In my late teenage-years I played mainly bass guitar but also a little on an ordinary guitar. I bought a Spanish guitar and taught myself how to play after chords (at a moderate level). The inspiration was the folk music artists of that time such as Donovan and Bob Dylan.
Ballads and singalong in Nigeria, 1981-83
I brought the guitar along as hand luggage when I travelled to Nigeria in 1981 to work for a couple of years at the branch office of my Danish company. Birgit and I lived in the capital Lagos in a compound, i.e. a number of houses enclosed with a brick wall. We lived there alongside a group of people from Denmark, Great Britain, The Netherlands, Australia – and one from Papua New Guinea. We regularly had social gatherings in the evening and ever so often we had a singalong where those with a guitar lead the singing of songs from our respective native countries. One of the Englishmen, Peter, was quite clever on his guitar and taught me a certain ‘finger-picking’ technique.
Once a month there was a folk song evening at the Ikoyi Country Club in central Lagos where especially the English/Scottish/Irish folk music repertoire was in focus. The audience was mainly from Britain or Ireland and were well trained in their musical heritage from their pub culture back home so they would usually be able to sing along on all the verses of the songs. Peter was a regular performer at these events, while Birgit and I enjoyed to be just part of the cheerful audience.
Skeeter, Fætter (‘Cousin’) and Fiddle, 2001 – 2005
In the 1960’es I had established a rock band together with my cousin, Erik ’Skeeter’ Thornsen. Skeeter was the lead singer in the band which we called ‘Shrimps’, and we played together during some intense teenage-years before our musical paths split up.
Skeeter did not leave the music entirely but started to play drums and sing in a dance band. After his 50’th birthday he picked up playing guitar which initiated his interest in the Irish/Scottish folk music tradition. In 2001 Skeeter and I shared the idea of playing together again and form a folk music trio. I had previously played a little with a female fiddler, Vibe Bryndum, and we persuaded her to dust off the violin and play with us. Together we called us “Skeeter, Fætter (‘Cousin’) and Fiddle”
Vise-Vers-Hus Tivoli, April 2004
We played in the legendary folk music restaurant “Vise-Vers-Hus Tivoli” when the Tivoli amusement park in the middle of Copenhagen opened for the season in late April 2004.
Folk Music Evening in Holbæk, May 2005
Skeeter and Cousin, June 2016
Skeeter and I have since then performed together on one occasion. Our joint family has its roots on the island Møn in the southern part of Denmark and every four years the various branches of the large family tree arrange a family gathering in a restaurant on the island called “Fanefjord Skovpavillon”. Skeeter and I performed in June 2016 with some of the songs from our previous repertoire, in addition to some of Skeeter’s own songs.
Skeeter as a solo artist
After the days with “Skeeter, Cousin and Fiddle”, Skeeter continued on his own with his guitar and has had quite a good career with performances at music venues such as folk music clubs and the Tønder Festival. He still plays and sings Irish/Scottish folk songs in addition to his own songs.
Skeeter released his first CD “A life with Jante” (in Danish) in 2006 with his own songs of which a couple of numbers were on the Danish Radio charts and the music was regularly played on the local radio stations.
In 2014 he released ”On my way” with four new songs composed by himself.
