bolennart Lindberg
Erik Stridh
Eva Teljebäck

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1994

Onwards and upwards for the event now called “Korrö Folkmusikfest”. The original Bordunstämma stamp began to disappear more and more, for better and for worse…. There was still free camping on the field nearest to road 122, and everything concerned with this remained relatively unorganised. A gravelled area was roped off and a simple spontaneous entrance fee was set up, which sadly created a lot of antagonism towards the Korrö Association (the entrance fee had to be cancelled at some point on Saturday afternoon). On another note, this was the first year that the festival had a proper PA-system with a sound engineer: Holkya-ljud, or in other words Bosse Paulsson and his family, who would take the major responsibility for this in following years with everything it entailed. The company “Skyltmakaren” made a larger festival sign which would be used for several years on road 122 (the northern entrance to Korrö). Magnus Harem plus friends premiered with a rip-roaring group session playing for dancing in the barn. Väsen cropped up again – now one of Sweden’s most established folk music groups. After their gig at Korrö, transport to Kalmar Airport had to be organised immediately, which says quite a lot about the hype the group experienced during this time. The project “Höök” was still in its infancy after only one weeks rehearsing prior to Korrö, and they made their first official performance ever at the festival. During the playing-for-dancing evening a number of boundary-breaking duos were noticed: Olov Johansson & Björn Ståbi ; Bengt Löfberg & Björn Ståbi ; Mikael Marin & Ånon Egeland and Mikael Marin & Magnus Gustafsson…

Höök
Magnus Harem
Ravn (Valramn)
Sågskära
Väsen

Lennart Carlsson
Ånon Egeland
Alban Faust
Joja Geijer
Bengt Löfberg
Olle Paulsson & Anders Löfberg
Harald Pettersson
Björn Ståbi & Kersti Ståbi
Bröderna Ullman    

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1995

This year was the first real lift for Korrö Festival. Fantastic weather and a well-attended pre-stämma on Friday evening. Attendance figures rose significantly. Crowding at the barn became almost embarrassingly obvious (for the organisers). Big news for the year was the singing session on Friday night (by 1999 this had already developed into a more regular song concert) and the midnight concert on Saturday night at the Mill. On top of this there were singing games for the whole family on Saturday afternoon outside the Dye-works – a tradition that would last a couple of years onwards. The campsite was slightly more organised with its own fee. The car park was run by Linneryds IF and for the first time there was a more official office and information tent. The festival also had well-organised publicity in advance of the event for the first time, with articles in Lands summer supplement, Svenska Rikskonserter’s summer music brochure and the newspapers Raka spåret and Upp och Ner. Korrö Festival also gained sponsors for the first time, which covered part of the running costs. Once again there were differences of opinion with Korrö Association about the entrance fee – a problem that would completely disappear a few years down the line. This was the final year that the takings were gathered in by Sågskära (or Sågskära’s children) going around with a hat. Prior to the festival a course on “Fieldwork techniques in ethnomusicology” (worth 5 credits in the Swedish education system) was run by Gunnar Ternhag and Märta Ramsten. This resulted in, amongst other things, an extremely well documented festival with both video and audio recordings. The fantastic Voice Squad came over from Ireland. Many groups had premier concerts before a large audience this year – Sälta, Galder, Tungor & Tagel and not least Swåp. All the way from Norway came Gullfakse, who became enchanted with Korrö as a whole. And for the first time the sound of the Värend drum could be heard across the River Ronneby…Many people thought that this year’s festival poster – completely red with a faint yellow bagpipe – looked like something completely different…

Galder
Gullfakse (Rukaren)
Kalousch
Magnus Harem
Sinkelipass
Svenska Säckpipskvintetten
Swåp
Sågskära
Sälta
Sörmländska lekare
Tungor & Tagel
Voice Squad
Värendsk trumtradition (Sven Kihlström)

Alban Faust & Dieter Grell
Per Gudmundsson, Ola Bäckström & Björn Ståbi
Roland Keijser & Anders Rosén
Bengt Löfberg
Erik Pekkari
Britt-Marie Persson & Birgitta Lundin
Anders Stake (Norudde)

