European Folk Day – September the 23rd
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Concert and Dance: A Musical Journey with the Emigrant’s Trunk
September 27 @ 18:00 - 21:00 UTC+1
Join us on a musical journey into Norwegian America!
Fiddlers Laura Ellestad and Beth Hoven Rotto will take you into the tunes and stories of Norwegian emigrants who settled in the Upper Midwest of the USA – including the states of Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Folk music guitarist Magnus Wiik joins them on stage. Naustedalen Spelemannslag rounds off the concert and leads into dance and open jam, where everyone is welcome to join in.
Program in Sersjantløa:
6:00–7:30 PM: Concert with Laura Ellestad, Beth Hoven Rotto, Magnus Wiik, and Naustedalen Spelemannslag
7:30–9:00 PM: Open dance floor and jam session – bring your dancing shoes and instruments!
About the musicians:
Beth Hoven Rotto has played in the folk music group Foot-Notes in Decorah, Iowa, for over 30 years. She has performed at local dance events in Decorah such as Nordic Fest and the Highlandville Schoolhouse Dances, as well as on major national stages like the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Beth was a student of the renowned Norwegian-American fiddler Bill Sherburne, and in recent years she has taught apprentices and students in various courses. She has received support from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the American Scandinavian Foundation. In 2024, she helped develop the exhibition “Hand Me Down the Fiddle: Norwegian Fiddlers, Fiddles and Fiddle Tunes” at Vesterheim Museum in Decorah.
Laura Ellestad is an award-winning Canadian/Norwegian Hardanger fiddler with roots in Valdres. In 2014, she released her first solo album, “Valdresspel i Amerika”, which was nominated for both the Spellemann Award and the Folkelarm Award. The album features tunes from five Valdres fiddlers who emigrated to America in the late 19th century. Through her doctoral research, she has studied the Norwegian-American folk music community in the Midwest during the first half of the 20th century. Since 2018, she has been employed as Associate Professor at the Department of Traditional Arts and Folk Music, University of South-Eastern Norway, Rauland campus.