- my dear friend Lars Emil of the accordion please make some noise for him yeah and we're gonna start
- out with a song called journeys
- Festival. How are you doing? What a lovely crowd you are. We thank you so much for that. We are Symbio
- and we have traveled all the way from the dark, dark Scandinavia, Stockholm, Sweden and we are so happy
- to be a part of this year's festival. We are actually out on a US tour right now. We are just in the
- beginning of the tour so we are packed with energy.
- And on my right hand side, we have my dear friend and colleague. He's been sitting there beside me for
- 15 years, playing his hurdy-gurdy and electronics, and his name is Johannes Kivorkian-Hellman. Please
- give him some applause. Thank you. Thank you so much. And I have already introduced him once.
- but he's a man who needs two presentations, at least. He doesn't demand it, but he needs it. So on my
- left-hand side, from the dark forests of Western Sweden, of the small county called Värmland, here
- is Lars-Emil Löjeberg on the accordion stompbox and electronics. And as Lars said, we have
- just started our US tour in the beginning of this week, and I can assure you, everywhere where we came,
- they asked us, so where are you going for the weekend? And we said, we're going to Bloomington. And
- all of them said, oh, so you're going to Bloomington. Everyone is so nice there. So nice people are
- living in Bloomington, and we felt like, okay, yeah, cool. Let's see.
- And it was really true. We have been so well taken care of here during our day here. So it's really
- lovely to be here and we're looking forward to share more of our music with you this evening. We started
- out with a song called Journeys and we would like to continue with another song which we have named
- Arrows of Light.
- Thank you so much, everyone. That was Arrows of Light, followed by the song Amnesty. And now we would
- like to play some music for you, which came to us around two years ago. And both myself and Lars, in
- that time, two years ago, we were in the moment where a lot of things in our lives were changing.
- You know, sometimes you are at a place in life when you feel that some things are starting to come to an
- we have to start to find some new directions or paths in life. Start something new and end something
- old. And when you're in that moment, maybe it's easy to get a bit afraid because usually we know what
- we have, but we don't always know what we're going to get. And I don't know about you, but in my weakest
- moment, sometimes I doubt, am I going to get any more great things in this life or was this it?
- But when we are in that moment, let's remember that maybe the very, very best things that will happen
- to us in our lives, they didn't happen to us yet. So they are still waiting for us. So if we dare to
- take a new direction and start to walk on this new path, soon these new possibilities in life will appear
- to us. So this song is called Parting Road, and it's about those crossroads that we encounter in life
- now and then.
- And this song is especially for the people who are in that situation right now. Maybe there is someone
- in here who is in that moment right now, thinking of ending something and daring to take a new road
- in life. This is Parting Road.
- west part of Sweden, quite close to Norway, in one of those, you know, small little villages that are
- almost forgotten. And I sometimes think of the silence that only happens in places where no one lives.
- For example,
- When I go back to my little home village to visit my mom and dad, I take the car and I do the six hour
- drive from Stockholm, crossing the country and then ending up in the deep, deep forest in my hometown.
- And then when I come there, usually it's in the middle of the night, I stop my car and I step out.
- When it's wintertime and dark I usually gaze up to the sky and then I see all those thousands and thousands
- of small shiny little dots looking down on me and it's almost like they are singing sometimes. This
- song is called Starlit Skies and it's about that
- Thanks.
- That was Starlit Skies, followed by the title track of our second album, Rising. And Starlit Skies,
- fun fact for you, it was actually released as a single today. So it was premiere after single release
- for that song. And if you liked it, please, you are so welcome to have a listen to it again later tonight
- after you have listened to all the other fantastic concerts going on.
- I suppose you have all been sitting and wondering how is it like to live and to tour together with a
- hurdy-gurdy player? Of course! Doesn't everyone think that thought now and then? Or is it maybe just
- me? Do we have any hurdy-gurdy players in the audience? Shout if you play hurdy-gurdy! Yes! Lovely to
- be represented, finally! We had to go all the way to America to find hurdy-gurdy players. I'm not all
- alone after all.
