Diipak
Watch The Osprey on
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https://youtu.be/JOPehZ2LJLk Facebook: https://fb.watch/k_xRoJldhv/
www.diipak.se
07/12/2023
Not everyone can say that their almanac was given to them by Samuel Beckett! 3rd pic: Spoon Jackson’s address in prison- Spoon is a renowned poet and author sentenced to life in prison without parole, since 1977 (since age 20, he’ll turn 70 in 4 years).😔 There’s an excellent documentary about Jan’s work with Spoon and others called Waiting for Godot in San Quentin (on YouTube but not available in Sweden right now). Jan has been teaching Godot to thousands of inmates since the 80’s after the head of Sweden’s maximum security prison in Kumla invited him to do a one-man play there and after the play the prisoners asked him to teach them acting. He’s been doing that since then!
21/11/2023
Vacay mode😎
07/11/2023
Linking up briefly with excellent Rhode Island musician David Passafiume!
04/11/2023
Wind-styled
This is one of the first songs I wrote over 20 years ago, and it seems to be timeless, unfortunately...
Some friends helped me do a literal translation into Hebrew and Arabic, but if anyone out there knows someone who could do a more poetic/rhyming translation, I would love to see if an Israeli and a Palestinian would like to cover it.
Also, Russian, Ukrainian and anywhere else peace is needed...
An idealistic song, but we need to IMAGINE too!
13/10/2023
They’re keepin’ us scared, make us take cover,
Make us turn on each other so we forget we all brothers,
And sisters from the start, the beginning, the get-go,
Made to live apart, separated by ghettos,
How easy we forget just how we arrived,
How our ancestors struggled, so we could survive,
But all it takes is one generation,
And a lying government to convince the whole nation,
That we’re the only ones and we’re the best,
USA Number One and to Hell with the rest,
So why don’t I feel so nationalistic?
Maybe cause-a-everyone is goin’ ballistic,
See to me it’s just a big coincidence,
That I was born in this country, but don’t take offense,
We all feel the same, all-a-want the same,
To be happy, safe and sound is our number one aim…
There’s Another Way…
This ain’t Star Wars, or the Empire Strikes Back,
This ain’t a damn film, there’s other ways we can fight back,
Than dropping these bombs, that don’t discriminate,
Between the good and the bad, that just obliterate,
Whole homes and people - that’s kind of rude,
Can you explain what it means, cause I don’t know, I’m confused,
I thought killin’ was a sin and we should love our enemies,
Not react with hate and go killin’ everybody,
But I know it’s a complex situation,
When we supplied Saddam and Osama’s our creation,
I don’t mean to hold a grudge, and I want to move forward,
But unless we look back, we can never move toward,
The future, tomorrow, it’s what we’ve got to face,
And not just us – it’s our children’s fate,
Cause after we die, they gonna live on,
That’s why we gotta teach them love, so they can get along…
Get Along…
https://open.spotify.com/track/36TpTtanaehlem6zBAz1wb?si=YtLYfeZmRCeI312yyGLr_A
There's Another Way Diipak · Song · 2013
01/10/2023
Nice to sit back and enjoy a concert at this incredible church in Sundbyberg. Fredrik sang with the motet choir that celebrated 20 years and brought back all the old conductors, nice concept! Music from the Renaissance to the 20th century ending with choral arrangements of Swedish “visor” (folk songs). Fredrik is a multi-talented musician who plays flamenco guitar, oud and can entertain as a troubadour too!
27/09/2023
Gonna be the musician at a poetry reading with Luis Conde-Costas on October 14th at the paper/bookshop in Mariatorget at 2 PM!
26/09/2023
Reunion jam with John Rodgers, incredible musician who just started up an open mike in the old town in Stockholm on Tuesday nights from 7-10 pm at Wirströms. I met John at that pub in maybe 2004 and we played several gigs together, including at the shelter. Tonight we revived two of our old songs - he backed me on mandolin on mine, I on fiddle on his, good times!☺️
Yesterday, Fredrik Schützler and I went and played at a shelter/soup kitchen, Ny Gemenskap, which has had lunch concerts on Sundays for many many years (opened 1968)!
When I first came to Sweden, I played there at least once a year for around 10 years before they had to move outside the city center. The new location is great and the city transportation made the bus line that goes out there free for all passengers which is great.
I love playing for that audience because they’re so engaged and as you can hear, interactive. Afterwards, Håkan sat down at the piano and played me Hava Nagila (he had the feeling I was Jewish, which is rare - that people have any kind of Jew-dar), then this haunting piece by Bellman dating back to the 1700’s but popularized/immortalized by first Cornelis Vreeswjik and then Thåström when he was with the band Imperiet.
