Lena Jonsson Swedish Fiddler on Folk Covers
Conversations with Musicians, with Leah Roseman
12/12/25
•77m
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The Swedish fiddler Lena Jonsson has created a unique style inspired by traditional Swedish music as well as many other influences. Today we’re focusing on the wonderful 3rd album by her trio, “Folk Covers” which celebrates many great folk music composers of today. I think you’ll really enjoy this uplifting conversation which features a lot of music, including Lena giving us some spontaneous house concert experiences, and clips from the new album, with insights into process of curating and interpreting these folk covers; please note the timestamps have the tune names. You’ll also learn about the Swedish folk scene and regional differences, her experiences studying both in Sweden and Boston at Berklee, her love of creative design and how to dance a Polska. I want to let you know that I’m going to be taking a short break for a couple of weeks, but I’m very excited to bring you Season 6 of this podcast at the beginning of January 2026!
Complete Show Notes for this Episode!
photo: Klara Granberg
(00:00) Intro
(02:16) album Folk Covers, with clip of Äntligen!
(04:33) childhood musical family in Hälsingland Sweden
(10:28) microtonality and ornamentation in Swedish fiddling with Silkesvalsen
(13:25) fiddling, duo with Brittany Haas
(16:33) Four Minute Love Story with clip “Neljän Minuuttin rakkaus” Johanna Jukola
(18:44) arranging, curating with Erik Ronström and Krydda Sundström with clip of Fortcalquier by Genticorum
(22:29) first Canadian tour, Blue Skies festival
(24:26) teaching folkhögskola, Berklee experience
(30:22) Burdland, cover of Kinnaris with clip, Norwegian hardanger fiddle influence
(34:51) learning from archival recordings
(37:23) other linked episodes and ways to support this series
(38:10) experience studying in Stockholm
(42:00) Bubbles in Central Park with clip, how to dance a Polska
(47:58) how to pronounce Lena and bits of Swedish culture, and clip of Unless/The Tobagganist by Hawktail
(54:58) love of design and fashion, duo with Johanna Juhola
(59:00) Morgenslått with clip, memorizing music
(01:03:01) Erik Rydvall nyckelharpa, Midsummer, great fiddle teachers
(01:07:33) harpist Maeve Gilchrist, clip of Brenda's Abbey, how the trio got started
(01:12:09) composing with performance of Ispolskan
Previous Episode
Lara St. John on Empowerment and the Making of Dear Lara
December 6, 2025
•62m
Violinist Lara St. John joins me to discuss her upcoming documentary Dear Lara, her remarkable career, and her ongoing work to ensure a safe and inclusive music community . Lara’s creativity, warmth, humour and brilliance come through in this wide-ranging interview and you’ll hear about her decision to become the first classical soloist to start her own record label, her formative year in the former USSR, advice about learning music and the violin, and a tribute to one of her main mentors, Joey Corpus. In fact Joey’s amazing story wasn’t one I was familiar with and since this conversation I’ve learned more about this inspiring pedagogue. We talked about two of her many albums, and you’ll hear a couple of clips from Shiksa and She/Her/Hers; track names are in the timestamps and everything is linked to Lara’s website in the show notes. Lara is also known for her love for iguanas, and at the very beginning of this episode you’ll get to meet Baby Octavius!
Trigger warning: Please note that there are detailed timestamps below, so you can go to specific parts of this interview; there are mentions of both sexual assault and a suicide attempt
Complete Show Notes with linked episodes, newsletter, podcast merch and more!
Varaiuni Bar Fight video on Lara's channel
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Timestamps: (00:00) Intro with mention of sexual abuse (trigger warning) (03:10) meeting the Caribbean iguana Baby Octavius (04:59) Order of Canada, meeting other celebrities for Canadian Thanksgiving (06:28) the story of Moishe the violin, klezmer (09:48) about album Shiksa with clip from The Pain Will Find Us (14:17) “Dear Lara” film, trigger warning mention of rape (27:16) changing perspectives on her career (32:27) other linked episodes and supporting this podcast (33:16) perspectives on children in music, competitions (35:36) U.S.S.R. experience (38:18) her record label Ancalogon, album She/Her/Hers women composers with clip of Ana Sokolović Danza 2 (42:55) adjusting repertoire, Gabriela Lena Frank with clip of Luciérnagas (46:40) clip of video Variaiuni Bar Fight from Shiksa, linked in show notes (47:54) first trip to Peru, brief reference to suicide attempt (49:16) Marlboro, Felix Galimir (53:06) Joey Corpus violin pedagogue, portato problems, final reflections on film making and career direction
photo: Titolayo Ayangade
Next Episode
I’m honoured to bring to you this in-depth conversation with the brilliant musician, writer, composer and storyteller Gabriel Kahane as my first episode of Season 6 of this podcast. You’ll be hearing many short clips from several of his albums including his piano concerto Heirloom, written for his father Jeffrey Kahane. This is a wide-ranging interview and you’ll hear about Gabriel’s upcoming book project, the impact of his early theatre training, how learning to conduct is helping him as a composer, and reflections from his hiatus from the internet and social media. Fans who love Book of Travelers and Magnificent Bird will hear clips and insights from those projects and we also got into his work as an artist-citizen in his large-scale work “emergency shelter intake form” commissioned by the Oregon Symphony about homelessness and the housing crisis. The track and album names are specified in the timestamps and everything is linked in the show notes, including other suggested episodes and ways to support this independent podcast: Complete Show Notes
00:00) Intro
(02:25) Book of Travelers, train trip, American Guide Series, Baedeker with clip from Book of Travelers
(08:19) Book of Travelers, Pattern of the Rail, November with clip
(10:45) Book of Travelers, arranging songs for ensembles, clip of Model Trains
(16:24) train trip, more stories
(19:20) piano concerto Heirloom, decimated press landscape, clip of beginning of first movement “Guitars in the Attic”, Heirloom piano concerto
(22:58) Jeffrey Kahane, Heirloom bringing vernacular music into the concert hall with clip of first movement “Guitars in the Attic”, Heirloom piano concerto which uses Where Are the Arms
(29:24) orchestration of Where Are the Arms and how it relates to the concerto with clip (from Heirloom album, the final track)
(35:14) about the 2nd movement “My Grandmother Knew Alban Berg” and 3rd movement “VERA’S CHICKEN-POWERED TRANSIT MACHINE”, Heirloom piano concerto, with clips of both
(38:52) pandemic move to Portland, living without the internet for a year, Magnificent Bird album
(47:27) To Be American with clip from Magnificent Bird
(50:27) other linked episodes and ways to follow and support this podcast!
(51:15) story of Gabriel’s grandmother’s late life romance, clip of Sit Shiva from Magnificent Bird
(55:24) Gabriel’s writing and upcoming book project, the importance of creativity
(01:08:06) duo with Pekka Kuusisto “Council”
(01:09:52) conducting orchestras
(01:21:23) creative process, storytelling, challenges of internet distraction
(01:28:21) “emergency shelter intake form” with clip XI. A Brief History of The Subprime Mortgage Loan Crisis and housing crisis, clip III. Where Did You Stay Last Night
(01:35:11) Craigslistlieder
Photo: Jason Quigley
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