Festkoncert: Rod/Fod, Fredy Clue & Julia Bengtson, BOOT

Friday's festival concert is a triple bill at the atmospheric Turkis with a broad programme. The evening opens with young musicians from the Rod and Fod folk music camps playing and dancing. House artist Fredy Clue then takes the stage with Julia Bengtson, before Sweden's BOOT rounds off the concert programme.

Rod and Fod

Rod is Denmark's largest folk music camp, created by and for young people aged 15 to 25. Since 1996 the camp has gathered young players on Funen for ensemble playing, dancing and workshops, beginners and seasoned musicians alike. Fod is a folk dance and folk music camp for young people aged 16 to 30, where the playing and dancing carry on around the clock. At the festival concert, young people from the two camps open the evening.

Fredy Clue and Julia Bengtson

This year's house artist Fredy Clue is a Gothenburg-based folk musician who creates modern Nordic music on nyckelharpa and voice, weaving folk music, tradition and queer questions together on stage. Fredy is the creator of Bäckadräkten, Sweden's first folk costume for everyone regardless of gender. The costume has drawn international attention and is now part of the permanent exhibitions at the Röhsska design museum in Gothenburg and the Kulturen museum in Lund.

At the festival concert, Fredy performs as a duo with singer Julia Bengtson. Fredy Clue brings a raw, queer blend of Swedish folk music and original, earthy tones, and through their queer journey and stories they take the audience on an adventure deep into what it means to be human. Through song, laughter and dance, we come together in a wonderful performance.

WJ Quinn says of Fredy: “Fredy is truly a creator of remarkable experiences, a true innovator in the world of folk music.”

BOOT

BOOT are three of Sweden's leading folk musicians: Samuel “Loop-Tok” Andersson on percussion and slaglira (a struck drone instrument), Ola Bäckström on viola d'amore and mandola, and Hållbus Totte Mattsson on mandora and hurdy-gurdy. You may know them from bands like Hedningarna, Groupa, Den Fule and Swåp. Together they bring baroque instruments and traditional rhythms into a modern sound with plenty of attitude, from the delicate to a darkness with a weight approaching rock.