Anders Buen

I was born in a small willage in the central of mountain rich Telemark in south Norway, Tuddal, in 1970. I have grown up on a small farm where my grandfather Gjermund Tjønn (1902-1992) lived and made Hardangers following the family business of his brother John (1899-1966) and his father Hans Johnsen (1877-1964). I made my first hardanger 13years of age under his help and supervision.

My other grandfather, Anders Buen sr. (1910-1977), also made hardangers and regraduated lots of instruments following a special tuning sheme he developed and continuously improved and experimented on. He was also an inventor, mainly in the agricultural and wooden house construction areas. On the violin acoustics he followed up the ideas and "research results" that probably originally came from his father in law, Hans Johnsen from the early 20-ties. My father Knut Buen (b 1948) and uncle Hauk (b 1933) both play instruments that has been worked on by grandfather. Hauk is also making hardangers on a regular basis now and many of the best young players use instruments made by him.

My father, Knut Buen, is a famous folk musician (in Norway) playing the hardanger and doing the traditional telemark style "rose paintings" on wooden furniture and things like bowls, originally for beer, chests, traditional log based chairs etc. He also runs a record company for norwegian folk music and write poems, folk tunes and -music. My mother is a folk singer, now working as a music teacher, and my stepmother is a painter. I have 12 younger siblings and my youngest sister, Sophie, is the daughter of Aly Bain, the well known shetland and scottish keltic music fiddler.

I have a civil engineering degree in experimental physics and have been working full time as an acoustics consultant the last 10 years. My civil engineering thesis from 1993 was on the vibrations in violins monitored using TV-holography. I make, and research the acoustics of, the hardangers and violins as a hobby. I have participated actively on the last four VSA Oberlin violin acoustics workshops and have written several journal papers on the acoustics of the violin.

Professionally I have been a member of the acoustics team for the recently opened new National Opera House in Oslo <a href="http://en.wikipedia....al_Opera_House_(Oslo)" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia....al_Opera_House_(Oslo)</a>, a new rehearsal space and concert venue for the armed forces staff band in Oslo, and a new cultural venue in the very north of Norway, The Arctic Cultural Centre <a href="http://aks.no/index....id=14&Itemid=38" target="_blank">http://aks.no/index....t...4&Itemid=38</a>.