Introducing Dan Berggren

 Our Choice for the 2022 Eddie Award 

Just announced: Our own Dan Berggren at UU Saratoga is in the running for an Eddie Music Award as the Capital Region's Folk/Traditional Artist of the Year.

Bravo!

The awards ceremony is set for April 24 at Proctor's Theater. Others in the running are Drank The Gold, Reese Fulmer, John Kirk and Trish Miller, Michael Jerling, and Carolyn Shapiro.

That’s a highly talented field, but Dan will be tough to beat with "Imagine That."

Dan will perform "Imagine That" twice this Sunday, February 20, in a service that will start at 10:30 a.m. (not 10:00 a.m as is the norm for UU Saratoga) in the UU Boca Raton Zoom Room.

Join our service here:

https://zoom.us/j/91482017108?pwd=bkRpYldxZHhNbld3NExWNG5odHI0UT09

Dan will perform 'Imagine That" during the Offertory. And he'll teach all of us to sing it in the Morning Sing component of the program, an innovation the Boca Raton Fellowship has introduced in Sunday worship to heighten their sense of community. We could also call it Hymn Rehearsal.

Even in face of Omicron they're able to host hybrid services because they can meet on their great patio, which we can imagine overlooking the sea with gentle summer breezes wafting in.

While "muted," all us here in the chill of Upstate New York will enjoy this Dan Berggren "mini-concert," which jibes nicely with the theme of our service, “Are You Ready to Become a Cyborg?” Dan also will perform our Offertory and Closing Song.

He Started Early

Born in Brooklyn, Dan developed an affinity for the pipe organ, harmony, and the music of Johann Sebastian Bach while singing in the boys' choir of Grace Episcopal Church. Each summer, his family would head to the farm in the small Adirondack town of Minerva where his mother was born and raised. When Dan was 12, his family moved to Minerva to live there year-round, but he maintained his passion for music and performing.

“I discovered how satisfying it is to practice hard to give a great performance that gives great pleasure to others and to me,” he says.

Among Dan’s favorites in his youth: The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, as well as other rock, folk and soul musicians. Canadian folk singer Stan Rogers was a major influence and Dan says he continues to be inspired by his work to this day.

Now living in Ballston Spa, Dan feels he has become a better musician throughout his career. He credits that to “practice, learning from mistakes, and knowing more ways to approach a musical idea, topic, or story. His recent album, This Planet We Call Home, "was the most fun to make."

That's usually the case, he finds. "You accumulate more experience and knowledge with each successive accomplishment.”

Keys to Success

Dan attributes his success to his discipline and practicing the fundamentals of his craft. Also essential: “Being flexible and knowing when to bend or even break fundamental rules.”Most musicians have a most memorable concert or favorite point in their careers. Berggren, who has performed in all kinds of venues and all sorts of places from South Africa to Texas, recounts several.

“I've had memorable moments with orchestras in concert halls, with thousands of people singing along on my songs at outdoor folk festivals, with only a few people gathered at weddings and funerals, with strangers in Africa, Europe, the British Isles, and with audiences at Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs…”

"It can be the people in the audience, the acoustics of the room, the purpose of the event, or playing just the right song at just the right time."

A moment that particularly stands out for Dan is his first open mic in 1985 at Caffé Lena which, as all Saratogians know, is the oldest continuing coffee house in North America. In those days, performers auditioned for Lena Spencer, the late owner and founder of the venue.

"Lena liked my 15 minutes on her stage and so she invited me back to do a show in November. I've been performing there every year since.” He’ll perform there next on March 25.

What Dan likes most about being a musician is “getting people who have come to my concerts to join in and sing along on the choruses of songs. There is a wonderful energy in the room when that happens, and it lifts the audience's spirit and mine…singing does something to a person that is both physical and emotional.”