It’s beautiful . . . but what IS that thing?
© Meredith Mullins

The Nyckelharpa: Rooted in Swedish Cultural Traditions

On Olov Johansson’s first journey to America, he remembers clearly that he stared into the eyes of wildness.

The Swedish musician was on his way to teach in a music camp in Mendocino— winding his way on a dusty, dark, dirt road in the California hills.

Suddenly the driver stopped the car. A mountain lion was commanding the center of the road.

Caught in the headlights, the animal stared curiously into the car for what seemed like, on this moonless night, a very long time.

“What IS that?” the mountain lion wondered.
© iStock/Ben Masters

Olov was certain that it was because the creature had never seen a nyckelharpist before. (In fact, surprisingly few people—or animals—have ever encountered a nyckelharpa.)

The mountain lion held his gaze into the car until, as Olov tells it, he had mentally checked off the nyckelharpa box. Then he wandered away, presumably to the next thing on his bucket list.

Olov Johansson
© Sarah Thorén

The Art of Introducing the Nyckelharpa

Olov is a nyckelharpist—one of the contemporary Swedish masters of this medieval stringed instrument.

The instrument is not yet well known, as it is deeply rooted in Swedish cultural traditions. Only within the last 40 years has it become better known outside of Sweden.

Artistry and craftsmanship at its best
© Meredith Mullins

Olov brought the nyckelharpa to this year’s summer Bach Festival in Carmel, California, performing in two concerts featuring Nordic music.

At each event, even with a musically sophisticated audience, the phrase of the moment was “What IS that thing?”

Olov says that response is common. His band, Väsen, calls it the five-legged dog syndrome. They even thought of naming one of their tours the “What is that thing?” tour.

Oh, I see. Sometimes instruments steeped in local tradition take time to reach the rest of the world.

A 1350 stone carving of the nyckelharpa at the Källunge Church in Gotland, Sweden
© Olov Johansson

Cultural Traditions

The nyckelharpa story begins in the Uppland region of Sweden. The folk instrument is even pictured in a stone carving from 1350 on the Källunge Church in Gotland and in a painting from 1498 in a church outside of Uppsala.

Other early pictures have been found in countries outside of Sweden, but historians seem to agree that the instrument’s heritage is in Uppland. Nyckelharpas have been played and built in this region for the past 300 years.

The instrument was a central part of the dances, celebrations, and ceremonies, especially the Midsummer Festival.

Its lilting music was an integral part of the popular polska dances in the late 1600s and early 1700s, a tradition that continues into today’s Sweden.

Traditional dancing to the nyckelharpa at the Midsummer Festival in Sweden
© iStock/Falun

Careful Crafting Makes for Beautiful Music

This odd looking folk instrument has many names besides nyckelharpa. The simple name is keyed fiddle— to give people a visual clue— (or, literally translated, key harp).

The body of the instrument is made of spruce wood, often with fast and slow growing trees for different parts of the body (for softer and harder wood). The keys are made of birch, and the sides and pegs are maple. Each type of wood provides special characteristics for the sound and for the performance of the instrument.

Swedish spruce, birch, and maple are used in the construction of the nyckelharpa.
© Meredith Mullins

There are also sympathetic strings, which resonate when their melody string is played. The same frequency vibrates in the bridge, and the sympathetic strings say “Hey, that’s me. I’ll join in.” This provides a resonance or reverberation that makes the nyckelharpa sound unique.

The keys, played with the left hand, operate like the frets of a guitar to change the pitch of the melody strings.

The keys change the pitch of the melody strings.
© Meredith Mullins

A Nyckelharpa World Champion

So, how does a young musician get interested in playing such an unlikely instrument?

For Olov Johansson, it was the clever work of a musical family. Everyone was a musician. “Family gatherings always turned into jam sessions,” Olov remembers.

When his uncle, a nyckelharpa player, had to go to the hospital for surgery, he loaned his nyckelharpa to the Johansson household. Shortly thereafter, a permanent nyckelharpa became part of the family. Olov was 14, but he knew he had found his instrument.

In 1990, the first Nyckelharpa World Championship took place in Sweden, and Olov was invited to compete. He was young and not favored to win, but the jury was awed by his talent. He became the first World Champion Nyckelharpa Player.

At the same time, his band Väsen was becoming known. It was a good start to his musical dream.

The band Väsen, Swedish folk musicians integrating modern with traditional
© Sarah Thorén

Another chapter in that dream was to find the best nyckelharpa sound.

Olov had worked in a nyckelharpa museum and had been able to play many of the historic instruments, studying what specific designs and materials worked best.

He made drawings, did research, and ultimately requested the “perfect” instrument from an expert maker in the region, Esbjörn Hogmark.

The sympathetic strings vibrate when their melody string is played.
© Meredith Mullins

Esbjörn rose to the challenge, even selecting and chopping the trees himself for the wood and creating a prototype first to make sure the design fit Olov’s body, hands, and playing style.

The new nyckelharpa takes “the best of old knowledge and traditional design together with function, modern ideas, needs, and desires,” says Olov.

He was very moved when it was completed and presented to him. Inside, there was a tiny note that said it was a gift for his 50^th birthday.

The birthday note stays inside the nyckelharpa as a reminder of the maker’s generosity and talent.
© Meredith Mullins

The Importance of Music

Music is an important part of any culture. It tells the story of a place in a way that can be understood universally. Listening to the music of a country or a region or a city forges a connection that resonates within.

Because music is so universal, it is rare that an instrument and its origins are connected strongly to one country.

The bagpipes are part of Scottish culture. The harp is part of Irish culture. The balalaika is part of Russian culture.  And the nyckelharpa is part of Swedish culture.

What countries have their own “national” instrument?
© iStock/Maria Avvakumova

Even though there is little debate about the nyckelharpa’s cultural traditions, it is difficult to describe its personality.

Some say its sound is haunting and celebratory at the same time. Some say it merges the past and the future.

For me, there is a Celtic feeling, with a touch of bluegrass, blending distant cultures in a modern way.

Olov says the timbre is bright and deep at the same time. The nyckelharpa has a wide sound . . . that reaches out, as if you are playing in a cathedral (when it’s in tune, he jokes).

But, most of all, especially if you are in Uppland, it sounds like Sweden.

Listen . . . and decide for yourself.

If video does not display, watch it here.

For further information, visit he websites of Olov Johansson, Väsen, the Bach Festival, and the American Nyckelharpa Association.

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