The fantastical life of Daniel Solander: A tribute to Swedish/Australian lutenist, Tommie Andersson

his truly unique event celebrates the wonderful career of Swedish/Australian lutenist and guitarist, Tommie Andersson, and the huge and fantastic life of the great Swedish naturalist, Daniel Solander. Solander was the first university trained scientist - and the first Swede - to tread the soil of Terra Australis. (He was also the first Swede to circumnavigate the globe.) Solander arrived on the Endeavour in 1770 under James Cook, having been personally selected for the voyage by Sir Joseph Banks.

Drawing on the unique insights of Tommie Andersson, part Swedish gambist, Jenny Eriksson, and singer Susie Bishop, who speaks Swedish, the show was first heard to critical acclaim on Australian Digital Concert Hall. It was subsequently broadcast across Scandinavia with the support of the Australian Ambassador to Norway, Iceland and Denmark and the former Swedish Ambassador to Australia.

The music on offer consists of rarely heard Swedish songs and folk tunes from the time of Solander, including works by Sweden’s ‘National Poet’, Carl Bellman, who was also known as ‘The Swedish Schubert.’ A special feature are two songs from the Australian colonial era composer, Isaac Nathan, known as the Father of Australian Music. (The famous Australian conductor, Charles Mackerras, is a descendant of Nathan.) A musical ‘Acknowledgment of Country’ by First Nations’ musician, Troy Russell - commissioned by Jenny Eriksson – is an integral component of this event.

The music is intertwined with curated readings from the journals of James Cook and Joseph Banks that briefly describe the strange, ‘upside down’ world that expedition members encountered as the Endeavour moved north from New Zealand to Botany Bay, Cooktown and beyond.