Dreamers' Circus, Oct 27 2025

I heard Dreamers' Circus at Music Mondays on Oct 27, 2025. They're a trio that plays arrangements of Nordic folk music and original pieces. The three members are:

Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen: he primarily plays the violin, played the piano a bit as well.

Ale Carr: he had the most versatility - - he played guitar, violin, clog fiddle (more about that in a bit), bowed harp (more about that, too), Nordic cittern (ditto), and he also sang.

Nikolaj Busk: he played piano, accordion, also a bit of ukulele.

Their music was engaging and inventive, often with peculiar changes in meter. The harmonies were direct and the arrangements were well crafted.

Ale Carr introduced us to the clog fiddle, the love child of a wooden clog and a violin. He introduced the two-piece medley he'd be playing with that instrument - - the first song was played at his parents' wedding ("Aw...!") and he played the other song when he won the Clog Fiddle World Championship (a smattering of applause). Which he won three times (more applause). He hastened to add that the last time there were five total entrants (hearty chuckles). Here he is, maybe playing those same two songs:

The pianist/accordion player introduced a piece he wrote. It was good but it had a puzzling prog rock middle section. The following piece was even more puzzling - - it had a thumping, pre-recorded track which made me think it was music for an exercise video that Richard Simmons never made: Sweatin' to Danish Folk Rock.

The second half started with a lovely piece based on a folk tune found on an island off Denmark, an island that currently has 34 inhabitants!

The next piece was a visit to another peculiar genre - - the warm, earnest piano part had me visualizing a TV movie in which the mom finishes the dishes, turns off the lights, hangs up a coat, goes upstairs, looks in on her sleeping kids, crawls into bed (prompting an unconscious grunt from her husband), has a thoughtful moment, closes her eyes, and falls asleep.

The bowed harp was another instrument that was new to me. It's built as a long narrow rectangle, maybe two feet tall and nine inches wide, with a hole in the middle and four strings running from top to bottom. Sørensen said that the instrument is over 1,000 years old. The instrument in general, not the one Carr was playing. It had a dark, coarse sound, sometimes so twangy I could hardly discern the pitch. We had more pre-recorded thumping in this piece. Do we need that?

The Nordic cittern looked like a mandolin to me but sounded more like a guitar. Google sent me to Nyberg Instruments where I read this: "The 5-course long scale cittern (or 10-string bouzouki) is a suitable choice for someone who wants to add more than just a rhythmic style to their bouzouki playing." Is that what YOU want in your bouzouki playing...? Here's Carr playing the Nordic cittern in a piece that they played when I heard them:

My verdict on these guys: extraordinary musicians but they should lay off the pre-recorded thumping tracks. It cheapens the experience.