Anders Nyberg's blog

Thank you all my friends for your birthday greetings on facebook. I appreciated them greatly! The day started with a call connecting three countries, the boys from South-Africa and Swaziland on the same line as the girls in Sweden singing "Happy birthday" together in parts. Amazing! There is this lovely traditional song from Dalarna:  "Min födelsedag förtjänar att jag ett tacksamhetsljud till himmelen sänder att prisa min Gud, som skapat mig väl att jag av hans hander fått lemmar och själ."  "My birthday deserves that I a thankful sound to heaven send to praise my God, who made me well that I from his hands have received limbs and soul." So I headed out the Klockargården-door, with your Facebook messages landing in my pocket with happy tinkles, to the Dala-Floda outbacks to express my gratitude and to try to find my voice in this the most exuberant of celebrations: the boreal spring.    This is what I tweeted: May my birt...

Stockholm is fantastic! When I lived in Stockholm's centre in the 90's and missing the countryside a lot I used to joke and say that you should live in a little cottage in the countryside within walking distance to the subway. Now I just about do - it has manifested! We live 160 meters from a Nature Reserve and 500 meters from a subway station. I took this picture some minutes ago. It is not a poster from the subway station. It's the real thing from the other side, the Nature Reserve of Lake Flaten. Not a human being, house or car in sight, 17 minutes of subway travel from the Stockholm city centre and a beautiful short walk out into the stillness. Of course the picture, beautiful as it is, catches but a tiny bit of the magic. Add the haunting, haunting tune of the Arctic Loon and the eau de cologne of the lilies of the valley (sorry no link...) and the spirits of the old ruins and you get a bit closer. A bit closer to your own centre found in the stillness ...

I have been in Trondheim with Peter Elmberg and we have mapped out the first legs of the Path, the planned trek of 2012. For those who don't know - and it should be most of you as we haven't yet introduced the idea to any great number of people - we are planning a long song-walk. What? Yea right, a loooong song-walk! When? April to September 2012! Where? From Trondheim, Norway through Sweden to Copenhagen, Denmark! Who? All are welcome! It will be as a relay and you do as much or as little as you can or want. Why? The path is beckoning... How? Step by step, by the grace of God and the support of fellow travelers on the path. Now really, what is this? As those of you who have followed us know: we have over the years arranged a lot of "Song-Walks" starting with "Sång i Dalgång" 1994. The concept is simple and beautiful: we go on tour with our own feet and voices as means of transportation and communication. We get a small repertoire ...

Valpurgis Night 2011  Dala-Floda  All over the country people light their bonfires and sing their spring songs but it is only in our little village that you would find the "valborrar",  creatures "uglier than the trolls", who scare the old witches and trolls away with their noise and nuisance.