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1996

The success of 1995 continued. Many people thought that the festival poster with the flute-playing jester was the finest so far. The expression “Bordunstämma” took an increasingly backstage role – it was now simply a faint background text on the poster… There was much that was new this year – a new company responsible for both food and the car park (Nöbbele BK) and a considerably larger office. For the first time there was also a staff group of voluntary officials who helped out with various tasks according to a pre-made schedule (which only contained 14 names). Korrö Festival was the first music festival in Sweden to receive EU funding – in this case funding for four years with the possibility to claim it until 2000. A new form of voluntary entry fee was created (with small stickers), but as a result of Korrö Association’s decision it was still not possible to charge an official entry fee. For the first time something resembling a proper campsite was organised on the other side of road 122. The outdoor production “Mästertjuwfen” had to be cancelled due to rain, but apart from that, this year saw many new (now well-known) folk music groups perform – Rosenbergs Sjua, Hulling, Trio Patrekatt and Envisa…And the relatively new magazine Lira nominated Korrö Festival to one of summer’s most interesting music events!

Ainai
Envisa
Hins Honor
Hulling
Magnus Harem
Paddy O´Neill & Irlandsgänget
Pilgrim Shoes
Rosenbergs Sjua
Sågskära
Trio Patrekatt

Thore & Oline Härdelin
Jalle Hjalmarsson & Lasse Björk
Dominique Paris
Ray ”Wombat” Stockdale
David Tell & Göran Hallmarken    

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1997

In comparison with 1995 and 1996, 1997 saw Korrö take a small step backwards. Otherwise, a set of important and determining events happened this year in particular. The festival was advertised with the slogan “Southern Sweden’s biggest folk music festival” for the first time. It was also the first time that the festival could charge an official entry fee – the grand sum of 50 kr /day (which must have been something of a low-cost record regarding festivals in relation to some kind of deal on offer). The entrance into the festival area was already marked out on the Thursday, and an open-air dance floor was set up for the first time. There was however still no stage, and people had to make do with Bengt i Baggagårn’s large hay wagon instead. On top of this, the festival gained in length, with a sneaky “pre-stämma” on Thursday. RFOD put on courses in arranging both prior to and during the festival for the first time. The midnight concert and song session were well established and well attended. Advertising agency Ord&Bild designed this year’s poster – which you either loved or hated… The festival was also advertised with different folk music jingles on the newly started commercial radio. During a mosquito-rich Saturday evening, an acrid scent from one of Ingmar i Uråsas’ special remedies against mosquitoes spread inside the barn, which in turn almost caused a revolt (especially amongst a few people from Göteborg). Memories that stand out from this year are, amongst others, Sabbath Hela Veckan’s energetic concert on Friday evening, and above all the Norwegian group Tiriltunga’s farewell concert prior to Heidi Lövlund’s tragic passing away.

Gast
Kersti Macklin & Midgårdsensemblen
Pipeline
Plommon
Sabbath Hela Veckan
Smålands Spelmansförbunds låtläger
Sågskära
Tiriltunga
Väsen

Mats Berglund, Göran Håkansson & Fredrik Lundberg
Ånon Egeland & Leiv Solberg
Jörgen Fischer
Martin Myhr
Anders Rosén & Ulf Störling
Ray ”Wombat” Stockdale

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1998

This year the festival gained back some of the audience who were missing the previous year, not least because of the fantastic festival weather. Following the trial run the year before with the “pre-stämma”, Thursday was now established as a regular festival day, complete with concert by the group Ashplant. This was also the first year with regular stage lighting. The open-air dance floor became more established as a regular concert stage (this year with a small “real stage”) during Saturday afternoon. Nöbbele BK organised an official food tent for the first time, and the Hector clan contributed with other culinary specialities. Members of the dance group Trotto worked as festival officials for the first time. Of the more bizarre happenings was a shortage of portaloos. These should have been delivered by lorry from Halmstad via Växjö, but the load with all the upright portaloos was too high for one of the footbridges going over the road, and the whole thing went straight into the bridge, resulting in pieces of broken portaloo along the entire route (luckily it wasn’t the return journey…). This year is remembered for the then unknown groups such as Ranarim and Eter. Memorable too is an unforgettable song concert with both older established and younger unknown (since then very well established) singers such as Ulrika Bodén, Ulrika Gunnarsson, Sofia Karlsson, Anders Larsson, Gunilla Lundh-Tobiasson, Marie Länne Persson, Maria Ohlsson, Sofia Sandén, Zara Tellander, Charlotte Berg and Agneta Stolpe. Anita Paulsson produced this year’s poster, and Göteborgsposten (a newspaper) named Korrö Festival as “the absolute climax of the summer”…

