User:Heike h
i suppose what is interesting here is the part of my personal biography, that is connected to me getting that wonderfull instrument from Salve. i played uilleann pipes for many years, but it was really a too dominant instrument for me. so i tried the fiddle, but i just couldn't play so fast, as most irish musicians do. then i discovered scandinavian music, swedish first, and that was much more to my liking and i got into it much easier. as fate wanted it, on my last trip to ireland in 2014 we stayed the first night at mick o'briens house, where i discovered a hardanger d'amore of one of his daughters had. i tried it out and was immediately dumbstruck about the richness of the sound. i fell in love with it and after contemplating for a while if it was ok for me to spend so much money just for my pleasure (what a stupid question! OF COURSE it is ok) i ordered an instrument from Salve. i asked Salve if he would agree to make the shape of the corpus like a normal fiddle, that is with four "corners", and he agreed to do that. i would have liked a lion head, but unfortunately that was too much extra money. i'm not saying, that his instruments are too costly, they are woth much more really. we're lucky Salve is happy to ask just enough for his modest style of living. in 2015 i got my hardanger d'amore (no.14) already and was soooooooo happy with it - and still am. in 2016 we then went to Salve's workshop for the first time, enjoying his and Inger's hospitality in this absolutely gorgeous cute litte guesthouse on the other side of the street from his house. i spend a lot of time watching Salve work (as i'm an instrument maker myself - i make uielleann pipes with Andreas Rogge - that was very interesting for me and i hope i didn't get on Salve's nerves too much). Salve and Inger were very kind, organizing sessions with the local band and in the following years until covid we always went there in the summer, twice even going to the telemark festivalen in Bø with them. i discovered that i love the weird and eerie hardanger fiddle music a lot and learnt a few tunes from Salve and other players. this music is so different, it's like from another world! wow! now i play all sorts of folk music in the hardanger d'amore - i'm not a good player, but i have so much fun and i enjoy the sound very very much! Thank you Salve!!!