FEATURE
Congressional Friends of Sweden Caucus A congressional caucus is a group of members of the United States Congress that meets to pursue common legislative objectives. Formally, caucuses are formed as Congressional Member Organizations (CMOs) through the United States House of Representatives and governed under the rules of that chamber. Caucuses are informal in the Senate, and unlike their House counterparts, Senate groups receive neither official recognition nor funding from the chamber. Caucuses, sometimes called coalitions, study groups, task forces, or working groups, typically have bipartisan membership and have co-chairs from each party. The Congressional Friends of Sweden Caucus is at Room 119 LHOB Longworth House Office Building 15 Independence Avenue, SE Washington, DC 20515-4608 202.225.4376 FAX: 202.225.0017
The present members of the caucus are Co-Chair Jack Bergman, R-h01 Manistique, Michigan Co-Chair Don Beyer, D-h08 Arlington, Virginia Caucus Member Morgan Griffith, R-h09 Christiansburg, Virginia Caucus Member John Larson, D-h01 East Hartford, Connecticut Caucus Member Jerry Nadler, D-h12 New York, New York Caucus Member Ilhan Omar, DFL-h05 Minneapolis, Minnesota Caucus Member Jan Schakowsky, D-h09 Skokie, Illinois Caucus Member Bryan Steil, R-h01 Elkhorn, Wisconsin Caucus Member Tim Walberg, R-h05 Jackson, Michigan Caucus Member Joe Wilson, R-h02 Aiken, South Carolina
New dimension to historic melodies The musical group Triga is a rising example of innovative traditional musicians who are adding a new dimension to historic instrumental melodies. Following musicians such as Frefot, Väsen, Triakel, Roger Tallroth, Lena Willemark and Gjallarhorn, Triga offers a combination of skillful performing and is at times right on the edge of jazz. Anna Breger from Vienna (nyckelharpa), Eric Boodman from Montreal (fiddle) and Yaniv Yacoby from Boston (Irish bouzouki) play Triga’s special combination of Scandinavian, Irish and Québécois instruments that produce a calculated classical feel, while leaving a listener looking forward to what could come next. Using recording technology plus high quality downloads in MP3, FLAC and more, Triga has released their first digital recording, Live from our Living Room, available online at www.trigatrio. bandcamp.com/album. The group explained, “Here are some of our favorite renditions, captured in home recordings. We hope that in listening to them you feel the same sense of joy and possibility that we felt in making them. It is a good insight into our music.” The three musicians met by chance in Boston in 2019. Anna has a PhD from the University of Vienna and was a visiting research fellow at the Harvard Medical School. She studied baroque violin at the Music and Arts University in Vienna and is self taught on the *nyckelharpa. “My style is very personal and is inspired from various musical traditions.“ Yaniv holds an MM in music from the New England Conservatory and taught himself to play the Irish bouzouki. He is also a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University. “I spent a few months in Ireland playing sessions and taking some lessons. I started learning Swedish music from a good friend of mine—singer and accordionist Sunniva Brynnel.” Eric studied classical violin as a student in Mon12 NORDSTJERNAN
treal. He is also an award winning science journalist. He began taking lessons learning Québécois, Irish and Scottish traditions: “In high school, I spent every Tuesday at a Québécois session, and the wild joy I heard there really influenced my playing.“ Live from our Living Room includes Vals Till Baten Bettan, Polska ur Trästadsamlingen and Polska efter Petter Dufva—a set of three tunes from different sources in Sweden. The first is a recent composition by Anna Lindblad, and the second and third are both from around 1800, one from Trästed, Sweden and the other from Småland. Chaîne Des Dames is from the repertoire of
Québecois tradition bearer André Alain. Anna’s Meditation and Eric’s Zak and Rielle’s (Wedding) Waltz are recently composed original melodies. The three Triga musicians bring vivid passion and versatile expertise to creating music. Exploring outside traditional musical boundaries will be natural for them. (Photo by Brennish Thomson.) *Sunday April 28 is World nyckelharpa Day! Put the date on your calendar and start planning now! https://worldnyckelharpaday.com Nils R. Caspersson