Ashplant
Edén-Stinnerbom Revival
Elwali
Envisa
Eter
Everts Kvintett
Faust
Gast
Gunnfjauns Kapell
Harv
Ranarim
RåMantik
Sågskära
Tilja
Tummel

Ulrika Bodén
Mats Edén, Ellika Frisell & Sven Ahlbäck
Dermot Hyde
Sofia Karlsson
Anders Larsson
Sofia Sandén
Maria Ohlsson
Agneta Stolpe
Zara Tellander
Jeanett Walerholt & Karin Ohlsson

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1999

This year, for the first time, more organised short courses/workshops were arranged for Friday afternoon. The slängpolska course inside the barn was already overfull this year – a hint for how things would progress the following years…This year also saw the premier of a huge success, namely dance to master musicians in the Sawmill on Saturday night. Furthermore, there was finally a bit more order on the campsite, with specially allotted camping places on Stjernfeldts meadow. The festival became part of the ”European Route of Traditional Music and Dance” network, and in conjunction with this the majority of concerts and even some of the dancing at barn were documented on video. The SMP-card was connected with the festival for the festival, resulting in cheaper advertising. This was the year when it became possible to buy a festival pass for the first time. It was also the final year that the term “Bordunstämma” made an appearance whatsoever (as an indistinct subtext in an extra printed black and white folder). Alf Tjällskog produced the festival poster for the first time, which would become a tradition for the following years. The song session moved over to become more of a concert and was advertised under the somewhat unclear rubric: “Song session with song concert”. Due to diminishing interest, the singing games in front of the Dye-works were organised for the final time. The unusual “Polska procession” with well-trimmed Värend drums was heard rumbling across Korrö at appointed times, and late on Saturday night an improvised open-air concert was held with signals of different sorts (drums, kulning, lålning and horns) resounding across the area around Korrö. From nightly sojourns in the barn come memories of particularly fantastic dance sessions with Simon Simonsson’s trio and Österdals/Rörospols with Åsmund Svenkerud and Sturla Eide Sundli. To this year’s experiences also belong a midnight concert that didn’t want to end, and a group of German musicians who almost drove into the river with their car…

Bokenäsets Ådra
Bröt
Bäsk
Dalaligan
Everts Kvintett
Gejser
Grannar & Bröder
Gränslös Mässing
Gunnfjauns kapell (delar)
Kvarting
Morfars gitarrer
Nyckelharpsorkestern (Johan Hedin, Henrik Eriksson, Ola Hertzberg  
& Niklas Roswall)
Polsketåget
Qvast
Råttfällemakarna
Simon Simonssons trio
SoT
St Olofz
Sågskära
Triakel
Trotto
Vah
Velourensemblen
Värends Spelmansgille
Zoraine
Åsmund & Sturla

Eva Blomquist-Bjärnborg
Per Gudmundsson, Ola Bäckström, Lars-Urban Helje & Agneta Stolpe
Lars-Olof Ejstes
Sturla Eide Sundli
Henrik Eriksson
Karin Eriksson
Lars-Gunnar Franzén
Johan Hedin
Helene Ingvarsdotter
Bengt Karlsson
Hans Kennemark
Sten Källman
Anders Löfberg
Sören Nilsson
Åke Persson
Owe Ronström
Niklas Roswall & Ola Hertzberg
Henrik Schön
Astrid Selling
Jonas Simonsson
Erik Stridh
Åsmund Svenkerud
Mats Thiger
Jeanett Walerholt
Jonas Åkerlund

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2000

The year 2000 was Korrö Festival’s final year with EU funding. From this point onwards the festival was completely dependent on the financial input of its audience and sponsors, plus some smaller county council funding, relatively unaltered since coming into effect in 1990. Otherwise, this year saw yet another improvement, with impressive attendance, despite some quite bad festival weather. This was the first year with a speed limit inferred on road 122, put in place as a result of quite a narrow escape the previous year at the crossing into the campsite. It was also the first year to have a printed colour festival programme. The open-air dance floor had a significantly larger stage. The festival received a lot of coverage in Dagens Nyheter with a full-page article confirming that Korrö Festival was pretty much unthreatened when it came to presenting “a really wide selection of Swedish and Nordic folk music”. On top of this, Sveriges Radio recorded nearly the entire festival, which would become something of a tradition during the following years (previously, the radio has only covered individual days or concerts)… There were “Fiddle duals” in the Mill instead of the midnight concert, one particularly funny dual which comes to mind being that between Ånon Egeland and Pelle Björnlert. The success of the master musicians in the Sawmill from the previous year expanded to include Friday evening as well. As for the rest, there was amongst other things some fantastic dance music by the Norwegian group Kvarts.

