Who are Tailsway?

Tailsway is a contemporary folk music project from Pargas, Finland by Pernilla Bergman and her husband Johan Nordström. Our music is influenced by an eclectic blend of musical genres, including our Scandinavian tradition, with a strong emphasis on our love for Celtic folk music. This is reflected in our debut album “Obsidian” which contains our original compositions.

 

Pernilla Bergman is a fiddle player, vocalist and composer. Johan Nordström is a multi-instrumentalist, sound and recording engineer who plays bouzouki, keyboards and bass. Both are from the small archipelago city Pargas in Finland.

 

We met through music in 2010. Shortly thereafter we started playing acoustic folk music together as a duo. The idea of creating our own unique sound was born as we began working on our album “Obsidian”. We are proud to say that our music is preformed, recorded and produced by the two of us.

 

Obsidian is streaming on all major platforms and is available as a CD and digital download on Bandcamp and on 8raita. You can also DM us or send us a mail.

 

We truly hope that you enjoy the music that we have created and we invite you to join us on our musical journey.

Johan Nordström

Johan Nordström has been playing in bands since childhood. After elementary school he went on to study sound engineering and recording at Lappfjärds Folkhögskola and media production at Svenska Österbottens Folkakademi Folkhögskola. At the same time he started his own recording studio and live sound company Janeco Digi-rec that still is active today. He also worked ten years as a sound engineer on the public broadcasting company YLE. Right now he is working with guitar repairs and maintenance.

 

Johan has always been drawn to the rhythm section and accompaniment more than lead and solo playing. As a musician he enjoys arranging and making instruments work and fit together. Keyboards and bass guitar are Johan’s main instruments. As Tailsway started he picked up the Irish bouzouki which is a common backing and counter melody instrument in Celtic music. He instantly took a liking to the instrument and its beautiful droning open string sound.

 

Johan’s musical background is mostly in rock and pop. He is an all eater when it comes to music, but is especially fond of funk and fusion. This is reflected in the arrangements of Tailsway’s music and playing.

 

He recorded and engineered Tailsway’s debut album Obsidian at home with the help of Pernilla. It was a fun and creative project unlike anything he has done before. A lot of new audio productions skills and musical insights has been acquired in the process of making Obsidian.

Pernilla Bergman

Pernilla Bergman grew up with fiddle players around her. She has fiddler traditions in the family dating back to the 18th century. In early childhood she began taking lessons in classical violin. The folk music spoke most to her heart. Learning tunes by ear from her elderly relatives and interpreting them in her own way felt natural. Through her Scandinavian fiddle traditions she somehow slipped into the world of Celtic music and has been completely in love with it ever since.

 

In her mid-twenties she founded a band that played acoustic Celtic folk and folk rock. That’s when she met her future husband Johan who joined the band as a bass player. At the same time Pernilla fell seriously ill with a rare chronic disease that affects her lungs. After a year of several lifesaving surgeries she slowly got back to playing music again, buy with new health limitations. She and Johan became a couple and started Tailsway soon after that.

 

Pernilla enjoys coming up with melodies that takes you to unexpected places. She is fascinated by the mesmerizing and pulsating rhythm that you hear in Irish traditional music and loves groovy music with energetic backbeat. She has been most influenced by expressive singer song writers, Celtic and Scandinavian folk music, blues, rock and fusion and is also very fond of pop and jazz.

 

Pernilla has been involved in every step of the making Tailsway’s debut album Obsidian. She is the main composer of the project and has put her heart and soul into the music and the arrangements.

 

Right now she is focused on studying music production, fiddle and guitar playing. You can read more about her journey in music production here.