The Coop, Episode No. 45
Cajun Åland & Lo å Lä
Hello out there, Coop-ers! Hope everyone is doing well and settling in to the change in the seasons — you wouldn’t quite know it from the weather down here yet, but there’s about to be a shift in the energy as we prepare for Festivals Acadiens et Créoles in just a couple short weeks! Always one of our favorite times of the year, and we hope that if you’re in the area, you’ll plan to join us for our annual Coop member appreciation party on Oct 9th at the Sidecar in Lafayette (more info on that below!). However, September wasn’t so quiet for one of our Coop producers, Kelli Jones, who spent the majority of the month on tour in Scandinavia with a very special collaborative project between Louisiana and Swedish / Finnish musicians pioneered by our featured artist today, Thor Ahlgren. In 2024 and 2025, Thor recorded two special albums of collaborative music here in Louisiana that featured many familiar local faces as well as many musicians from his local Sweden and from Finland, entitled ‘Lo å Lä’ and ‘Cajun Åland’ - and this September they had the opportunity to perform those songs live for audiences across Scandinavia. So here for this month’s feature, Kelli takes us on an exclusive back-stage look at these unique projects, the recent tour and all of the band’s musical adventures!
Meet…
THOR AHLGREN!
Thor Ahlgren is a musician, arranger and a jack of all trades in the true sense of the word. Born in Malmö, Swede, Thor began his musical journy as a classical flutist, before making his way deep into the world of folk music. First mastering Nordic and Irish traditions, he soon delved into the French bagpipe and Greek bouzouki. Thor received university degrees in both of these traditions in Sweden and toured across Europe playing folk music before he first made his way to Louisiana, falling in love with the Cajun music tradition, and in particular, with the single row (diatonic) Cajun accordion. As with every tradition he tackles, it wasn’t long before Thor was leading his own Cajun band (Alligator Gumbo) and holding his own in our local Acadiana music scene. In 2022, Thor received a scholorship from Konstnärsnämnden for a special collaboration project between Louisiana and Swedish musicians. Thor began visiting Louisiana annually to gather musicians and material for the project, and eventually even ended up landing himself an adjunct position at the University of Louisiana as the director of the Greek ensemble for the Spring semester of 2025. The fruit of this collaborative project, two different records entitled ‘Lo å Lä’ and ‘Cajun Åland,’ were recorded at Joel Savoy’s studio in 2024, and the musicians just wrapped up a Scandanavian tour, which is the focus of our feature today! Some of the musicians featured on the album and/or tour include: Kelli Jones, Trey Boudreaux, Amelia Powell, Joel Savoy, Cedric Watson, Justin Leger, Iris Bergcrantz, Agnes Åhlund, Viktor Olsson, Anton Johansson, Elina Granlund, Cecilia Wickstrom, and Magnus Heeboll.
About Lo å Lä & Cajun Åland:
Two crossover projects where Scanian (Swedish) and Åland (Finnish) folk songs and folk music meet traditional and innovative Cajun from Louisiana, the musical exchange in each was made in two directions. Firstly, Scanian / Åland folk songs were translated into the Louisiana French dialect and played with Cajun settings / in Cajun style - and then, Cajun songs and lyrics from Louisiana were translated into Scanian / Åland and performed by Scanian / Åland folk musicians. Both traditional and newly written music and lyrics were used.
Thor Ahlgren wants to continue cultivating the Scanian and Åland song tradition in collaboration with Scanian / Åland folk singers and songwriters to find new ways of expressing it by combining it with Cajun music and Cajun lyrics. Traditional Skåne / Åland songs and music have clear similarities with the diphthongs and timbre of Cajun and Cajun French, and it is Thors Ahlgren's conviction that the French-African-American Cajun music can add new dimensions to Skåne / Åland folk songs in terms of swing, instrumentation and emotional states.
Thor is convinced that Skåne / Åland songs and folk music can reach a larger and broader audience by combining them with Cajun music. Partly by developing the artistic expression and thereby appealing to a larger audience, and partly by giving Skåne / Åland folk music to the audience that already listens to Cajun and other American folk music.
There are innovative lyricists in both Cajun music and Skåne folk songs. Thor Ahlgren wants to unite these and explore the similarities and differences between these two folk lyric traditions. The hope is that innovative lyricists in Cajun and Skåne / Åland folk songs will have a mutually rewarding exchange in the project.
Follow Cajun Åland!
CHOCOLATE TART
from LUCIA BAKEHOUSE IN LAFAYETTE, LA
Lucía (loo-see-ah) is a small batch, from-scratch bakery that began doing popups in the Lafayette, Louisiana downtown area in late 2020. They started by selling brioche-stuffed donuts (bombolonis) and then slowly began adding laminated pastries to the rotational menu. They now concentrate on viennoise-style baking, a form of pastry made famous in France with origins in Vienna, Austria. The Viennois-style involves leavened enriched dough that is slightly sweet which then makes the base for your favorite croissant and brioche-style pastries. Lucia is a favorite here in Lafayette, and we’re lucky to have access to such sophistacted pastries right here in town. This recipe, one of their simplier and more accessible ones, comes from owner / head baker Rob Sanberg.
yeild = 1 tart
ingredients:
350g Heavy Cream
453g Dark Chocolate Chips
1/8 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract or Vanilla Paste
1 Tbls cacao powder
*optional Nut butter ( Pistachio, Pecan, almond )
1 Pre-baked sweet dough tart crust (homemade or store bought)
instructions:
Bring Heavy cream to a boil in a heavy sauce pan
Meanwhile, in a bowl place the rest of the ingredients
Once heavy cream comes to a boil, pour over ingredients in the bowl and let sit for 5 minutes
Optional, at this time, smooth out a thin layer of your favorite nut butter on the bottom of the pre-baked tart shell or pie crust
Using a whisk or preferably an emersion blender, blend all the ingredients in bowl and pour into the tart shell. Using a small offset spatula, smooth out the top of the chocolate mixture. Gently tap the tart shell on table to relate as many air bubbles as possible.
Place the tart in a refrigerator to cool and firm up completely.
Pull the tart out of the fridge an hour or so before slicing and serving.
LAGNIAPPE!
a little something extra for y’all
October 9th - COOP MEMBER APPRECIATION PARTY!
It’s time once again for our annual COOP MEMBER APPRECIATION PARTY during Festivals Acadiens et Créoles. This year we’re switching things up a bit, and making the event a formal ALBUM RELEASE CONCERT for our friends T’Monde, held at the Sidecar in downtown Lafayette from 5-7 pm. The evening will be open to the public but FREE to Coop members. Expect the usual familiar faces of the Coop, as well as Valcour records giveaways and raffles. And different from previous years, this concert will be on the THURSDAY before the festival, October 9th, so go ahead and make those plans early!
422 Refinery St, Lafayette, LA 70501
RSVP HERE IF YOU PLAN TO ATTEND!
We hope you enjoyed this edition of the Coop – we’ll see you next month
Have Feedback? Have ideas for a story you’d like us to cover, or a topic you’d like to learn more about? We’d LOVE to hear from you! Write us at bonjour@valcourrecords.com or using at the contact form at the bottom of this page and we’ll be more than happy to get back to you.
The Coop is produced through a partnership between Valcour Records and Atchafalaya National Heritage Area as well as with support from the Acadiana Center for the Arts ARTSpark Grant, and from the Arhoolie Foundation.