Curfew
Dueling bosokis
Duo Snömåne
En 4:a Blandat
Filur
Fylgja
Get back
Grannar & Bröder
Imma
Klintetten
Kvarting
Kvarts
Låtbolaget
Lättja
Ormslå
Sinkelipass & Sörmländska lekare
Svart Kaffe
Sågskära
The Merry Butchers
Toboinstitutets nyckelharpsgrupp
Toxa
Trotto
Valramn
Yngve Fribergs Fröjdar

Marie Axelsson
Ånon Egeland
Alban Faust
Lars-Gunnar Franzén
Ragnhild Furholt & Helene Waage
Pär & Marianne Furå
Johan Hedin
Leif Johansson
Jo Asger Lie
Olle Lindwall
Henning Lund
Anders Löfberg
Bengt Löfberg, Pelle Björnlert & Erik Pekkari
Olof Misgeld
Angelica Nandorf
Anders Norudde & Göran ”Freddy” Fredriksson
Bernt Olsson
Olle Paulsson
Åke Persson
Harald Pettersson
Anders Rosén
Öystein Ovrum Rudi
Tom W Rustad
Henrik Schön
Kersti Ståbi
Hanna Tibell
Jean-Pierre Yvert
Jonas Åkerlund

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2001

Abysmal weather with pouring rain on both Thursday and Friday put its mark clearly on the whole event. Channels had to be dug around the gravelled area to drain the water away from the information and food tents (a repeat of events from 1993, which had seen the festival’s worst weather up to that point). A female hurdy-gurdy player from Stockholm fell into the mire between the campsite and the festival area, and thought that the organisers should arrange for some warning signs to be put up.  On Friday night the weather began to clear up, and Saturday was quite nice with some sunshine. For the first time, the dance floors had their own PA (even if it could have been even bigger and better) with a sound engineer on hand the whole time. For the second time RFOD organised an arranging course both before and during the festival. The weekend prior to the festival also saw a series of courses on offer at Södra Äng in northern Småland for the first time. This year was also the premier for a simple spelmansstämma (musician’s gathering) in Rävemåla Hembygdspark on Sunday afternoon. The American harpist Aryeh Frankfurter appeared as if from nowhere, and stood for a wonderful part of the midnight concert. During Friday night the festival suffered for the first time from fighting and vandalism - everything from upturned portaloos to cut power lines and chairs thrown into the river. A sad side of a growing event…

Alruna
Blackthorn
Blott bleck
Dueling bosokis
En 4:a Blandat
Giddabush
Groupa
Gösta med vänner
Inland
Kaerlighed på Pröve
Kantavarvas
Korrökapellet
Krack
Kvarting
Matsbrunoz med Eva & Tove
Månsson & Åberg
Perkelä
Skvaltkvarni
Sågskära
Tiddelipom
Trotto
Trätrion
Tviller
Två
Vildvuxna
Östersunds Spelmanslag

Bengt Andersson & Eva Johansson
Eva Blomquist-Bjärnborg
Laif & Ninni Carr (Familjen Carr)
Mats Edén & Tina Johansson
Stefan Ekedahl
Alban Faust & Josue Trelles
Mikael & Malin Fernholm
Aryeh Frankfurter
Ellika Frisell & Solo Cisshoko
Joja Geijer
Martin Hillbratt & Johan Hogenäs
Helene Ingvarsdotter
Maria Jonsson & Carina Normansson
Sven Kihlström
Gudrun Majvorsdotter & Jan-Erik Ekman
Martin Mårtensson
Richard Näslin
Åke Persson
Daniel Pettersson
Anders Rosén & Jonas Åkerlund
Owe Ronström
Henrik Schön
Jonas Simonsson
Erik Stridh
Leo Svensson
Staffan Ungsgård & Yvonne Westling
Jeanett Walerholt

