And Ram said to Hanuman, "No more monkey business."

Olof Soderback

Nils Olof Soderback was born in Flen, Sodermanland, Sweden in 1954. The first 7 years were spent on a large estate, Hedenlunda gard, where his father, Lars was lantmastare (estate manager). Dairy cows, beef cattle and timber sales were the main sources of income. In 1961 the family moved to Lidingo near Stockholm where Olof remained until his fathers death in 1973. At age 12 Olof started to study classical piano and continued those studies for 8 years.

His mother Marianne was always very supportive. At age 17 he started to play Swedish folk music on the fiddle and the accordion and became part of a folk music group called Viltstrak (Wild Stroke). They played and performed in many places. Each summer he went to folk music festivals and also visited the homes of some of the great fiddle players of that time and learned their music. The players were: Laggar Anders and Rojas Jonas from Boda and Pahl Olle from Ostbjorka. After graduating from High School, Olof went to the University and studied Ethno- Musicology. After 2 years of that he went on to work as a farmhand. 2 years later it was time for a change again so he attended a 2 year music therapy education program and later worked as a musician in a music theater group called Vastana Teater. He left the country and hitch hiked around in Europe and Africa for a year and eventually came to India where he studied tablas and learned to meditate at the Osho commune.There he met his present wife Seeta and they now reside in rural Talent, Oregon, USA.

Olof presently plays Bulgarian style accordion and violin in a group called Nastrave and Klezmer accordion and violin in The Bar Misfits. He also tours with Anton Mizerak, Manose Singh and others. Olof and Anton frequently play at Three Rivers Indian Restaurant in Ashland, Oregon. Olof also leads the Swedish fiddle group and Klezmer group at Lark camp in Mendocino, California. Nils Olof spenttwo winters in Benares, India wherehe studied Raga with Sitar maestro Pandit Shivnath Mishra and Violin with professor R.P Shastri.

Olof is featured on a twenty-two minute piece onAnton's new Harmonica Sunset CD.

To contact Olof email: <mailto:olof@mind.net> or call 1541-944-7009

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