A village on the move: my day at the Byafest

On 12 September, Byafest took place once again in Dals Långed. For me, it’s a special day every year: people open their doors, organise events, play music and create opportunities to meet one another. This time, my day began at Dalslands Studio – and ended with a record that I certainly hadn’t had on my shopping list that morning.

Flea market, fika and two ukulele concerts

With the lovely weather, there was plenty going on at the ÖA-Loppis. Lots of visitors also turned up for our fika at Dalslands Studio, including numerous students. The two ukulele concerts were particularly well attended.

It was lovely to see the studio so bustling that day. People came together amidst the flea market, coffee and music, and we were right in the thick of it. When you organise something yourself, you experience a festival differently from simply dropping by: there’s plenty to do, and at the same time you get a real sense of how your own offering is being received. I was delighted by the large number of guests and the interest in the concerts.

Out and about in Dals Långed

After we’d closed the fika and the flea market, I was able to pop round to the other events in the village myself.

That’s exactly what I love about Byafest: there isn’t just one central festival site. Many participants organise their own activities, and together they create a programme that’s spread throughout the village. The local initiative that organises this day every year describes it as a day by the people of Dals Långed for the people of Dals Långed – open to anyone who’d like to contribute.

For me, this meant that in the afternoon, I went from being a host to a visitor. After our own programme, it was lovely to see what had been organised elsewhere and to experience the village once again from a different perspective.

BRUK: a wealth of soundscapes in the old factory halls

In the evening, we moved on to BRUK in Långedsverken. I was fascinated by the diversity of the programme. The former factory halls brought together a wide variety of musical and artistic approaches. Four specially designed venues provided space for folk, jazz, spatial sound experiments and an installation. According to the organising association, Långedprojektet, just under 270 guests attended – a record number of visitors.

The programme included:

• Stina Huldén and Olov ‘Klyv-Olle’ Lindroth: Nordic folk music featuring saxophones, piano and a pedal organ. The duo explores traditional melodies through a playful interplay – ranging from lively, spirited passages to calm, contemplative moments.
• Ljudhavet: An immersive concert programme featuring a ‘speaker orchestra’. Music originally composed for other theatrical and artistic contexts was rearranged within the architecture of Långedsverken. In the process, the space itself became an integral part of the listening experience.
• Liv Hansen – ‘Ebb och Flod’: Not a concert in the strict sense, but an installation comprising embroidered transparent silk and film projections. The starting point was Hansen’s physical experience of the water in the canal: its movement, its voice, and the question of how such an experience can be conveyed without words.
• Andreas Hellkvist – ‘Quadraphonic’: A Hammond organ at the centre, surrounded by four Leslie speakers. This arrangement makes the space part of the instrument; the audience can move around and experience the sound from different positions.
• Fartyg 4: Contemporary jazz straddling composition and improvisation, featuring Matilda Andersson on vocals, Daniel Gahrton on saxophones and clarinet, Cecilia Persson on piano and Rhodes, and Donovan von Martens on double bass. The quartet combines text-based music with an open, fluid interplay.

What particularly appealed to me that evening was the juxtaposition of these different forms. BRUK didn’t simply offer several concerts in a row, but rather different ways of experiencing music and art.

A Hammond organ – and my first vinyl record in over 30 years

My personal highlight was Andreas Hellkvist on the Hammond organ. His ‘Quadraphonic’ project combines the instrument with four Leslie speakers to create a spatial sound experience.

I was so fascinated by it that afterwards I bought my first vinyl record in over 30 years. That was an unexpected outcome of the evening – and perhaps the loveliest way to take a little something home with me.

I didn’t have the energy left to dance

After BRUK, the Byafest continued at Mustadfors Folkets Hus. Rock music, electronic music, a DJ, a bar and dancing had been announced there to round off the day.

By then, however, I was too knackered to throw myself onto the dance floor. After our own programme in the studio, the tour and the festival, I’d had enough. Folkets Hus had to celebrate without me this time.

It was a lovely and inspiring day – just as I experience Byafest every year. I particularly enjoyed the combination of being actively involved and taking in new impressions: first welcoming people to the Dalsland Studio, then heading out myself and, in the evening, discovering music that will stay with me for a while longer.