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2002

This year also began with bad weather – even if it did become better later on. It was the first year to have official security guards (as a result of the troubles from the previous year), who were ably assisted by a couple of sturdy guys from Nöbbele Ball Club. Someone else from the Ball Club’s management managed to – in one unconsidered moment – promise a lift to a group of young Germans from Korrö in the middle of the night (complete with luggage and bicycles!) He didn’t see it through himself, and it became instead a hopeless problem for the festival organisers. This year was the first year that festival t-shirts were printed, which unfortunately were not a huge sales success (perhaps because it was almost impossible to see what was actually printed on them). This was also the first year to have more organised children’s activities such as nature walks and instrument making. It was also the premier for Småland’s Musicians’s Union youth course the week prior to the festival. They had to battle against an unusually cold and rainy week. The festival campsite on Stjernfeldts meadow was almost full, the water ran out and there was too much demand on the limited number of outside toilets. From the festival itself one remembers in  particular an expressive concert with Johan Hedin and Pelle Björnlert, as well as an exalted dance session with Mats Berglund, Andreas Ralsgård and Leo Svensson. On Friday night the walls of the barn almost burst at the joints during Hedningarna’s concert, which raised the question of the barn’s audience capacity seriously for the first time (something which would be placed in the spotlight even more in years to come). Large outgoings led to the festival going into serious debt for the first time – ca 70,000 kr!

Blott Bleck
Bordunverkstan
Christy O´Leary Band
Den Anakronistiska Strängorkestern
Die Folksdorfer
Duo Snömåne
Flutter By
Gunnfjauns Kapell
Hedningarna
Högt i Tak
Höök
Klinga
Korrö Folkmusikläger
Krack
Kvarting
Leif Billyz
Låtbolaget
Niklas, Günter & Maria
Rotblöta
Rotvälta
Runa
Sintram
Skånebrötet (maffian)
Skårafôlk
Sågskära
Trotto

Bengt Andersson & Eva Johansson
Charlotte Berg
Mats Berglund, Andreas Ralsgård & Leo Svensson
Eva Blomquist-Bjärnborg
Jeanett Eriksson
Pers Lars Eriksson
Malin Fernholm
Pär & Marianne Furå
Roland Gottlow
Erik & Katarina Hammarström
Johan Hedin & Pelle Björnlert
Kersti Johansson & Pontus Estling
Leif Johansson
David Kaminsky & Johan Hogenäs
Pär Kunze
Olle Lindwall
Anders Löfberg
Jon Magnusson
Sören Magnusson
Totte Mattsson, Jan Ekedahl & Sven Åberg
Liisa Matveinen & Tellu Turkka
Pär Moberg
Anders Norudde & Leo Svensson
Dan Olsson & Lars-Gunnar Franzén
Olle Paulsson
Susanne Rosenberg
Henrik Schön
Mats Thiger
Jonas Åkerlund

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2003

This year was marked by fantastic festival weather – it was almost too hot.  During Saturday afternoon there was chaos amongst the audience in the barn during Ranarim and Ale Möller Band’s concerts, which was a sure sign that something had to be done about the concert capacity problem before next year. Sågskära’s Ulrika Gunnarsson managed to almost give a heavy right-hander to a journalist from Smålandspost in all the commotion, and went on to demand his press pass from him. There was also terrible chaos surrounding the sound check schedule. A suggestion box was placed in the festival office for the first time, for visitors to leave ideas about ways of improving the festival (when the box was emptied on Sunday, 90% of all suggestions focused on how to make it possible for more people to see the concerts). Musik i Kronoberg’s role as co-organiser was taken over by Musik i Syd. This year was the premier for the success Svenska låtar (Swedish tunes) in the Mill, with a host of well-known musicians representing different regions. This also meant that there was no midnight concert this year. It was also the first time that cars needed an access pass to get on to the site (an attempt to control the traffic chaos down on the festival site). The course at Södra Äng was moved from the weekend prior to the festival to be placed in connection with the start on Thursday. The innermost organisers of the festival from the group Sågskära put aside their principle of starting things off on Saturday, and played instead for the first time on Thursday night – a gig which did not go down in history as one of the best that the house band have had (amongst other things, the festival general’s violin fell down into the open fire at which point all the strings broke). The festival general managed to lose 10,000 kr (entrance fee money) in an ice-cream box, which was found again on Sunday morning at which point everyone rejoiced at the honesty of Korrö’s visitors. Pelle Björnlert held a course for a whole buss load of Dutch musicians the week before the festival. Of the concerts, Ångermanlandstrion and Bordunverkstan stand out in particular – and at the barn, the dancing continued until 8am on Sunday morning…

