Bruce Sagan & Friends

Saturday , April 19, 2003
04:00 pm
Location:
in-store performance (free)

Ann Arbor's Bruce Sagan is widely recognized here and in Europe as North
America's most elite practitioner of the dazzling Swedish fiddling tradition,
and he'll be appearing at Elderly Instruments for a free in-store performance
on Saturday, April 19th, at 4:00 p.m. Later that evening, catch Sagan and
friends at the Creole Gallery, just around the corner from Elderly, at 1218
Turner St. for a special concert marking the release of his CD "Bruce Sagan
with Friends!"

Everybody loves fiddle music, but few have the opportunity to hear one of
the world's great fiddling traditions in such a listener-friendly, intimate
setting. The lively Scandinavian tradition features a strident, powerful,
electrifying, overwhelmingly melodic tradition of duet playing that seems
much more than the sum of its parts, and Swedish fiddling still carries much
of its ancient, wild character from roots as early as medieval times. Bruce
will be bringing his nyckelharpa, or Swedish key-fiddle, too---an unearthly
and gorgeous-sounding instrument unique to Sweden’s tradition-rich
Dalarna province---plus a taste of Balkan music will round out the evening,
as Bruce will feature some tunes on the gadulka, the upright bowed rebec
traditional to Bulgaria.

Bruce’s friends include fiddler Brad Battey, another one of Michigan’s most
in-demand dance fiddlers; fretted-string wiz Nan Nelson on upright bass and
Bulgarian tambura, and Lansing veteran Chris Rietz on guitar, mandocello
and Bulgarian kaval.

For more information on the Creole Gallery concert, contact Chris Rietz at:
517-485-4776 or

Check out recordings we carry featuring Bruce Sagan