Multe

There is a bit of insanity in dancing that does everybody a great deal of good.  ~ Edwin Denby

At left is a picture of just a portion of the piles of coats spread like a smørgåsbord outside the J. Grundy's Reub'N'Stein Upstairs on 15 Feb 2008, where Multe played a double-bill with Foot-Notes from Decorah, IA as a part of ArtOrg's Winter Concert Series.

More than 100 folks came out on a very cold night to listen and dance to traditional Nordic music — in the rich dialects of Minnesota and Iowa. They enjoyed a veritable smørgåsbord of dance music — waltz, polka, reinlender/schottische, pols, hambo, gånglåt/snoa and tango — and the crowd was eating it up! 

The energy was great.  The dance floor became so crowded that dancers had to clear out tables and start a second dance floor at the back of the hall! (Word to the Wise: Never get in the way of determined dancers…) 

And the smørgåsbord extended to the crowd as well. There were teenagers to senior citizens — both on the dance floor and off. Some dancers were intrepid beginners and some were clearly experienced. All were having fun. Even the those who chose not to venture out on the floor were enjoying the sights and sounds. A brief survey of the audience also revealed a geographic diversity: Decorah, the Twin Cities, Mankato, Saint Cloud, Minneota and, yes, even Norway!

 Our thanks to ArtOrg's Dave Machacek (a descendant of Norwegians from Valdres) for organizing the event and for the photos. You can see more pictures of the evening on ArtOrg's Flickr site.

 The "ArtOrg AfterGlow" at The Contented Cow was packed and gave the two groups the opportunity to kick back and make music together into the wee hours.  

We're still recovering… Let's do it again — soon! 

Northfield’s ArtOrg sponsors an evening of traditional old-time Scandinavian dance music on Friday, February 15 at the downtown J. Grundy’s Reub ‘N’ Stein Upstairs at 503 Division Street, Northfield MN 55057. Two bands will split the bill — Multe and Foot-Notes from Decorah, Iowa — providing plenty of waltzes, polkas and even tangos for your listening and dancing pleasure.

There will be an introductory dance lesson at 7 p.m. Dance music will be the highlight of the evening from 8-11 p.m. There is a $5 per person donation for the evening and this goes to support the music. The evening’s musicians have also been invited to play an informal set after 11 p.m. at The Contented Cow at 302B Division Street.

You can find information about our band here.

We're particularly delighted to be sharing the bill with our friends from Decorah, Foot-Notes, who are pictured at right.

The group includes Beth Hoven Rotto (fiddle), Jim Skurdall (mandolin, lead vocal), Jon Rotto (guitar, vocals) and Bill Musser (bass, vocals). The group formed in 1991 to carry on a tradition of monthly old time dances in a rustic two-room schoolhouse in Highlandville, Iowa, where area residents have been gathering for years. The old time music they play reflects their ties to Norwegian-American communities in the area. Most of their repertoire consists of dance tunes that were popular at house parties, barn dances, and "bowery" dances in northeast Iowa around the turn of the century and into the first few decades of the 1900s. They also incorporate a number of danceable tunes from European traditions—including Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish. Foot-Notes have represented Iowa at the Smithsonian Institution's Festival of American Folklife on the National Mall in Washington, DC and have been featured on Norwegian National Radio (NRK). They have released two CDs, Decorah Waltz and My Father Was A Fiddler.

It's going to be a great night of music and dance. We hope you'll join us!

Tags: gigs

We're up and running. The header image was taken by Norwegian folk musician and all-around great guy, Arne Moslåtten, on a wet Norwegian mountainside. The Bio images were gathered from Multe's myspace images and other various personal sites. Now, lets get back to the music…

Give us a look:

http://www.myspace.com/multemusic