Country road, take me home

Country, blues and rock´n´roll. Janine Nyman performing at CBR Stockholm a festival held at Kungsträdgården earlier this month. I walked around the park while she played a few songs. Not just country, and not just her own music.

A bit of jazz and soul music

We celebrated our national day today. I visited the seaside resort Dalarö with my brother and a friend. We stopped at Tullhuset down by the harbour. The building dates back to 1778. It is a listed building that back in the day was used as a customs office. Today you will find the tourist information center here, as well as popular restaurant. During our visit the singer Cecilia R. Ray was performing in the afternoon sunshine helped by the keyboard player Frank Rönningen.

Sam Paris

It was the day after the terrorist attack in Stockholm that killed 5 people back in April of this year. Suddenly a man started to sing in honour to the victims. The song he sang was Amazing Grace. He did it with the help of a choir, (thanks for spotting my bad spelling Umepojken). He stood among the flowers at the stairs at Sergels Torg and his song moved a lot of people that day. This is that man, Sam Paris. I took this photo of him on Saturday when he performed on the big stage at Poseidon's Square in Handen, during the Haninge Day celebrations. www.facebook.com/JoelOsteen/posts/10154267048181695

Max Tomsby

Spotted a musician from a distance yesterday. I was on my way to a bridge in Handen from where I sometimes shoot cool cars. He came walking towards me with the guitar on his back so it was an easy guess, but I still asked him if he was a musician, and the answer was yes. This in Max Tomsby. He has played in a few different cover bands over the years. But at the moment he is a one man band. Max told me that he also does some busking every now and then. He plays a lot of music from the 70s and 80s. He is a big Tom Petty fan. If you check out his Soundcloud site you can hear a few of his Swedish songs. I took a few snaps of him and promised to email them to him.aaways good to have an updated profile photo online when you are a musician. If you check out his Soundcloud site you can hear a few of his songs where he sings in Swedish.

The Popstar

I met a popstar at the Targa Florio Svecia on Saturday. Annika Ljungberg. She arrived in style to the Häringe castle in a red Ferrari. Back in the 1990s she started a band called Rednex. They played electronic country and got a huge hit with their version of the song Cotton Eye Joe. In the band her stage name was Mary Joe. In 2007 Annika left the band to focus on her solo career. Back in 2012 she was diagnosed with leukaemia. She decided on the spot to heal herself and told her then nine year old daughter that she would be fine. She seemed in great spirit and health when I took these portraits. Annika is currently on tour in Sweden in a band called Cotton Eye Joe Show. She also runs a website called friskhuset.nu, a health portal.

The backing vocalist

I showed you a collage with snaps of the band That Driving Beat a couple of days ago. They performed during the Haninge Day. I also told you that I found one of the band members quite photogenic. This is her. The backing vocalist Cecilia.

Ebba

Remember that girl I photographed during the Rock Festival in the park in Tungelsta a while back? Well here she is again. I spotted Ebba Lundell in the crowd during the Haninge Day celebrations on Saturday and asked her for a portrait. She was with a friend so I shot one of them together as well. A little later I noticed her on the stage at the theatre barn and walked over to hear her perform in the light rain. Ebba has a fine voice and I'm sure we will hear more from her in the future.

Carina & Åsa

After my photo shoot in the orchard I headed towards the pond but had to turn back as I all of a sudden heard a flute and then a woman started singing. I walked over to see what was going on. It turned out to be Carina and Åsa. I asked if I could take a photo, they said yes, and I started to shoot while listening to them as they played a song by Evert Taube. Then we started to talk a little. Carina who is from Fruängen works as a music teacher in Tyresö, and is a member of the musical ensemble Raka Rör. For Åsa, who comes from Järfälla, music is a passion. Funnily enough they met for the first time today! They were rehearsing for a wedding ceremony that would take place later this afternoon here in the orchard. It's a very private affair they told me. It will only be the two of us and the bride and groom who are from the northern city of Umeå. We will play a few songs, like the one you just heard by Taube and also Last Spring by Edward Grieg and a few others. After that I said goodbye to the ladies and walked away to the sound of music. This is my 55th photo for the 100 Strangers project. You can see the rest of my strangers in my Set