LYCKSELE

On Thursday, August 16, 2007 Marcas Robertson, Sam Shaw and myself, representing  The Ross and Cromarty Pipes and Drums School, flew out of Inverness Airport en route to Lycksele in Sweden to help celebrate Lycksele’s 400th Jubilee.

Lycksele in Vasterbotten in Sweden is known as the City of Lapland and was formed 400 years ago by the indigenous people of Lapland, the Sami. Twinned with Alness where our Pipes and Drums School is based, it has a populace of 12,000, approximately the same size as Alness, with a further 6,000 people living in the greater Lycksele area.

The Jubilee weekend began with a lunch on Friday at The Hotel Lapland, hosted by the Mayor and Chief Executive. As well as guests from other areas of Sweden there were international guests from Norway, Finland, Latvia and Russia and Councillor Caroline Wilson and Warwick Wilson representeing Alness joined us.

The celebrations continued on the Friday with the Cultural Night in the town square. Here the audience could experience many different types of entertainment from Apache Indian dancing, clowns with a sweets cannon, many local bands and, unusually, local politicians singing with Lycksele Big Band!  Our pipers also contributed to the Cultural Night with a 15 minute set.

 The Jubilee Celebrations continued on Saturday morning at Gammplatsen, the Old Site, where heritage buildings have been reconstructed. There was a welcome in Margaretakyrkan, the old church, where all the international guests were entertained by the Lycksele Home Guard Band. This was followed by a guided tour of the Sami Treasures Exhibition and the Gammplatsen Cultural Area.

On Saturday afternoon we kicked off the Grand Jubilee Celebrations in the town square by marching through the square from three different directions through the audience of about 2,000. We then gave a performance on bagpipes on stage and Marcas and I played a set on fiddle and guitar to begin the stage celebrations which included magician Julien who spellbound his audience with his magic, before rock'n'roll singer Brolle Jr came on stage for a very good concert!

The Saturday celebrations continued with a formal dinner at Skogskatan, a conference venue just outside Lycksele town. After dinner the speeches were made by all of the international guests, who all donated gifts to the major of Lycksele. Councillor Wilson gifted a two metre length of the tartan worn by the pipers, The Ross and Cromarty Tartan, together with an inscribed pottery plate and jug in The Ross and Cromarty Tartan, made by Tain Pottery, together with a quaich. After dinner our pipers entertained all of the guests on the bagpipes, fiddle and guitar.

On Sunday it was time for the Jubilee Church Service at Lycksele Church officiated by Bishop Hans Stiglund. Our Pipers piped the celebrants into the church by playing “Highland Cathedral” and, at the end of the service played “Amazing Grace” from the organ loft.

 On Sunday the afternoon we gave a performance at Gammplatsen, The Old Place, and were accompanied by one of the Apache Indians from Oregan in the United States, on his drum. The Apache Indians were in Lycksele as part of a World Conference on indigenous peoples organised by the Sami people. Later in the afternoon at Gammplatsen there was a folk play, "Art out of Doors", market, Sàmi Cultural Day and Forestry Day.

On Monday morning we were invited to Lycksele’s Upper Secondary School, the equivalent of our Further Education Colleges. There we gave a 45 minute talk to 80 music and arts students on how bagpipes work, types of bagpipe playing, their experiences as bagpipers and gave a demonstration of bagpipe playing. On Monday afternoon we were treated to half an hour on Lycksele’s Go-Kart Track and were then taken to the Bjorngrotten, a restaurant and hotel in a former Nuclear Bunker at the top of the Brocksliden ski slopes, where there is an exhibition of the relationship between the Sami, the reindeer and predators.

On Tuesday Morning we gave a talk on piping to the Principal, staff and some of the students of Lycksele’s Music School, which is housed in a beautiful renovated building in the heart of the town.

Later in the day we were taken to the town’s Zoo which houses indigenous Swedish animals, such as wolves, lynx, bison, elk and the wolverine, many of which can still be found in the wild in Sweden.

Their trip was completed by a visit to St. Anne’s underground Church at Kristineberg, 90 metres underground where, when the cave was originally blasted in the 1940s, the miners could make out a Christ figure on the mine wall. Here there is also a exhibition of how they mine gold, silver and copper ore.

Lycksele has a tremendous involvement with music, there being The Big Band, The Home Guard Band and no fewer than 10 choirs in the area. The Upper Secondary School and the Music School both have Digital Recording Studios and are keeping the traditions of Swedish Music alive. As a result of our visit discussions are underway to explore areas of co-operation with the Music Schools in Lycksele, one possibility being the production of a joint CD featuring traditional Scottish and Swedish Music.

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