Anders Ljungqvist

Who was Anders Ljungqvist?

Anders Ljungqvist, also known as "Gås-Anders", was a Swedish fiddler from Björklinge in Uppland. Gås-Anders got his derogatory nickname as a child when he had to work as a goose herder at a mansion house in Gamla Uppsala. As he grew up he never used the name Gås-Anders, and it was not until the 1920s that folk musicians started referring to him by that name, which was by now used as a positive epithet rather than a slur.

Although Gås-Anders made his living by working as a day labourer at the farms around Björklige, he was known as a poor worker who usually brought his fiddle with him and played rather than worked. As a spelman he was very popular and extremely skilled, and it was said that nobody could sit still when he played dancing music – not even he himself. As he played he would jump around, dancing on chairs and tables. Rumour had it that Näcken had taught him to play, signing a contract in blood on human bones from the churchyard. According to the stories, Gås-Anders played the polska he had learnt from Näcken on his death bed, after which all four strings on his fiddle broke and he was able to die in peace. Another story had it that Gås-Anders's wife once put a Bible on top of his fiddle, and after that it would never stay tuned.