Jenny Eriksson On ‘FIKA’

Elysian Fields, Australia’s only electric viola da gamba ensemble, broadcasts on Melbourne Digital Concert Hall (MDCH) in a program that draws on its second CD, FIKA (pron. ‘fee-ka’).

Founding artistic director of Elysian Fields and gamba player Jenny Eriksson explains “Fika is a term the Swedish use to describe the process of sitting down for coffee, conversation and pastries with friends and family. In making the recording – which took place just before the COVID lock down in 2020 – we wanted to create something beautiful that would bring people together, just as fika does.”

Talking of her musical journey, she observes “I added up the dates the other day. I have been playing the viola da gamba for well over three decades. I just love it. I still get up each morning wanting to play. Why? It’s because the viola da gamba sings! Right back in the 1600s Jean Rousseau put it so well when he said in 1867, ‘One cannot dispute that an instrument has never come so close to resembling the human voice as the viol has, which indeed is only distinguished from it by the fact that it cannot utter any words.’  Nothing has changed since.”

“People often ask me why I formed my electric viola da gamba band, Elysian Fields, having played acoustic early music quite successfully. In reality, Elysian Fields simply extends the versatility of this ancient instrument into new realms. Same instrument, different colleagues – and a new artistic challenge!”

Eriksson adds “As well as Matt McMahon and Susie Bishop’s arrangement of several folk songs and jazz by the likes of e.s.t. and Norwegian jazz pianist Jan Gunnar Hoff, our MDCH broadcast also features music specially composed for us including ‘Shadow’ by Australian composer and viola da gambist, Alice Chance. This work was kindly commissioned for Elysian Fields by Michael Lawrence-Slater. Band member and sax player Matt Keegan also contributes two charts and I have written one as well.”

Recorded at The Concourse, Chatswood, the program features Scandinavian folk music and jazz along with original music inspired by the Far North.

Elysian Fields is: Susie Bishop – Voice/violin/ Matt Keegan – Saxophone/ Jenny Eriksson – Electric Viola da gamba/ Matt McMahon – Piano/ Jacques Emery – Double Bass/ Dave Goodman – Drums

When:             8.30pm, Thursday July 15 (Duration 50-55 minutes)

Tickets:           https://watch.melbournedigitalconcerthall.com/#/item/70004

Tickets are $24 and must be purchased beforehand. Ticketholders can watch the program for up to 3 days after the event. All revenue goes to the musicians.