Swedish Folk Music Treasures: Mats Andersson

The eighth volume in my Treasures series focuses on Mats Andersson, born in 1941. Playing with him is his long-time student, Jonas Isaksson. Mats and his clarinet has nurtured and furthered the tradition and legacy of his mentor, the legendary Uppland clarinet player Curt Tallroth. Curt in turn, got his tunes from the older players before him, such as Abel and Henrik Eriksson and August Frank. In passing these tunes on to Jonas, the musical thread remains unbroken and continuous. Mats was recognized as a riksspelman (Zorn Silver) back in 1971 and in 2003 he was tapped for the highest honor a Swedish folk musician can receive—the Zorn Gold. Jonas earned the Zorn Silver medal in 2005.

Filming took place in Mats’ home in Vaksala, Uppland, Sweden, on April 20, 2006.

All my Treasures films were originally for sale and distributed in DVD format. In 2024 I decided to release the films on YouTube.