Josefins Dopvals
Josefins Dopvals is a tune composed fairly recently, but that has taken the fiddling world by storm.
Roger Tallroth is the composer. He comes from a family of musicians, including his father and numerous uncles who were proud players of the traditional music of Uppland.
Although he plays many instruments, his specialty is guitar, and that is the instrument he played for many years as part of the band Väsen. The band traveled the world, made many CDs, and performed countless concerts, using their special blend of nyckelharpa, viola, and guitar to captivate both audiences and other musicians.
Josefins Dopvals is one of many tunes Tallroth composed, this one a waltz in honor of his niece being baptized.
It evidently was originally composed in the key of G, but Väsen always performed it F for better harmonies. Most Swedes also play it in F. But the tune was adopted by musicians around the world, including America, Ireland, Scotland, England, Japan, Australia, and others… and most of the musicians who took it up decided to play it in G because they were more comfortable in that key!
Because this list of tunes is being used mostly by Americans, I conceded to write this waltz out in G. Almost anywhere you go, you will find musicians to play it with in G. If you go to Sweden, though, be prepared for F.
However, I had to listen to several dozen YouTube videos before I found one that featured Swedish musicians playing it in G. You will find it here.
To the left is a photo of a typical medieval baptismal font such as are still used in Swedish churches today.