Ale Möller Band
Assmara
Blott Bleck
Bordunverkstan
Dueling Bosokis
Duo Liras
En 4:a Blandat
Familjen Lundbäck
Fylgja
Gofot
Gotland All Stars
Grågylling
Gunnel J Mauritzson Band
Harpun
Hemållt
Hollands Spelmanslag
Högt i Tak
Malström
Malungskursen Revival
Moholmen
Ranarim
Sklep
Solsting
The Mörkö gang
Trotto
Ångermanlandstrion

Karl-Johan Anckarblom
Bengt Andersson & Eva Johansson
Eva Blomquist Bjärnborg & Sabina Thiger & Helene Ingvarsdotter
Ulrika Bodén
Laif Carr
Jeanette Eriksson
Karin Eriksson
Pontus Estling
Lars-Gunnar Franzén
Mia Gunberg-Ådin
Mart Hallek
Göran Hallmarken
Lisa Hellsten
Systrarna Hellström
Martin Hillbratt & Johan Hogenäs
Ellge Jacobsson & Karin Hansen
Kersti Johansson
Maria Jonsson & Ian Carr
Maria Kalaniemi & Sven Ahlbäck & Johan Hedin
David Kaminsky
Hans Kennemark
Sven Ljungberg & Andreas Ralsgård
Henning Lund
Maja Lundbäck & Sofia Jansson
Anders Löfberg
Gudrun Majvorsdotter
Göran Månsson
Mats Nilsson & Ingegerd Sigfridsson
Gunnar Nordlinder
Anders Norudde & Leo Svensson
Ville Roempke
Niklas Rosvall
Henrik Schön
Anders Smedenmark
Kurt Stenlund
Magnus Stinnerbom
Erik Stridh
Ulf Störling
Anders Svensson
Pelle & Jenny Tidman + Anders Löfberg & Patrik Andersson
Sveneric Vejvi
Anna-Kristina Widell
Anders Ådin
Jonas Åkerlund

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2004

After three weeks of rain in July, with flooding in Småland that made the national press, the sun finally began to shine on the festival’s first day. The River Ronneby flowed freely along, and had it been just a few centimetres higher the water would have reached both the café and the outdoor stage area. After the audience chaos of 2003, the different stages at Korrö were given different musical areas for the first time. The barn became primarily a place for acoustic groups and dancing, while the outdoor stage was fitted out for “heavier” groups who had greater demands for light and sound engineering. A large tent was erected over the entire dance floor before the stage. This new direction removed some of the strain from the barn, and opened up completely new ways of developing the festival. Two sound engineer companies were needed for the first time, and so alongside the Paulsson clan who were still responsible for sound in the barn, Niclas Gunhamn from Ljudbolaget ran the sound for the new outdoor stage. New for this year was also the fact that staff had walkie-talkies, which improved communication greatly, plus all the festival officials had specific bands to take care of. The famous Austrian hurdy-gurdy player, Simon Wascher, already arrived on Monday, and got to experience the whole slow build up to the festival at Korrö…

Assmara
BLM
Galder
Grannar & Bröder
Gunnfjauns Kapell
Krack
Kraja
Lure
Låtbolaget
Ruttna
Rävarna med Mats Nykvist
Silverbasorkestern
Strängz
Systrarna Hellström
Sågskära
Toxa
Triakel

Kalle Anckarblom
Bengt Andersson & Eva Johansson
Edvard Anderzon
Calle Arnberg
Marie Axelsson
Eva Blomquist-Bjärnborg & Mats Thiger
Laif Carr
Mats Edén & Tina Quartey
Jan Ekedahl
Anna Elwing
Jeanett & Andreas Eriksson
Ulrika Gunnarsson
Erik & Katarina Hammarström
Esbjörn Hazelius
David Kaminsky
Olle Lindvall
Anders Löfberg
Gudrun Majvorsdotter
Olof Misgeld
Pär Moberg
Gunnar Nordlinder
Karin Ohlsson
Snild Orre
Olle Paulsson
Owe Ronström
Per Runberg
Christer & Christina Samuelsson
Lucas Scheffold
Henrik Schön
Astrid Selling
Anders Smedenmark
Anders Svensson
Monika Söderberg
Simon Wascher
Sven Åberg

