I know, it’s a bit late to write a new-years-summary, but what the heck. Below are both personal and musical highlights from last year. Looking at it like this I can’t help but wondering what the coming year will hold. Whatever it is, I look forward to it.
- Got married. Yepp, in June I got to take the love of my life, Linnéa, to be my lawfully wedded wife. We had a nice non-religious ceremony and a great dinner and party afterwards. It rained, but we didn’t mind.
- Finished my studies. After two years of long-distance study (well, plus my studies at Umeå University 1998-2001. Yepp, I’m old) I can now call my self a schooled archivist with a degree in ethnomusicology.
- Recorded and released an album. Pettersson & Fredrikssons third duo-album ”Sotali” was finally released in summer 2010. It was long overdue, but I’m glad we didn’t rush into it. In the end, I think the album turned out really, really great and it is probably the one production I am the most proud of in my whole musical carrier. It is also the most ”indie” of all our cd:s – we recorded and released it without support from a record label, but with lots of help from great friends and outside-the-box thinking.
- Got a ”real” job. In August, I started working as a record keeper at the Swedish National Agency for Higher Education. It’s a great place to work with interesting people, I enjoy it a lot. While this does give me less time to focus on music, it also gives me the luxury to only focus on musical projects that I’m really passionate about.
- Toured europe. In November I took some time of from work and went playing with the Magic Lute Project. It’s such a great ensemble, and I’m proud to be a part of it. The last day we spent in Athens. It was 25 degrees celcius and felt like summer. I picked an orange from a tree and put it in my backpack. When I got home, we stuck dried cloves in it and hung it with a red ribbon in the window.
- Moved to Stockholm. After living most of my life in the northern parts of Sweden, with just a brief detour to Falun, I have now moved with my little family to the big city. The decision had grown over time and was made due to many reasons – the work situation being the most prominent.
- Went to Ireland. For many years I nurtured a dream to visit Ireland. I even got in touch with a university about doing post-graduate studies in ethnomusicology there, but never got around to it. But now, as an unexpected bonus of my new job, I got to go with my department to Dublin in October! Hotspots: Cobblestone bar (a great musical experience, and a future blog post) Clannagh Records (awesome cd:s), Kilmainham (great guide, horrible place), The Pigs Ear (Best Cheesecake Ever, avoid ”bag of sweets”), the long room (Potteresque).
