Award-winning Swedish quintet, Jaerv presents extroverted, vigorous, and heartfelt traditional music with influences from both jazz and pop music. Together Joel Hagen (flute, whistles, soprano saxophone, vocals), Anders Bergsten (double bass, nyckelharpa, vocals), Harald Nilsson (guitars, vocals), Markus Gustavsson (fiddle, lead vocals) and Tobias Hedlund (percussion, vocals, pump organ) have created a homogeneous, vivid sound which has established Jaerv on the traditional music scene. Rooted in several different musical traditions, Jaerv has made a global name for itself, touring in the U.S., Japan, Spain, Scotland, Ireland, Finland, Norway and more, equally recognized by their traditional music peers as from popular music press like Billboard. “Jaerv takes the elements of traditional Scandinavian music and reflects them through a modern prism, with an all-acoustic sound that nonetheless takes a bevy of tricky turns in rhythm and harmony that makes the pleasant rural melodies ring with a contemporary complexity.”

Joining Jaerv is Olivia Diercks and Karla Colahan cellist and violinist of the new-classical crossover duo, The OK Factor. They have one word to describe their musical connection: lucky. The almost telepathic way they respond to one another is palpable to the audiences they capture during performances, as is their spontaneity and joy. Organic and genuine, their original compositions and arrangements feel both comfortingly familiar and uniquely fresh, and have been described as “genre-bending” (Julie Amacher, MPR) and “pure magic” (Wausau Pilot & Review). Olivia and Karla are sought-after collaborators and composers-in-residence, having worked with many regional, national, and international artists, and various digital music libraries.

In 2017, the bands’ musical worlds collided after The OK Factor opened for Jaerv at the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis. There was an immediate connection between them, grounded in a mutual love and respect for one anothers’ talent, rhythmic intricacies, inspiring melodic ornamentation, fascinating instrumentation, and – yes, musical traditions. After shared performances and the study of traditional Swedish and American music throughout their tour of Sweden, a natural and organic partnership has developed between The OK Factor and Jaerv that is felt, seen, and heard by their audiences, both in Sweden and in the US.