Fredrik and I both felt humbled by the experience and agreed that having lunch concerts are an excellent way of trying to show these people some dignity.🙏🏽❤️
PS Facebook is only letting me post one video at a time here now so I’ll post the others in the comments below.
08/09/2023
499 views on YouTube! 😍
The Osprey “The Osprey”- composed by Dougie MacLean. Published by Limetree Arts and Music (PRS and MCPS - UK; Kobalt Music - Rest of World).Harp: Justyna KrzyżanowskaFi...
Stopped by for Hanna Francis' birthday and wound up getting to jam for a minute with Ralph's fiddle - what a joy! Just standing outside waiting to get in and hearing a jam streaming through the open window on a late-summer night brought back memories of...well other nights with open windows and jamming inside. :D
I couldn't help feeling like there's something a little sacred about a jam, something spiritual, and of course Izzy Young comes to mind - Hanna and I met at Izzy's 85th birthday jam at his Folklore Centrum, and here is a song Bob Dylan sang for Izzy in the original Folklore Center on MacDougal Street in Greenwich Village.
Happy birthday Hanna, hope we can do that again soon! :D
19/08/2023
Always humbling to see these dates and to think what incredible music Mozart gave us in only 35 years.🙏🏽❤️
Amazing what you find while going through old hard drives...! 😮
Don't ask why I never uploaded this here, just enjoy. 😊
So here comes a song I wrote a while back, a so-called topical song based on two different headlines I read having to do with the long-term effects of war.
I forget who said it, but once I heard that war is really about killing children and ra**ng women - breaking the will of a society. That’s a harsh statement, but unfortunately I think there’s a lot of truth there, something the media generally doesn’t want to focus on, otherwise we wouldn’t as easily accept war.
This is not to say there are times when violence shouldn’t be used. I’m not a complete pacifist. But I do think that there’s almost always a less-violent solution to most situations that wind up using violence, and that diplomacy is highly underrated in this world.
Most wars are fought for ulterior motives than the ones given by the leaders. Natural resources (oil in the Middle East, rubber in Vietnam, etc), or geographic control over regions are the main ones that come to mind, often disguised as wars of liberation or in the name of democracy, or something grand like that. Or an impossible war like “the war on terrorism.”
There are many scars of war not mentioned in this song, like PTSD or cancer from toxic waste dumps, but I didn’t want it to be too long and I think it paints the picture it’s supposed to.
SCARS OF WAR
He was 21 years old, the day he left home,
And crossed the great ocean, to fight the Great War,
He was brave and patriotic, he wanted to go,
He said, ‘mom, I’ll come back soon,’
And when he came back, he was brought in a box,
Same one as his buddy’s, draped in a flag,
His mother she cried, her only son died,
For doing what he was taught was best.
She was 14 years old, not yet a woman,
In South Korea, still a young virgin,
And the troops that were stationed next to her village,
Were there to protect her, at least so they said,
But one day it happened, she was taken by two men,
Off duty hat day, just looking for action,
But she never told no one, she kept it a secret,
And a secret never dies…
How many more will it take?
How many more mistakes?
When will we ever learn?
How many more years,
How many more tears,
How much longer must they burn?
She was planting a tree in North Vietnam,
30 years after the war had ended,
A banana tree, to bring in the Spring,
A symbol of life, a symbol of joy,
When her shovel hit a mine that was buried in time,
That went off and killed her after 30 long years,
Leaving her husband and kids on their own,
A cold house, a motherless home…
How many more will it take...
The scars of war run deeper than we know,
They’re deeper than ice, deeper than snow,
They run on and on, long after we’re gone,
They keep going and going, even after we’re dead,
And they make us remember when they hurt us so bad,
That war doesn’t end, it just gets forgotten,
It’s a wonder we’re here, it’s a wonder we’re living,
Can we heal the scars of war?
25/07/2023
Back by popular demand!🥳
Doors open at 6 pm, music from 7 pm Free admission!🥰
16/07/2023
Oops, I did it again! 😅
Talking about All along the watchtower (in Swedish). 😎
Vi Snackar Dylan: Avsnitt 90. All along the watchtower. Från John Wesley Harding 1967. Med Nathaniel Glasser, AKA Diipak. i Apple Podcasts Program: Vi Snackar Dylan, Avsnitt: Avsnitt 90. All along the watchtower. Från John Wesley Harding 1967. Med Nathaniel Glasser, AKA Diipak. – 16 juli 2023
15/07/2023
Today’s workplace! Fun gig, got excellent feedback from both guests and staff- the best kind!🥰
15/07/2023
Art of the fika with Magnus Rydén at
13/07/2023
Just in case anyone missed this one!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOPehZ2LJLk
The Osprey “The Osprey”- composed by Dougie MacLean. Published by Limetree Arts and Music (PRS and MCPS - UK; Kobalt Music - Rest of World).Harp: Justyna KrzyżanowskaFi...
