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>> Lotta Andersson: Hi, there, everyone.  I am Lotta from [inaudible].  And along with my dear colleagues, Emma, Anna, and Sofia, I am so happy to invite you into our world of Swedish folk'apella.  The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress has invited us to perform in their 2022 Homegrown at Home Concert Series.  So, instead of being in Washington, D.C., we are coming to you today from afar, as this concert was recorded in Svendborg, Denmark.  Rooted in Swedish traditional music, Kongero will give you a taste of what it can sound like here and now, filtered through our four voices.  And in just a bit, you are going to hear one of very few happy love songs in Swedish tradition.  But first, as the light and the warmth is returning with the Sun here in the North, we want to start this concert with my favorite summer hymn [foreign name] In This Lovely Summertime.  Please enjoy.
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>> Anna Wikenius: Hi, there.  My name is Anna.  I hope you're enjoying the concert so far.  We are going to continue with a song called In the Morning.  It is from our first album that was released in 2008.  Now, it talks about the life on a farm, how the people working there have to go up really early in the morning, go to the field, work, harvest and plow, and can only come home very late in the evening.  After that, we're going to do The Bride's Groom.  The Bride's Groom is really just a big joke about a guy who doesn't want to get married.  But in the end, when he gets married, it's all fine.  So, our analysis about this is that he's basically just suffering from stage fright.  But the arrangement, which is made by Emma, is built upon his screaming and his anxiety for this wedding.  Remember to laugh in the end.  Enjoy. 
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>> Sofia Hultqvist Kott: Hello, my name is Sofia.  And this next song is called [foreign name] or If I Only Had Wings.  And the lyrics are if I only had wings, then within a few hours I would fly away to my friend and then return back home same day.  And this song has been in our workshop material for a very long time.  And we ended up liking it so much that we decided to bring it into our concert repertoire.  So, we made an arrangement, and yeah, here it is. 
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>> Emma Bjorling: Hello, my name is Emma.  We're going to continue with the sailor song.  And this one was a part of our workshop material for a long time before we took it on stage for a communal.  And we developed the arrangement a little bit.  We added some parts and wrote in reverse.  And then it became the song that it is today.  It's about a sailor on his ship, away on the sea, longing for his love who's back at shore.  Hint, they will meet again.  The song after that is a set of two herding songs.  And it's about cows and calves and goats.  And the common theme between these two songs is the sound of the cow's, the leader cow's bell going cling clang.  And there's this swinging butt of a calf in there as well dancing to the sound of the bell.  Enjoy. 
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>> Anna Wikenius: So, we've come to the last song for this concert.  And we're going to finish with a finish tune.  Ha ha.  Every now and then, a song from our neighboring countries sneaks into our concert program if it's really, really good.  And this is the case with the last tune.  It's another wordless piece.  I learned it from a good friend and colleague of mine called [foreign name].  And when I heard it, I thought it would be an excellent fit for [foreign name].  So, here it is, Mailjas.  Thank you so much for watching.  I hope you've enjoyed the show.  And I really do hope that we get to meet you live one day.  Bye. 
>> Sofia Hultqvist Kott: Byebye.
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>> Lotta Andersson: You guys, this has been a pure pleasure.  You have listened to the Swedish folk'apella quartet Kongero with me, Lotta Andersson, Emma Bjorling,   Anna Wikenius, and Sofia Hultqvist Kott.  Thank you so much for sharing this moment with us.  And I have a little tip for you.  Please check out the American Folklife Center's website.  It's a truly great online resource where you can find lots of sound recordings to explore, to get inspired by.  I sure will.  Thank you guys so much.  Until next time. 
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