Hjalmar Jonsson

Swedish accordion player, born 24 August 1923 in Stråsjö, Bjuråker, Hälsingland, died 14 August 2000 in Bjuråker. Hjalmar Jonsson was six years old when he learned to play the accordion. As an eleven-year-old, he began playing at dances, good temple parties, weddings and other solemn events in and around his hometown. Jonsson supported himself as a forest worker and cut alternately for companies and farmers. However, music was always included as a sideline. During the 1940s, 50s, 60s and 70s, Jonsson toured throughout Sweden together with various constellations of musicians. Among other things, he was a member of the so-called Jubilee Quartet, and played at revival meetings, music worship services and concerts. The Jubilee Quartet became very popular in free church circles and recorded several gramophone records. He made two extensive US tours: partly in 1956, when he traveled with Theofil Engström for four months and visited 24 states in the US and also Canada, and partly in 1973, now with Carl and Anna Öst and pastor Erik Edin, with visits to New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Minneapolis. Jonsson was one of the most important folk music accordionists in Hälsingland, and the ensemble formed around him became prominent. They played at Bricka bygdegård in Bjuråker parish, and other fiddler meetings in Dellenbygden. When it comes to the accordion as an instrument, Jonsson had a deeply personal opinion: "The accordion has two sides. You can express the harmony, what you feel, in a completely different way than on most other instruments. You can complement the emotions and melody with the bass side, the dark side. " A low-key but stubborn approach to music was a consistent line for Hjalmar Jonsson.