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Our performances have been described as magical, inspiring, haunting, mesmerizing.
 
Here are a few quotes:

 

"What to praise first? Johanna’s lovely alto and her storytelling skill? Scott’s evocative guitars? Their arrangements that mold ancient melodies to modern ears? The performances have a stylized, almost ritual quality, as the Hongell-Darsees summon ancient characters from the depths of our collective unconscious and bid you take leave of the modern world and join your ancestors, huddled together in a hut around a fire as the storyteller makes the hair on your arms stand straight up." (Mel Minter, Musically Speaking, Albuquerque, NM)

 

“Highlight of the 2009-2010 Season” (Diane Wolkstein for Scandinavian House, NY)

"As always, you wow the crowds who come year efter year to partake in the worlds you unfold and reveal to them" (William Pentler, Albuquerque Open Space Educational Coordinator)

 

“Best live performance I have seen in 25 years of booking.” (Tim Wadham, Maricopa Library System, Phoenix, AZ)

 

“Fabulous program! You couldn't hear a pin drop (over 80 ladies in attendance). Johanna's voice and Scott's music transported you to another time and place.” (Four Hills Neighbors, Albuquerque, NM)

 

“Our guests were charmed!” (Landon Young, Hotel St James, Cimarron, NM)

 

“The Hongell-Darsees give a wonderful presentation that both entertains and mesmerizes the crowd.” (William Pentler, Albuquerque Open Space Educational Coordinator)

 

“… delightfully magical and eerily contemplative.” (NYU Student)

 

“Through song and verse, charming bells, finger cymbals, drums, tambourines, and the accompaniment of three kinds of stringed instruments, Johanna and Scott set the mood for the telling of this old tale. With voice and music they forged a narrow path into the woods and broke through a massive and high wall of stone to reveal the mysterious underworld. Johanna’s performance was hypnotic. Her simple gestures, whispers, and lilting melodies echoing through the dark theatre, and the plaintive lonely sounds of three kinds of flutes, seduced us into a dreamlike state.  During the hour or so we spent at the theatre, it felt as if we were inside the story oblivious to time and place. We were hardly even conscious of who else was in the audience. Just like May and her sister, inside the “cave” of the Provincetown Playhouse, time had stood still: we lost all “sense of self and all of our thoughts” as we walked with them through the mountain for what seemed like years.”  (NYU Student)

 

 

And here are a few articles:
 
Folk duo to deliver their blend of tales and songs to Santa Fe (Albuquerque Journal, January 2023)
 
Scott and Johanna Hongell-Darsee and Kevin Herig: Songs Old and New (Musically Speaking, Mel Minter, July 2016)
 
Medieval Ballads and Runes (Albuquerque Journal, David Steinberg, May 2015)
 
Roaming the Collective Unconscious in Songs Centuries Old (Musically Speaking, Mel Minter, March 2014) 
 
Ballads from long ago: The local duo shares their take on medieval legends (Albuquerque Journal, David Steinberg, March 21, 2014)
 
Dynamic Duo (Albuquerque Magazine, Mel Minter, March 2014)
 
Albuquerque Performance Artists (Farmington Daily Times, James Finton, May 2013)
 
Timeless tales told throughout the ages ( Albuquerque Journal, David Steinber, May 2011)
 
Couple to perform musical storytelling (West Liberty Index, Lindsay Hoepper, September 2010)
 
El Defensor Chieftain, Socorro, January 2008
 
Finnish tradition is setting for duos theatrical stories (Albuquerque Journal, David Steinberg, August 2007)
 
Husband wife team bring Finnish tale to life with dance music (Albuquerque Journal, Jeff Commings, 2003)
 
Spinning Straw into performance (Albuquerque Journal, Emily Van Cleve, November 2002)
 
Dance with unified dynamic (Sydsvenska Dagbladet, January 2000)
 
A well used hour (Sydsvenska Dagbladet, April 1995)
 
 
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