salamander

Beautiful and emotional folk music from various Jewish traditions!

Salamander is a trio that plays music from different Jewish traditions. The repertoire consists of Sephardic Jewish songs from the Mediterranean area, spiritual songs from the Hasidic Jewish tradition and a little klezmer. In exceptional cases, folk music from other traditions as well as early music sneaks into the repertoire, but the group's main focus is on Jewish music.

The group was founded in 2010 and has since performed on everything from intimate café scenes and cultural centers to churches, museums and festivals. The debut album from 2014 received enthusiastic reviews, and likewise the group's second album "Como La Rosa" which was released in May 2018. The latter has received a lot of mass media attention and has been played on the radio in the USA, Latin America, Greece, and Germany, among others. In the fall of 2023, the group's third album will be released, which is called "Jojnes Trojm" and was recorded in Studio Epidemin in Gothenburg.

Salamander collaborates extensively with various Jewish organizations in Gothenburg and Stockholm, and both "Como La Rosa" and "Jojnes Trojm" were financed through scholarships from the Katz Jewish Cultural Fund.

In addition to the usual concert format, Salamander can also offer a combined lecture and concert with a focus on Jewish history, culture and music. The lecture is given and written by Salamander's fiddle player Jonas Liljeström, who is a music ethnologist trained at the University of Gothenburg and himself has a partial Jewish background.

The salamander, which gave the group its name, is a fire in ancient and medieval symbolic worlds and mystery traditions - one of the four elemental spirits. Salamander is, among other things, the image of courage and the power of action that subdues the fire of pain.

Marita Johansson: vocals, guitar, tambourine, finger cymbals

Jonas Liljeström: violin, frame drum, vocals

Emil Pernblad: Irish bouzouki