Chocolate for my ears

It was a rough week in the office. I forgot some things, overlooked others. Then it rained. Then the sirens went off. Then a tornado formed at about the same GPS coordinates as my house. Then the tornado took off north across my lake and made landfall next door to the house of an employee. I needed a break.

I had overlooked the fact that this was the weekend of Nisswa-Stämman. Who should be playing this year but Harold Haugaard from Faaborg and Morten Høirup from Frederiksberg. Danes, don't you know? Playing for the first time in Minnesota. In Nisswa. I drove the two hours to get there. I was totally impressed by this world class music.

Haugaard & Høirup er et af hovednavnene på det 8. Nisswa-Stämman, som er en skandinavisk folkemusik festival med optrædende bands og solister fra Sverige, Norge, Finland og især USA. Festivalen, som med Haugaard & Høirup for første gang får besøg fra Danmark, har hjemme i den lille by Nisswa tre timers kørsel nord for Minneapolis i staten Minnesota. Minnesota er kendt over hele USA for sin smukke natur, sine 10.000 søer og for statens mange efterkommere af skandinaviske indvandrere

The Brainerd Dispatch calls them Great Danes. The paper also gives you a taste of Harald on violin and Morten on guitar. Throw open all the windows of your cabin and click on "Middag in haven" (Dinner in the Garden) from their album "Om sommeren" (In the summer).

In the words of one journalist on Harald's home island of Fyn, "Haugaard and Høirup's music is pure chocolate for your ears."

Let your stress dissolve. It's summer. Live a little. Like what you hear? Buy the album on iTunes. Or click below to see them last month in Seattle. Enjoy.