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2005

Korrö Festival celebrated its 20th anniversary with an extra festival day! Wednesday afternoon saw the festival get off to a kick-start with a few smaller concerts. Unfortunately the 20th anniversary was a wet one, and a new rain record was sat. Luckily a new, larger tent had been acquired, and the majority of visitors could find shelter from the worst of the showers. Länshemslöjden visited the festival and built an unusually rain-proof yurt on the meadow. The youth course had an unusually high number of participants, partly due to the concept “Young Musicians” which was moved from Falun Folk Music Festival to Korrö. Unfortunately Korrö clashed with Urhults Festival in the Tingsryd district this year. The problem was solved in part by council-paid festival busses that transported people to and fro between the festivals. The Lithuanian group Vydraga made a big impression at the festival this year, partying for five days solid! In between the worst of the showers, walks were organised, showing medicinal plants. Skatelöv’s Spelmanslag played for the first time, to a marathon long “gammaldans” (dances such as the hambo) on Saturday evening in the main tent. Late on Saturday night there was an anniversary dance with Sågskära, together with a never-ending row of guest musicians. With great theatrical timing, Roger Tallroth managed to break five strings in a peal of thunder during Väsen’s concert on Friday night! Sveriges Radio broadcast live three days running for the first time!

Bilwesz
Brunna Mässingskvartett
Ditt Ditt Darium
Eitre
Electric Folk
En 4:a Blandat
Faust
Fötter
Gränslös Mässing
Hemållt
Höörs Spelmanslag
Klubb Kolifej
Kvartet Traktor
Kärlekskollektivet
Lucas & Helle
Lustspel
Orientexpressen
Ranarim
Rasta Skumme
Ruttna
Sabbath Hela Veckan
Skatelövs Spelmanslag
Sofia Karlsson Band
Sklep
Skåne Spelmansförbunds Styrelse
Svanevit
Sågskära
Traggel
Trotto
Två
Vivavox
Vydraga
Väsen
Växjö Universitets Spelmanslag

Nina Anderberg
Mikael Andersson
Tony Andersson
Edward Anderzon
Lauri Antila
Calle Arnberg
Erik Ask Upmark
Kristina Aspeqvist
Fredrik Bengtsson
Erik Bergström
Elisabeth Bernander
Johannes Berndalen
Alicia Björnsdotter Abrams
Ulrika Bodén
Peter Bothén
Kajsa Bovin
Jonas Brandin
Joel Bremer & Olle Brandin
Johanna Bölja
Simon Börjars
Linus Carlsson
Peter Danielsson
Jens Engelbrecht
Kalle Eriksson
Alban Faust
Lars-Gunnar Franzén
Oscar Franzén
Rodica Frid
James Friedman
Kristina Furn
Malin Foxdal
Mattias Lies
Ulrika Gunnarsson
Hannah Gustafsson
Magnus Gustafsson
Susanne Gustafsson
Lennart Gybrant & Anders Norudde
Maria Gyllenhaal
Malin Hagelberg
Peter Hagelberg
Anders Hall
Göran Hallmarken
Eric & Katarina Hammarström
Esbjörn Hazelius
Andreas Hedwall
Eric Holmqvist
Ebba Jacobsson
Sofia Jansson
Zlatko Jevremovic
Fredrik Johansson
Olov Johansson
Staffan Jonsson
David Kaminsky
Sofia Karlsson
Martin Kjellgren
Algirdas Klova
David Kronlid
Lars Bo Kujahn
Katinka Kundler
Anders Larsson (Svanevit)
Anders Larsson (Ranarim)
Anna-Lena Larsson
Göran Larsson
Maria Larsson
Olle Linder
Marie Ljungsten
Henning Lund
Dan Lundberg
Maja Lundbäck
Magnus Lundmark
Toste Länne
Marie Länne-Persson
Anders Löfberg
Bengt Löfberg
Bitten Löfgren
Jon Magnusson
Gudrun Majvorsdotter
Mikael Marin
Sandra Marteleur
Gustaf Melén
Jon Nilsson
Peter Nilsson
Gunnar Nordlinder
Olle Paulsson
Mattias Perez
Nils Personne
Marco Pollier
Agneta Preifors Ståhl
Erling Rask
Emma Reid
Owe Ronström
Anders Rosén
Niclas Roswall
Kevin Ryan
Anna Rynefors
Sofia Sandén
Henrik Schön
Joseph Semafumu
Jon Sirén
Anders Sjöberg
Allan Skrobe
Niclas Sundén
Gunnar Stenmark
Erik Stridh
Nina Stridh
Günther Suurkusk
Anders Svensson
David Tallroth
Roger Tallroth
Johan Testad
Mats Thiger
Hanna Tibell
Sven Torstensson
Jeanett Walerholt Rousu
Dag Westling
Nandi Vileika
Anders Ådin
Christer Ådin
Jonas Åkerlund