12/07/2023
10/07/2023
På Lördag!
spelar vår Trubadur Nathaniel med Leon från kl. 18:00-22:00.
Vi serverar en grillbuffe
för 545 kr.
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09/07/2023
Good music, good coffee, good vibes at - Swedish country life at its best! 🐐 🎶🤠☀️
05/07/2023
So out of all of my songs, this one has gotten the most attention, Keops Pyramid. It’s a cover of a Swedish song by Mikael Wiehe when he was in Hoolabandoola Band, one of the foremost proponents of progg, a Scandinavian genre of politically progressive music popular here in the 70’s. I put a reggae twist on it and translated the lyrics to English, approved by Herr Wiehe himself. ☺️ A few people have reached out over the years mentioning they had done a translation too or were planning to do a cover, including Frida Appelgren who added the harmonies on my version!
A few weeks ago I got this really lovely message from a new fan:
“I hope it's not too random to write to you, but just yesterday I found your version of Keops pyramid while searching on spotify. I was thinking to myself of doing a translation from swedish to english, and I was looking up if anyone else had already done it. Turns out you had, and a reggae version nonetheless!
I just wanted to write to you and tell you how amazing I think your version of the song is!
I'm a huge reggae fan and your version is just brilliant! The dub version is especially awesome(but then again I am sucker for dub, it never goes out of style❤️)
To be honest I didn't know who you were yesterday, but now that I do I'm completely sold. Your music and lyrics are beautiful, you totally gained a fan!
Have a good day and I hope to see you play live one day!”
Not every day one gets a message like that! 🙏🏽🥰 cover art by Ville Danielsson
02/07/2023
So Sweden recently turned 500 and it just dawned on my that it's been 10 years since the release of my first - and to this date, only - full-length album.
I have several more albums' worth of material, but due to life-circumstances, I only have time to put out singles, something I try to do at least once a year. Hopefully I can put together another album one day, but for now, feel free to browse the discography on the streaming service of your choice.
I still have copies of Dogma and the Diipak EP from 2008 if anyone wants to order one - I can throw it in the mail. :)
Thanks for all the support over the years!
02/07/2023
🎶😍
23/06/2023
Glad midsommar/happy midsummer!
The Longest Day Of The Year- Diipak The Longest Day Of The Year by DiipakDan Alvefjord, bassEdith Lundahl, mandolin Hanna francis, voiceFilm & edit, Hjalmar Bergom Larsson
22/06/2023
Thanks big bro for all those great mix tapes cassette tapes you made for me in the 90’s😎🥰
21/06/2023
Happy solstice! ☀️☀️☀️
https://open.spotify.com/track/08NJhoDdlrDVBU3ntiUkB4?si=vNAMD8koQDaSSVNGpsthIA
The Longest Day Of The Year Diipak, Hanna Francis · Song · 2016
07/06/2023
Talking Dylan with sculptor/painter and all-around artist for his pod Vi snackar Dylan (talking Dylan)! 😎🥰
Met Swedish singer/songwriter Eva Dahlgren on the way there and found out her fav Dylan period is London 66🌟😎
04/06/2023
A good instrument gives so much inspiration. It begs: play me to my potential. 🙏🏽
23/05/2023
This was fun to make with my daughter 2 winters ago - everything recording with my iPhone 8. :)
Daddy Leave - Diipak Daddy Leave written and performed by Diipak. Piano by Tobias Karl Janne Johansson, enhanced by Niklas Alexandersson.Song mixed by Tomas Eriksson. Filmed by ...
16/05/2023
📸
It's always a big thrill to get to play with Loughy - what a pro! One of the best all-around musicians I know. One thing I love about his playing is his use of dynamics - and not just loud vs soft, rather all the details including rhythm and playing and singing techniques. Check out his "slight of hand" going from finger-picking to using the plectrum - that's music magic and magic magic! :D Wow.
I remember loving the video for this on VH1 growing up in the 80's. It's such a nostalgic song to begin with, and Loughy's rendition really brings out the melancholy...this one made the party-goers shut up and listen which was great.
And like the Cardigans and Weeping Willows, I had no idea the band aha was from Norway - who would have thought I'd end up in their neck of the woods!
09/05/2023
Tonight’s gig with the great Loughy. For a Doctor of Philosophy from the technical university here who specializes in development, including AI. He was given a stone sculpture of a mobile phone by artist Magnus Ringborg who told a very funny and convoluted story about Viking Leif Eriksson burying his mobile phone in Ireland 1000 years ago and when it was discovered, that’s how Ericsson came about. 😛 Magnus is a fantastic sculptor and painter too.
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