Lena Willemark

Lena Willemark has established herself among the leading figures in Swedish music through her warm vocal delivery and fresh interpretive style on the fiddle. Solo releases together with partnerships involving multi-instrumentalist Ale Möller and the groups Frifot and Nordan Project have elevated the traditional repertoire of her native country to modern standards. Critics have lauded her “fine sensitivity and strength,” while The Planet observed that her “extraordinary, powerful voice can snap a listener's neck hairs to attention.” Born in the small Dalarna village of Evertsberg, Willemark first encountered jazz and improvisational forms during the late 1970s. Her initial solo outing, the 1989 album Nar Som Grast Det Vajar, earned both a Swedish Grammy and a German Music Critics prize. That year also marked her first appearance with the Elise Einarsdotter Ensemble on Secrets of Living; she returned for their 1993 recording Senses. Beginning in 1990 she has maintained an ongoing association with Möller, whose command of flute, octave mandolin, shawn, accordion, trumpet, bouzouki, hammered dulcimer, lute, percussion, and folk harp originated in southern Switzerland. Together with double-bassist Per Gudmundson they created Frifot, an ensemble focused on spontaneous variations of traditional Swedish melodies. In 1994 Willemark and Möller launched the additional project Nordan, which concentrates on fresh treatments of medieval ballads. Willemark has devoted growing attention to original composition; her piece “Windogur,” created with Karin Rehnqvist for the Ladies’ Next series commissioned by Stockholm during its 1998 tenure as European Capital of Culture, received its premiere with Bobo Stenson, Palle Danielsson, Lisbeth Diers, Staffan Larsson, Mikael Marin, and Mats Olofsson and was delivered primarily in the Älvdalen regional tongue. Frifot issued a self-titled album the following year. At the start of the new century a studio version of Windogur appeared on Sweden’s Amigo imprint. In 2001 Willemark rejoined the Elise Einarsdotter Ensemble for Summer Night. Frifot’s 2003 release Sluring earned a Swedish Grammis nomination. The same year she joined Norwegian vocalist Kirsten Bråten Berg and percussionist Marilyn Mazur for Stemmenes Skygge, issued by Norway’s Heilo label in 2005. Election to the Royal Swedish Academy of Music followed, bringing regular performances on its stage and throughout Northern Europe with both traditional and classical ensembles. The solo album Älvdalens Elektriska emerged in 2006, succeeded by Frifot’s Fly T in 2007. Subsequent years found Willemark contributing instrumental and arranging work to numerous twentieth-century classical recordings from her region; she also participated in the Country & Eastern Band, whose double-disc collection of regional holiday material appeared in 2011. The 2013 collaboration Alla Drömmars Sång united her with Mats Oberg and Jonas Knutsson. One year later The Nordan Suite with Möller and the Västerås Sinfonietta was released, while Years documented another 2014 session alongside Anders Jormin, Markku Ounaskari, and Kari Heinilä. After more than a decade’s absence from the label, Willemark returned to ECM in 2015 with Trees of Light, featuring contemporary compositions and improvisations developed with Jormin and Japanese koto player Karin Nakagawa.