Who was Daniel Solander? This is a tale that begs to be told, and how better to do it but through music! Solander was a brilliant and much-loved Swedish botanist and linguist, and an almost forgotten member of Cook’s 1770 voyage to Australia. Drawing on their unique background in Swedish folk and art music, Australian colonial music and the diaries of Captain Cook and Joseph Banks, The Marais Project and actor/narrator James Fraser celebrate the fantastical life of Australia’s first Swede.
Since the 2014 launch of their popular ‘Smörgåsbord’ CD of Swedish early music, folk and jazz, Swedish born lutenist, Tommie Andersson, and viola da gambist, Jenny Eriksson, whose grandfather was Swedish, have been national leaders in bringing the joys of their Scandinavian musical heritage to Australian shores.
Originally developed to align with the 250th anniversary of Cook’s voyage in 2020, The Marais Project were booked ‘pre-Covid’ to present ‘The Fantastical Life of Daniel Solander’ across Australia and for the Australian Embassy in Stockholm, but now its premiere will take place live on Australian Digital Concert Hall.
“Tommie and I have been working towards this show for years,” Marais Project director, Jenny Eriksson commented. “Solander’s life really is out of a fairy tale. He was born in remote Sweden, up above the Arctic Circle, moved to London and went on to be one of the world’s greatest botanists. He was also the first Swede to circumnavigate the globe.’ Tommie Andersson agrees: ‘The history of Swedes in Australia is not an abstract thing. It is real life for Aussie-Swedes like Jenny and me. Working with Susie Bishop, who can speak and sing Swedish, and plays a mean fiddle – the violin being the backbone of the folk music of my country – is an added bonus. We really can bring Solander’s story to life.”
The show brings together a carefully curated selection of Swedish folk and art music, Australian colonial music by Isaac Nathan, and brief exerpts from Joseph Banks and James Cook’s diaries. The narrator James Fraser, is almost the same age as Joseph Banks, who was only 25 when he set out on The Endeavour. Tommie Andersson even plays an original 1770 classical guitar! Nathan and colonial poet Eliza Hamilton Dunlop did not shy away from enormous impact settlement had on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island peoples, and neither does The Marais Project. They have included Nathan’s setting of Dunlop’s heartrending poem, the Aboriginal Mother, which describes the 1838 Myall Creek massacre where some 30 unarmed people of the Wirraayaraay clan of the Kamilaroi people were murdered.
The story does have a happy ending, though. On returning to London, Solander became Sir Joseph Banks’ private secretary, resumed his role at the British Museum and continued his adventures on a scientific voyage to Iceland and the Orkney Islands. He never went back to Sweden. It truly was a fantastical life!
Artists: Susie Bishop – voice & violin; James Fraser – actor/narrator; Tommie Andersson –
5-course guitar (1770) & 9-string guitar and arrangements; Jennifer Eriksson – viola da gamba
The Marais Project performs ‘The Fantastical Life of Daniel Solander: Australia’s First Swede’
Australian Digital Concert Hall | Thursday 17 February 8.30pm | Tickets $24
Bookings: https://australiandigitalconcerthall.com/#/item/83770
Featured image : The Marais Project : Susie, Tommie and Jenny
Sydney Arts Guide has two digital passes to the concert to give away. Email editor.sydneyartsguide@gmail.com with Daniel Solander Promotion in the subject heading. Winners will be advised by email.