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2007

This was the year of big changes at Korrö! A completely new restaurant, rebuilding on the youth hostel site and a completely altered outdoor area beyond the bridge, a consequence of which was that we had to move the large tent and dance-floor to the meadow beyond the barn. On account of safety risks, amongst other things, we stopped the dancing in the Sawmill. Instead, a beautiful new dance-floor (specially made by Mikael Fernholm) was built by the refreshment area (the same place as the larger dance-floor had once been). This year Louise Bäckvall took on a large producing responsibility through Musik i Syd. Unfortunately even this year was characterised by heavy rain and thunder, with some flooding on the site. Martin had to bring down his wheel loader to fix the road to the main dance-floor and we had to hastily build walkways on site so that visitors could remain relatively dry shod. We had a big invasion of spelmanslag from Dalarna, who stayed in mass-lodgings in the schools in Linneryd. For the first time, Sågskära’s concert took the form of a late-night dance on Friday evening in the barn. The festival presented new sweatshirts and it was the premier for Korrö Festival’s new logotype. We completely removed all entrance fees to “Svenska låtar” and the song concert. We could not get hold of any “alternative” food, which resulted in Nöbbele Bollklubb selling everything they had! We hired a cabin as alternative accommodation for the “inner circle” of staff. Late on Saturday night the faithful festival worker Henrik Schön collided badly with a violin case. On Sunday a specially written folk music mass by Jeanett Walerholt was performed in Rävemåla. An American TV-team made a documentary about Izzy Young. Sveriges Radio broadcast live more than ever before! Väsen plus dancers put on their large Linné performance before a huge audience in the main tent. Gunilla Lundh-Tobiasson released her new album “Kärleksband”! On Saturday there was the premier for the “Open Stage” in the small tent, with Arvid as sound-engineer! Unfortunately Korrö clashed with Emmaboda Festival this year.

Boot
Chokladfabriken
Djärv
Dråm
Falu spelmanslag
Fylgja
Gjallarhorn
Gotland All Stars
Gränslös mässing
Göran Månsson Band
Idun
Khala Uma
Konstellation Afrikation
Korp
Leksands spelmanslag
Lustspel
Lyy
Malungs spelmanslag
Maramas
Ni:d
Norrvidingespel
Phönix
Pink Chilies
Pireus
Ranrike spelmän
Saltat
Skatelövs spelmanslag
Skrot
Skånefolk.nu
Slatta
Sockentrion
Sonus
Svanavel
Sågskära
The Dancing Masters
Triller
Trotto
Toboinstitutets dans- och nyckelharpselever
Urban Turban
Väsen
Västerdalskt
Yaneka

Sunniva Abelli
Emilia Amper
Bengt Andersson
Martin Arpåker
Erik Ask-Upmark
Eva Blomquist Bjärnborg
Maria Bojlund
Ola Bäckström
Ninni Carr
Pontus Estling
Ulrika Gunnarsson
Mia Gustafsson
Markus Gustavsson
Ulla Hagberg
Göran Hallmarken
Erik Hammarström
Katarina Hammarström
Peter Puma Hedlund
Joel Hermansson
Jon Holmén
Eva Johansson
Kersti Johansson
Olov Johansson
Pers Nils Johansson
Adrian Jones
Maria Jonsson
David Kaminsky
Anna Lindblad
Gunilla Lundh-Tobiasson
Marie Länne Persson
Toste Länne
Anders Löfberg
Jon Magnusson
Mikael Marin
Gustaf Melén
Pär Moberg
Göran Månsson
Gunnar Nordlinder
Anders Norudde
Daniel Pettersson
Andreas Ralsgård
Erik Ronström
Anna Rynefors
Henrik Schön
Anders Svensson
Markus Svensson
Mats Thiger
Markus Tullberg
Jeanett Walerholt-Rousu
Simon Wascher
Anna Wingård
Hanna Wiskari
Jonas Åkerlund    

 

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