Renee Vaughan plays traditional Scandinavian music on the nyckelharpa, an instrument dating back to medieval times in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland. She has performed at the American Swedish Institute, Norsk Høstfest, and the Minnesota Orchestra’s Nordic Soundscapes Festival. In 2024, she served as Musician-in-Residence at UW-Madison’s Nordic Folklife Department, where she shared Scandinavian folk music and storytelling. During her residency, she researched first-generation Swedish immigrant musicians, creating the online collection Nordic Newcomers and initiated a collection of Upper Midwest Scandinavian Allspel tunes to support learning and preservation. A versatile collaborator, Renee is involved in a range of musical projects, including intercultural and intergenerational ensembles, educational presentations, storytelling performances, and workshops focused on Scandinavian folk music. She is also dedicated to community building within the Scandinavian folk scene, co-hosting monthly Nordic Social Dances, the annual Twin Cities Nordic Ball, and organizing concerts and workshops for touring Scandinavian artists. Renee discovered Swedish folk traditions in 2009 while studying folk painting with Judy Kjenstad. Seeking inspiration, she borrowed a Swedish folk music recording from the library and was captivated by Eric Sahlström’s nyckelharpa playing. Judy, also a skilled nyckelharpa player, soon became her mentor in traditional Swedish music. Renee has also studied extensively one-on-one with Cajsa Ekstav during her American Scandinavian Fellowship, exploring the polska in its many forms--bondpolska, slängpolska/polonaise, Bodapolska and Bingsjöpolska. Through this work, she developed a stronger understanding of the rhythm and phrasing that uniquely define Swedish folk music |
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Renee Sunflower Vaughan was born in a VW van headed for Woodstock. Members of the commune doted on the budding musician and encouraged her interpretation of Tracy Partridge’s game-changing tambourine work. Young Renee had a difficult transition to life on the outside. At the impressionable age of 16, she hitchhiked along the famed Route 66, when the first car to stop for her was a lime-green 1972 Ford Pinto--and inside, Sammy Davis Jr. and Carol Channing. The trio toured the country playing their vaudeville revival act to second-rate hotels and casinos. At some point during their journey, Carol began the daunting task of taming and refining the free-spirited young lady. She instructed Renee in the art of social graces, teaching her how to dress gorgeously and walk steadily. Carol also shared her unique lipstick application techniques with the yet-to-blossom-beauty. Sammy's role in Renee's education was more simple, yet immeasurably more difficult--he instructed the young beauty in the tender arts of love. At last, when they could teach her nothing more, Renee, Carol, and a broken-hearted Sammy parted ways the best of friends. Renee traveled to the Land of 10,000 Lakes to see if it was indeed as unforgettable as her future musical trophy husband, Prince (RIP) had described. Once in Minnesota, she learned how to make a Swedish nyckelharpa from an old tree stump, goat entrails and a discarded typewriter. This new instrument allowed Renee to further pursue her creative vision. She forged ahead into the wild of her new home state, armed only with a nyckelharpa, and an abundance of confidence. Success came quickly and she found herself overwhelmed by the enthusiastic, and slightly aggressive nyckelharpa aficionados. Renee had no choice but to retreat into the woods, broken in body but happy in spirit. Renee can be found in her home, (which she made entirely out of pine needles, including the indoor plumbing,) biding her time quietly playing polskas, a subdued and thoughtful woman. |
