Click here for the detailed schedule (we still reserve the right to make changes)
Place: Tingbygningen på Hunn, Hunnsvegen 29, 2819 Gjøvik, Oppland, Norway ( see on map).
Time: The Nordic Harp Meeting in Gjøvik will start on Thursday 4 November at 5 p.m. *) and end on Sunday 7 November 2010 after the final allspel at approx. 4 p.m. (open end).
(* Instrument makers are welcome to come even earlier, to discuss instrument making before all other participants arrive.

During the Nordic Harp Meeting, there will be workshops and lectures every day (see below), and instrument makers are welcome to exhibit their various instruments. At each coffee break between the lectures and workshops, an open scene welcomes your performances.

Evening activities:

Thursday, 6th November, 8 p.m. spelstuga: Teach us your favourite tunes

Friday, 5th November, 8 p.m. The Icelandic Saga of Herrauðr & Bósi (storytelling with harp music, Nancy Thym)

Saturday, 6th November, 8 p.m. Public concert with many performers from the Nordic countries: Harp, kantele, lyre, langeleik, langspil, fiðla, and more. The concert will be at Gjøvik kunst- og kulturskole, Hunnsveien 27, first floor.

Following these evening activities, there will be allspel, dancing, jamming and more.

Lectures
Tone Hulbækmo & Sverre Jensen (Norway): Renaissance of the Norwegian harp
Bjørn Aksdal & Elisabeth Kværne (Norway): The langeleik - an unbroken link to the past
Pekka Toivanen (Finland): The Ob-Ugrian harp, its practices and its use in the Khanty bear ritual
Gjermund Kolltveit (Norway): The early lyre in Scandinavia
Kjersti Smedstad (Norway): The power of the harp in Norse literature of the High Middle Ages
Thilo Viehrig (Germany): The lyre-like gusli from Early Medieval Novgorod

Basic workshops (no prior knowledge required)
- Susan Enochsson (Sweden): Harp for beginners
- Minna Raskinen (Finland): Kantele for beginners
- Turid Berge (Norway): Langeleik for beginners
- Andy Lowings (England): Lyre for beginners

Specialised workshops (intermediate and advanced level).
You are advanced if you have been playing for some time and are able to pick up tunes by ear. (The "intermediate" level is somewhere between beginner and advanced.) The specialised workshops are not restricted to specific instruments, but focus rather on some aspect of music:

Friday:
Bára Grímsdóttir & Chris Foster (Iceland): The Icelandic folk tradition - Song, langspil and fiðla (intermediate/advanced)
Nancy Thym (Germany): Reconstructing a lost playing technique on the Norwegian krogharpe (all levels)
Turid Berge (Norway): traditional Norwegian langeleik music (intermediate/advanced level)
Niss Stricker Jørgensen (Denmark): Danish ballads and songs with harp accompaniment (advanced level)

Saturday:
Susan Enochsson (Sweden): Musical modes in Nordic folk music (intermediate level)
Ove Berg (Norway): Music from the Finnskogen on the 5-string kantele (intermediate level)
Pekka Toivanen (Finland): The Early Harper's Toolkit 1: Historical ornamentation (advanced level)
Niss Stricker Jørgensen (Denmark): Danish ballads and songs with harp accompaniment (intermediate level)
Erik Ask-Upmark (Sweden): folkmusikaliskt danssväng - Swedish folk dance music (advanced level)

Sunday:
Minna Raskinen (Finland): Improvisation in Finnish kantele music (all levels)
Pekka Toivanen (Finland): The Early Harper's Toolkit 2: Medieval harp tabulature (advanced level)
Bára Grímsdóttir & Chris Foster (Iceland): Singing and arranging music from Iceland (intermediate/advanced)

Independent of the music workshops, there might be also an instrument making workshop in the Gjøvik facilities (instrumentbyggeverksted på Hunn): Yrjänä Ermala (Finland) can show you how to make your own flutes and pipes. This workshop is financially separate from the Nordic Harp Meeting, i.e. if you are interested you need to contact Yrjänä for further arrangements.

The Nordic Harp Meeting 2010 is supported by the Nordic Culture Fund and the foundation Rådet for folkemusikk og folkedans, and will be arranged in cooperation with Gjøvik spelmannslag and Tradisjonsmusikkarkivet Mjøsmuseet.