The legacy lives on
The Music Never Stopped
Karl died in 1983 and Erling in 2012 – but the story of the accordion kings of Ådalen goes on. A centenary celebration, a rediscovered accordion, a play on Svanö and a memorial fund for young accordionists.
Summer 1972
Three generations of accordionists
In the summer of 1972, Swedish television recorded the program “Dragspelsälven” (The Accordion River) about the Ångerman River and its music. The producer Eric Forsgren brought together the accordion kings of Ådalen – Andrew Walter, Hans-Erik Nääs, Karl and Erling Grönstedt – along with Kurt Nessén and Dan Janzon.
In the middle of them sat a boy with his own accordion: Erling Grönstedt Jr., whom the newspaper called “the future accordion king.” More than fifty years later, it is he who, together with Anne, carries the legacy forward – through the donations to the Accordion Archive and the Erling Grönstedt Memorial Fund.
Source: Nya Norrland, June 27, 1972.
Erling, Erling Jr. and Karl Grönstedt during a break in the TV recording, 1972.
The accordion kings of Ådalen gathered for “Dragspelsälven” – with Erling Jr. in the middle and the producer Eric Forsgren on the far left.
The sign at Gudmundrå Heritage Farm during the centenary, above Kramfors Accordion Club’s “Låt musiken leva” (Let the music live).
July 2023
Erling Grönstedt at 100
In the summer of 2023 it was a hundred years since Erling Grönstedt was born. On July 28–29, Gudmundrå Heritage Farm in Kramfors was filled with accordion music, with Kramfors Accordion Club and Jörgen and Päivi Sundeqvist as the driving forces behind the celebration.
Musicians came from Sweden, Finland, Norway and Italy – among them Mirco Patarini, Kimmo and Aino Mattila, Kjell-Harald Langhaug and the youth orchestra Active Accordion from Kokkola. From Sweden, performers included Nils Fläcke, Håkan Andersson, Tommy Nilsson, Leo Florin, Axel Nordberg, Conny Rehnstedt and Esbjörn Ferm, Erling’s foremost student.
The family was there. Hearing Erling’s melodies played by so many, from veterans to young students, was proof that the music he loved is still alive.
Sources: Kramfors Accordion Club’s program for the centenary; Accordions Worldwide.
From the celebration
Gudmundrå homestead museum full of people at the Erling Grönstedt centenary, July 2023.
The audience by the stage, with the Ångermanälven river behind.
Accordions on stage during the celebration.
Anne, Erling Jr and Esbjörn Ferm, Erling’s foremost pupil.
December 2023
Kalle’s Giulietti comes home
Today the life’s work of Karl and Erling Grönstedt is collected in the Accordion Archive at Gudmundrå Heritage Farm in Kramfors, alongside that of Hans-Erik Nääs and Andrew Walter. Erling Grönstedt Jr. and his wife Anne have donated Erling’s entire musical collection – sheet music, photos, posters, newspaper clippings, letters, records and tour schedules – and several accordions from his collection.
There you will also find the Excellent accordion with which Erling won the junior championship at 14 in 1938, one of Karl’s very first accordions and Erling’s Dari from the early 1960s, which he played for forty years.
Not every accordion had such a happy ending. Erling collected older instruments and had planned to donate them to a museum. But in March 2002 thieves broke into the family home at Klockestrand and took ten of the eleven accordions kept there – several from the late 1800s – along with three paintings, two by Erling and one by his brother Gösta. “They are priceless,” a saddened Erling told the newspaper Tidningen Ångermanland.
One accordion was missing for a long time. Karl’s Giulietti, built in the late 1950s and imported by Hagström, was the only instrument he used – on radio and TV, on records, at concerts and dances – until his death in 1983. After 2012 no one knew where it was. In the spring of 2023 there was a fire in the sauna at the family’s house on Värmdö, and when the accordions stored there had been cleaned, Erling Jr. sent photos to Jörgen Sundeqvist. Jörgen immediately recognized Kalle’s Giulietti. It had survived undamaged in its case.
Anne and Erling donated the instrument to the archive right away. In December 2023 it came home to Kramfors.
Inside the instrument, the accordion repairer Anton Åhsblom of Hedesunda wrote down each time he tuned it: 1962, 1967, 1969, 1972, 1976 and 1983 – the year Karl died.
