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Listen to excerpts from AmerikaSpel: |
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Loretta Kelley The Hardingfele, a fiddle with sympathetic strings, is unique to the fjords and mountains of Norway. Loretta Kelley is America's best player of this instrument and is in constant demand for concerts and workshops. This recording features traditional and newly composed tunes from Telemark, Valdres and other regions. Not just a solo recording, Dick Rees on accordion, Paul Morrissett on Hardingfele and Matt Fichtenbaum accompany Loretta on some tunes. Loretta Kelley is the premiere American player of the hardingfele. Since 1979 she has made over a dozen trips to Norway to study hardingfele playing from the masters. Loretta has taught and performed extensively throughout the U.S., and has been a staff teacher at Buffalo Gap Scandinavian Week since 1987 and at the Hardanger Fiddle Association of America Annual Workshops since 1990. She has written several articles about the hardingfele in magazines such as Strings and The Strad, contributed a chapter to a book published in Norway about the hardingfele, and produced a booklet of transcriptions of hardingfele tunes. She has produced two recordings of her playing, Amerikaspel in 1996 and Dansekveld in 1990. From 1991 to 1994 she served as president of the Hardanger Fiddle Association of America. In 1994 her playing was featured in an hour-long program on Norwegian radio. To find out more about Loretta Kelley visit her website. |
