The week that passed was very exciting. First of all, there was the Scandinavian Guitar Show in Stockholm last weekend. I visited and met many good friends and made further connections. I also saw more than one ridiculously expensive guitars…

Then I met up with my good friend Michele Benincaso, luthier based in Stockholm, with whom I have been collaborating for a few months. With him was Paolo Tofani and they had brought his Tri-Kanta Veena that Michele built for him. A truly amazing instrument and two amazing individuals. I encourage you to follow the links above and explore the music and history of Paolo and the Tri-Kanta!

The picture shows Paolo with the Tri-Kanta. The top neck hosts 13 strings that are typically played as a “back-drop”, the middle has 8 regular guitar strings, out of which 2 are on a fretless part of the fretboard – and there are 2 additional reference strings for the “raga” (apologies if I don’t get the details 100%) that sits underneath these strings. The bottom neck has 13 additional strings that can be plucked and played in a harp manner. The guitar-like fretboard is played both conventionally and in a tapping manner. The topics of our discussions, I hope to get back to soon.

Also this week, Ane Brun, one of my absolute favorite artists, played at Cirkus in Stockholm. Supporting her were Rebekka Karijord and Jennie Abrahamsson. A magical evening that was also visited by Anna Ternheim and Elin Ruth Sigvardsson as guest appearances and I spotted Nina Kinert in the audience.