- That's great. That's great. Well, I can tell you a secret. When you are traveling together with a hurdy-gurdy
- player, or if you meet a person who plays it, you will notice one thing. And that's that every hurdy-gurdy
- player always carries around their hurdy-gurdy first aid kit. And it looks something like this. Yeah,
- something like this. Everyone has it. And what does this hurdy-gurdy kit contain? Well, it contains
- all the necessary
- tools and equipment to maintain this crazy instrument. So he's got the pliers. Of course. I've got many
- of them. Yeah, cutting the strings off when he is like angry of the instrument, yeah. And then he's
- got the famous Allen key, the big one. The golden one. Yeah, the Allen key, exactly. He got the Allen
- key. It was included when he bought the Hürdigördi because he bought it in IKEA in Sweden. So then
- you could, you know, screw it together as well. We are Swedes.
- So that's what and then the most important part is the little secret bottle. And what does the hurdy-gurdy
- player has in his secret little bottle? Yeah, it's 98% alcohol for the hurdy-gurdy, but sometimes for
- the player as well. Well, when I have the early mornings, but but you know, I need this alcohol for
- the rosin to be able to get sound in the hurdy-gurdy and in Sweden where we come from.
- Many things are forbidden because, you know, the authorities, they are really aware of us not starting
- bad behaviors. So you cannot buy 98% alcohol drinks. You know, it's impossible. You can't find that
- in Sweden. So where do you find this? Well, there is a country called Germany. You know about it? Yeah.
- And we have been to Germany. It's really great to be touring there because besides nice people, they sell
- 98% alcohol for one dollar, one liter. And it's really easy to find it. So if you're there, you can
- buy a lot or you shall buy a lot. And when I'm there, I buy many bottles. I go home to Sweden and then
- I am king on the black market of alcohol for hurdy-gurdy players in the whole north of Europe. It's
- a great feeling. It's a great feeling. I mean, it's for a good cause also. Yeah. Everyone has to have
- some sort of side business, you know.
- Well, now you know a little bit how it is to travel around with the hurdy-gurdy player. I have come
- to love this fascinating instrument. I was amazed by it from the first time I heard it 15 years ago
- when I saw it in the hands of this player. And now, Johannes, it's time to show the audience the different
- colors of the hurdy-gurdy. Well, mister, play your heart out.
- I'm ready
- He'll make it.
- Thank you so much everyone. So time goes fast when you have fun and we had quite fun today, Lars, right?
- Yes, lovely evening. So that means we will play our last song for you for this concert. But there is,
- we will actually play a little bit more on this festival as well. Yes. At 9 p.m. tonight in the first
- church. So if you want to come there, welcome. One of the shortest distances we had
- to travel between two gigs yeah so excellent and that was good because we flew 5 a.m. from Atlanta Georgia
- this morning so it was really nice to just transport ourselves easy before when we play the last song
- we want to give a warm thanks to Lotus Festival for inviting us yeah what a nice place and it's like
- they said Bloomington is a lovely place with lovely people and speaking about lovely people the crew
- at this stage were wonderful Jack
- The last song of this concert has a Swedish name. Do we have any Swedish-speaking people in the audience?
- Yes! Scandinavia!
- Well, but for the other people, I will tell that this is a title in Swedish. And the song is called
- Genom Mörker. And in English, it means going through darkness. And it's about this wonderful life that
- we are given. It's amazing to be alive. We get to experience so many beautiful, fascinating things.
- And I mean, especially an evening like this,
- being among friends, music lovers. I mean, that's wonderful, right? Yeah, exactly. But as all of you
- know, sometimes life can be a bit more difficult. And maybe so difficult that we sometimes find ourselves
- at a place where we feel that everything that we can see with our eyes looks like darkness to the eyes.
- And we really want to find that energy and determination to get back up on our feet and feel this happiness
- and energy and gratefulness for being alive. But we are not sure if we can make it because it feels
- so far away. So what can we do when we are down there in the darkness? One person said once that if
- you're going through hell, just keep going.
- So that's quite true. We have to face the darkness and go through it. And that can be really hard and
- painful to do all alone. But if you do it together with someone hand in hand, it will become a little
- bit more easy. So we would like to finish off this evening by going through the darkness hand in hand
- together with all of you, because that's going to make everything so simple and actually quite joyful,
- I think. So it will be six minutes of darkness. And when we are through that,
- and you need to hang in there. But when we are through that, there will be a lot of light and happiness
- there. So, dear friends, thank you so much for being with us this night. We are Symbio from Sweden,
- and this is Genom Mörker.
- Have a wonderful festival and see you during the weekend. Enjoy and thanks for your warm generosity.