Ragnar Sundquist

Swedish accordionist and composer

Ragnar "Raggie" Sundquist (May 7, 1892 – November 10, 1951) was a popular Swedish accordionist and composer in the first half of the 1900s.^[1] He was born and died in Stockholm.

Sundquist not only performed for audiences in Sweden but toured the United States on three occasions: 1912–13, 1916–20 and 1923–26.^[1] He had booked passage on the Titanic's maiden voyage in 1912, but his mother persuaded him to take a later boat.^[2] Starting in the late 1920s, Sundquist appeared on a long-running Swedish radio program with accordionist Sven Hylén.^[1]

Ragnar Sundquist was a prolific recording artist with over 400 releases on Swedish and American labels.^[2] He made dozens of recordings for Columbia and Victor Records during his lengthy stays in the United States. His American records featured Sundquist in duets with the Swedish-born accordionists: Eric Berg, Arvid Franzen and Eric Olson.^[3] He also went on American tours with Berg ^[2] and Franzen.^[4]^[5] Two of his best-known songs were Bågskytten (The archer) and Lekande steg (Playful steps).

Sundquist launched a number of business ventures. They included a music store, publishing house and record label. He even owned an accordion factory, where he produced his own model: the "Raggie Special". He was an innovator in Swedish accordion music, who introduced the "bellows shake" technique to Sweden. He also popularized the Italian-American style of playing that he had personally learned from Pietro Frosini while in America.^[1]

Ragnar Sundquist is buried in Stockholm's Skogskyrkogården. In the early 1970s Sveriges Dragspelares Riksförbund (The Swedish Accordionists Association) raised money for a tomb that was erected at his grave site.^[1]

In 2011 the Library of Congress opened its National Jukebox website with streaming audio for eighteen recordings by Ragnar Sundquist.^[6]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Ragnar Sundquist. sv.wikipedia.org. Retrieved: December 23, 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c Ragnar "Raggie" Sundquist. atspace.cc. Retrieved: June 21, 2019.
^ Ethnic music on records: a discography of ethnic recordings produced in the United States, 1893-1942 by Richard K. Spottswood, (University of Illinois Press, 1990) LCCN 89-020526. Volume 5, pp. 2675-2678.
^ Nikolina: early Scandinavian bands and entertainers (Minneapolis: Banjar Records, 1983).
^ Willmar Tribune May 7, 1919.
^ National Jukebox loc.gov. Retrieved July 7, 2013.