HITEM presents: “Meet your maker(s)”

Halifax Institute of Traditional and Early Music presents: Presentations and chats about instrument making with Stefan Ekedahl, Forbes and Yola Christie and Mohammad Sahraei.

Instrument makers play a crucial role in the continued vitality of many different traditional music genres, by providing and repairing the types of instruments that are indigenous to those genres. Their quiet, meticulous work does not always receive the attention that performing artists do, and yet without their support, these musical traditions and the communities connected to them would fall silent. Many of the makers, restorers, and repair people in celtic, nordic, and other musical traditions have been practicing their craft for decades and have fascinating stories to share about their work and the different communities they serve.

Here is an opportunity for traditional musical communities to meet their makers, and to open up a dialogue where makers can share their ideas – about what motivates them, what challenges and successes they have had, the communities they work with, the technical and musical artistry, and so on. Panel speakers at this event are:

1. Forbes and Yola Christie of Windward Flutes, Shelburne NS https://windwardflutes.com/
   Makers of fine simple-system keyed and keyless flutes for various genres of Celtic, Nordic, and other musical traditions.

2. Stefan Ekedahl, Rättvik, Sweden https://spelpipa.se/
   Cellist, a key figure in the Swedish traditional music revival of recent decades, and maker of traditional folk instruments from various parts of Sweden: spelpipor (small recorder-like flutes), moraharpa (diatonic ancestor of the Swedish nyckelharpa or keyed fiddle), and Swedish säckpipa (bagpipes).

3. Mohammad Sahraei, originally from Iran and now living in Halifax, ethnomusicologist and performer with an extensive collection of traditional instruments from cultures all around the world: https://minimusicmuseum.com/about-us/

General admission by freewill donation ($25 suggested).
Free admission to members of HITEM and sponsoring organizations; donations welcome in any case.
Pre-register at: info@tradandearlymusic.ca or through our Contact page. Walk-ins also welcome.