Irrbloss Folk Concert

Join us for a special performance by Swedish folk musicians Maja Heurling and Ola Sandström who will present the poetry of Signe Aurell, a Swedish immigrant and labor activist. This performance will feature songs based on the poetry of Aurell, as well as stories from her life in both Sweden and Minnesota.

More than a century ago, Signe Aurell traveled alone from Sweden to Minnesota where she worked as a laundress and seamstress. In 1919, she self-published a series of Swedish-language poems that explored feelings of homesickness and the struggle for a brighter future. Titled Irrbloss—meaning Will-o’-the-Wisp—this collection of poetry remained mostly unknown until Marcus Cederström, Community Curator of Nordic-American folklore for the Sustaining Scandinavian Folk Arts in the Upper Midwest Project, wrote a dissertation about Signe.

Musicians Maja Heurling and Ola Sandström then collaborated to set music to a selection of poems from Irrbloss, blending folk stylings and the Swedish visa (ballad) tradition together to underscore the continued relevance and impact of Signe’s words. In October 2019, 100 years after they were released, the album with the compositions of Signe Aurell’s poems was released on Kakafon Records. Fans of folk music and poetry should not miss this unique evening of music.

This concert is supported by the Augustana College Scandinavian Studies Program, the Music Department, and the Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center.