Red Thread band to bring international folk music to Bemidji
Apr. 20—BEMIDJI — Sarah Larsson and her Red Thread band will share their international folk music with a Bemidji audience on Saturday, April 27, as part of a series co-sponsored by the
Bemidji Public Library
and the
Beltrami County Historical Society.
The free concert will be held at 4 p.m. at the library. It also will be livestreamed on the Bemidji Public Library Facebook page at
It's the second of four events in the series.
Cathy Erickson's polka band
kicked things off earlier this month, and subsequent concerts will feature local trio Caleigh and performers from the Sons of Norway. Funding for the series is made possible through the state's Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.
"It seems like they're being very intentional about programming that relates to immigrant communities in the region, and telling stories from different cultural backgrounds that are represented," Larsson said in a phone interview this week. "That kind of intentionality is really special."
Emily Thabes, executive director of the History Center, added, "The goal for our programs this year is international folk music that has been brought to Minnesota and has interwoven itself in Minnesota culture."
Red Thread is a Minneapolis-based band headed by Larsson. It released its debut album, "Immigrantke," in February. The title is named for the Yiddish feminine translation of "immigrant."
The album is inspired by the stories and folklore of Larsson's immigrant ancestors from Ireland, Sweden, Poland and Hungary.
Larsson is a recipient of the 2024 Cedar Commissions and Minnesota State Arts Board Creative Support for Individuals. The new music of "Immigrantke" was performed on Feb. 10 at the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis. Red Thread has toured the United States and Europe, and its current tour includes dates in Minneapolis and Bellingham, Wash.
"What I'd love to convey is that you don't have to know anything about this music or be connected to Eastern European culture personally to come to the show," Larsson said. "For me, it's so much about being a person in the United States who's grown up in a mixed cultural background and using music as a way of learning about my own roots.
"So the conversations I want to be having with people by doing this is like for everybody, whatever your own roots happen to be, there's something special about each of us getting to connect with each other and connect with these stories."
The Beltrami County History Center's 2024 exhibit, "Keeping Time: Beltrami County's Music History," will include content about and audio excerpts of international folk music and its impact on American music in Minnesota across the decades.
The concert series with the Bemidji Public Library aims to introduce Beltrami County residents and visitors to the folk music of countries whose immigrants populated Beltrami County in the early 1900s and beyond.
