Melodies from Sweden

Sweet Notes

It was a walk down the lanes of Sweden for those present at the Chowdiah Memorial Hall, when Johan Kullberg and his Rumble Band took the stage.

With Johan Kullberg on the accordion, Markus Karlsson on electric guitar, Urban Danielsson on bass and Magnus Halen on drums, the four Swedish musicians played some amazingly beautiful melodies for the music-lovers of Bangalore.

“We present a rock band rooted in Swedish folk tradition,” said Sandhya, the presenter of the event.

The event started at 7.30 pm in presence of chief guests N R Vishukumar and B R Jayamaraje Urs. After Jayamaraje was presented with a bouquet as a token of respect, the four men came on stage and were gifted bouquets as well.

They started off with a beautiful folk tune called Bayou Pom Pom, a North American tune which had a person or two from the audience doing the Viking dance.

Following this was an own composition of the band called Mosquito Hunters. The foursome went on to play the popular song Papa George by Australian guitarist Tommy Emmanuel.

 The next song was Liquor Store Blues, a composition of Marcus and Johan. “In Sweden we have a lot of liquor stores, outside which, musicians sit and play melancholic tunes,” explained Johan to the audience.

After this tune, Johan changed his white accordion to a smaller, red accordion, which he said, “sounds like a harmonica”. Johan and Marcus then started to play Tunes From A Hill,  to which the others slowly joined in.

The next tune was from the West Coast of Sweden called Irish Coffee. A tune from a Swedish film had the audience scream out ‘Too good, too good’!

Dancing in Mozart’s Shoes and Get Them In had the audience shaking their heads in delight.

The evening concluded with a vote of thanks from the band members, with Johan saying, “It’s been wonderful to come to India.”