Sven Nyhus

Outside of Scandinavia the best-known Norwegian fiddler would probably be Annbjørg Lien, but folk music purists usually prefer Sven Nyhus. Along with Hans Brimi, Nyhus represented an archetype in Scandinavia, the stern-looking fiddler playing dance music, sometimes accompanied only by his own foot stomping out the beat. Born in 1932, Nyhus was from the Østerdalen region of Norway. In this region, the flatfele ("flat fiddle" or violin) predominates, but he sometimes played the Hardanger fiddle, the distinctively Norwegian version of the violin popular elsewhere in the country...