Five at the Festival

So, who came to the Jew’s Harp Festival in Molde – and what did they make of it? We’ve asked five of this year’s festivalgoers.

By Veronika Søum
Translated by Lucy Moffatt

Eivind Nielsen (26) from Molde, lives in Valsøyfjorden 

How did you find out about the Jew’s harp?
I grew up with folk-dancing and heard a bit of Jew’s harp from time to time. I never got to the point where I wanted to learn it myself until now, so this was a good time to come to the festival.

What do you think of this year’s festival?
I think it’s been really great! It’s fun to hear so many good people.

Ida Beate Løken (31) from Sunnfjord, lives in Stranda

How did you find out about the Jew’s harp?
An uncle of mine has a Jew’s harp, so I’ve been listening to it ever since I was little and always thought it was incredibly cool. I bought one of those crappy harps in secondary school, but I’ve always wanted a really good instrument. One of the people in our dorm at upper secondary could play Jew’s harp and told us about the Jew’s harp festival. That was in 2013 and I’ve been thinking I ought to come here ever since. This was the year it happened.

What do you think of this year’s festival?
A lot of fun! Great to do some workshops – it’s really made me determined to sit down and practise. It’s such fun to meet so many people with different playing levels, and to meet likeminded people. I did a workshop with Kenneth Lien. It was really cool to be in a workshop with him and have a chance to ask him all kinds of questions and find out about the underlying theory. Now I have lots of recordings and tips about how to progress with my playing.

Magne Furu (79) from Valdres, lives in Lillesand

How did you find out about the Jew’s harp?
‘I bought a Jew’s harp from Folke Nesland years ago. Later, I had a visit from Daniel Due-Tønnessen, a student of mine when I was a teacher – woodwork, among other subjects. He wanted to make a Jew’s harp case for the girl he was marrying and I was supposed to help him. So I told him to bring along the Jew’s harp. That’s when I realized it’d be fun to learn the Jew’s harp, so I googled the Norwegian Jew’s Harp Forum and enrolled in a workshop. That was in 2015.

What do you think of this year’s festival?
‘It’s been a lot of fun, nice. There were lots of people there this year and it was very inspiring. I have problems hitting the closed notes, but I hope I’ll be able do to that now. I’ve been to quite a few Jew’s harp festivals, the music weekend in Gjøvik and Klangen før fela. I always get really inspired, but it’s so difficult to keep it going after you get home. When it’s just you and the instrument.

Anne Hungnes from Molde (72)

How did you find out about the Jew’s harp?
I’d heard a lot about the Jew’s harp for ages and bought myself a Siberian Jew’s harp one time at the Riddu riddu festival. When I attended a workshop with Bernhard Folkestad here at Romsdal Museum a few years back, that Jew’s harp turned out not to be up to scratch. So I bought a hand-forged G-major harp because the one from Siberia was a bit indefinable. After that, some of us in Molde got together to play. Jim Erik Hoem Johansen started at roughly the same time as me, but quickly shot ahead in terms of interest and practising. We had a workshop with Kenneth Lien, but at that point I hadn’t made much progress and felt like I wasn’t interested enough. So I hadn’t played anything until this Jew’s harp festival and I thought: now it’s time to get involved. Over the summer, I started practising again, and I worked up the courage to play a little tune on the stage on Friday night, and that was a lot of fun. Now I’m really inspired to play more. 

What do you think of this year’s festival?
It was really nice right from the start – it’s easy to just start chatting to the person standing next to you. I like festivals that are really relaxed, where you can talk with participants and organizers, as well as the professionals or very good players. So it’s been really enjoyable.

Torstein Loe Grøver (32) from Oslo, lives in Lillestrøm

How did you find out about the Jew’s harp?
I think it was the TV documentary, Trollstemt. I’d heard about the Jew’s harp before, like most people, but this was the first time I thought: ‘Wow – that really was incredibly cool.’ 

What do you think of this year’s festival?
It’s been my first festival and my first workshop. It’s a nice, enjoyable way to pursue the instrument together. I’ve learnt a lot from the workshops and the musical performances – there was even an academic component. Most of all, it’s a really nice way to meet lots of other people who are interested in playing and listening to the Jew’s harp.