Biography
Evald Thomsen linked the old masters of Danish folk traditions to later revival players through his deeply expressive fiddling and vast command of regional repertoire. Though he earned his living as a dairyman and boilerman, his performances conveyed unmistakable delight. Dobro and fiddle player Stacy Phillips observed that Thomsen’s “playing is more driving than any Scandinavian fiddlers I have ever heard. The bowing fairly explodes on many cuts. Even the waltzes are amazingly energetic.” Renowned for his extensive store of traditional Danish fiddle melodies, he both apprenticed under the leading players of Himmerland and Vendsyssel and gathered an extensive personal archive of historic music books. During the 1960s he supplied material to the Danish Folklore Archives; in 1971 he was named adviser to the Folk Music House in Hogager, where he mentored and shaped the next generation of fiddlers.