Karl with his Giulietti and Erling with his Dari. Now they stand side by side again – in the Accordion Archive in Kramfors.
Source: Jörgen Sundeqvist, Kramfors Accordion Club.
Karl Grönstedt with his Giulietti – the only accordion he played from the late 1950s until 1983.
Kalle’s Giulietti on its way home to Kramfors. From left: Jörgen Sundeqvist, Erling Grönstedt Jr. and Päivi Sundeqvist.
Erling’s Excellent, with which he won the Swedish junior championship at 14 in 1938. Today in the Accordion Archive in Kramfors.
Handing over the archive
The Accordion Archive at Gudmundrå homestead museum, Kramfors.
The exhibition with life-size figures of Karl and Erling among old posters and accordion cases.
Erling Jr at the exhibition about his father and uncle.
The archive room with the boxes from Erling’s collection.
Erling Jr trying one of the archive’s accordions.
Jörgen Sundeqvist and Erling Jr playing together.
Jörgen Sundeqvist and Erling Jr at the door of the Accordion Archive.
Poster: Västernorrland Theater Association.
Karl Grönstedt with the sheet music for “Månsken över Ångermanälven” – the waltz still played along the river.
June 2026
In Karl Grönstedt’s Day
In the summer of 2026 the accordion kings returned to the Ångerman River – this time on stage. Bo R Holmberg’s new play “På Karl Grönstedts tid – sant och sannolikt om Ådalens dragspelskungar” (In Karl Grönstedt’s Day – true and likely tales of the accordion kings of Ådalen) premiered on June 21 on the newly built open-air stage at Hyveludden on Svanö and ran until June 30.
Thomas Larsson directed and Sarita Sandström produced. The organizer was the Västernorrland Theater Association together with Svanö Folketshus and Kramfors Accordion Club, and the actors came from theater groups across Västernorrland. The music was performed by Jörgen and Päivi Sundeqvist, Patrik Grundström and Christian Sundeqvist.
- Christer Wisten – Karl Grönstedt as an adult
- Jimmy Lundgren – Karl as a boy
- Mina Englund – young Erling
- Jörgen Sundeqvist – Andrew Walter, and bandleader
- Fredrik Sundberg – Hans-Erik Nääs
All ten performances were sold out. At the premiere the audience included Nils Fläcke, Veikko Ahvenainen, Lena Jularbo and Titti Sjöblom, as well as Erling Grönstedt Jr. and Anne. The play will be staged again in the summer of 2027.
“A little surreal to see actors portray my grandmother, grandfather, uncle and father – but it was done with great finesse. Simply superb!”
– Erling Grönstedt Jr., after the premiere on June 21, 2026
“It’s special to portray a character who really existed and then have their relatives come to see it.”
– Christer Wisten, who played Karl Grönstedt, in his reply (translated from Swedish)
Sources: Dragspelsnytt no. 3–4/2026 (Olof Wigren); Tidningen Ångermanland, June 25, 2026 (Katarina Östholm).
The open-air stage by the river on Svanö.
Fredrik Sundberg as Hans-Erik Nääs and Christer Wisten as Karl Grönstedt.
Bruno Nyberg and Mina Englund on stage.
Photos: Olof Wigren, from the premiere on June 21, 2026.
Behind the scenes
Erling Jr between the actors playing Karl Grönstedt (left) and his grandfather Carl Gustaf (right).
Erling Jr with the actors playing his father Erling (left) and grandmother Jenny (right).
June 2026
The Erling Grönstedt Memorial Fund
After the premiere on Svanö, Erling Grönstedt Jr. and his wife Anne founded the Erling Grönstedt Memorial Fund. The idea is to encourage young people to carry the musical and cultural heritage of Ådalen forward. The scholarship is awarded in cooperation with Kramfors Accordion Club.
The first scholarship – SEK 10,000 – was awarded on June 28, 2026, to Mina Englund from Kramfors.
Mina has played the accordion since she was three. In “På Karl Grönstedts tid” she made her acting debut, playing the young Erling Grönstedt. The scholarship was presented at one of the performances on Svanö, in front of a full house.
Sources: Dragspelsnytt no. 3–4/2026 (Olof Wigren); Kramfors Accordion Club.
Mina Englund with her scholarship diploma on Svanö, June 28, 2026, with Bo R. Holmberg. Photo: Olof Wigren.
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