Gangspil Duo

Join us on Sunday, October 15 at 7:30 PM for an adventure in Danish folk music with Gangspil Duo! Doors will open at 6:30 PM. Tickets will go on sale for Friends of the MPOH on Monday, July 24 at 8 AM and for the general public on Monday, August 7 at 8 AM.

Gangspil will take you on an entertaining and varied journey through the traditions of Danish folk music. These lively musicians perform old dance tunes and songs from every corner of their Scandinavian home country, from rural islands like Læsø to the metropolis of Copenhagen, including a few of their own compositions. Expect everything from wild polkas and jigs to lyrical waltzes, fiery reels, and happy hopsas. Plus the exotic “Sønderhoning” dance tunes from the famous Island of Fanø and long-forgotten songs from all over the country. An unforgettable live experience spiced up with humor and stories from their many years on the road. They perform and have performed with some of the most exciting and well-known musicians from the Danish and Nordic folk scene.

For many years Sonnich Lydom (accordion, harmonica, vocals) and Kristian Bugge (fiddle, vocals) kept meeting in many corners of the blooming Danish folk scene, often when there was a jam session going on.

“We always had a lot of fun together and finally decided to bring some of that onto the stage. Now we’ve been playing and touring together for about eight years. It’s been increasing excitingly with more and more activities in both Europe and North America.”

Both Kristian and Sonnich were amongst the first twelve musicians to receive the honorary title ”Danmarks Rigsspillemænd” (National Danish Folk Musicians) in 2014. When they perform together, they talk about the traditions from back home, how they learned them, and how the music lives on today as part of the famous Danish hygge.

At the beginning of 2017, Gangspil went from being a trio into a duo. Guitarist and singer Morten Alfred Høirup has chosen to leave the group to take time off to focus on newly composed music and concerts in other contexts.

Sonnich and Kristian have lately been playing concerts both as a duo and with a number of good colleagues. In the US they’ve performed a number of shows with good friend, Midwestern award-winning master musician Dwight Lamb from Iowa. In both the Midwest and along the west coast, they’ve been joined by great Norwegian guitarist Vidar Skrede, well-known from the lush Nordic folk music scene. For a tour of concerts in Germany, Belgium, and Denmark they played with International, classical percussionist Ronni Kot Wenzell. Regularly Malene Daniels Beck (well-known for her work with the great Danish trad-duo, de Fries & D. Beck) joined them on piano and harmonium for concerts throughout Denmark and Scandinavia. Great times all together!