Swedish Folk Music Treasures:

Sture Sahlström

Sture Sahlström is the fifth subject of the Treasures series. Born in 1923, he is the youngest of the Sahlström siblings. Grandfather Lars, father Anders and brothers Kalle and Eric were all musicians. Sture lived in a magical place called Trollrike in Vendel parish, Uppland, and that's where I filmed him together with Sonia Sahlström one crisp and wintry afternoon in March 2005.

Sture has played nyckelharpa since he was about twelve years old. He is the tradition bearer of a great body of tunes from the Sahlström family, collectively called Masbo tunes after the name of the old family home. Sture also builds nyckelharpas. A lifetime of music has garnered him many accolades, including the Zorn Gold Medal in 1997. Sture passed away in 2009.

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