{{Short description|Swedish accordionist and composer}} thumb|225px|Ragnar Sundquist on tour in America during the 1920s. '''Ragnar "Raggie" Sundquist''' (May 7, 1892 – November 10, 1951) was a popular Swedish accordionist and composer in the first half of the 1900s.<ref name="Sundquist Wiki">Ragnar Sundquist. ''sv.wikipedia.org''. Retrieved: December 23, 2011.</ref> 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.<ref name="Sundquist Wiki"/> He had booked passage on the ''Titanic''{{'}}s maiden voyage in 1912, but his mother persuaded him to take a later boat.<ref name="Ragnar 78">[http://musiknostalgi.atspace.cc/ragsun.htm Ragnar "Raggie" Sundquist.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220116174509/http://musiknostalgi.atspace.cc/ragsun.htm |date=2022-01-16 }} ''atspace.cc''. Retrieved: June 21, 2019.</ref> Starting in the late 1920s, Sundquist appeared on a long-running Swedish radio program with accordionist Sven Hylén.<ref name="Sundquist Wiki"/>
Ragnar Sundquist was a prolific recording artist with over 400 releases on Swedish and American labels.<ref name="Ragnar 78"/> 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.<ref>''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.</ref> He also went on American tours with Berg <ref name="Ragnar 78"/> and Franzen.<ref>''Nikolina: early Scandinavian bands and entertainers'' (Minneapolis: Banjar Records, 1983).</ref><ref>[https://archive.org/download/SwedishAccordionists/11%20Willmar%20Tribune%2005-07-19.jpg ''Willmar Tribune'' May 7, 1919.]</ref> 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.<ref name="Sundquist Wiki"/>
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.<ref name="Sundquist Wiki"/>
In 2011 the Library of Congress opened its National Jukebox website with streaming audio for eighteen recordings by Ragnar Sundquist.<ref>[https://www.loc.gov/jukebox/search/results?count=20&page=1&q=text%3ARagnar+Sundquist&sort=relevance&view=list National Jukebox] ''loc.gov''. Retrieved July 7, 2013.</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== [[File:SundquistSG6014.jpg|thumb|225px|Sundquist's own record label on which ten titles were released in 1920-1921. The records were recorded and pressed by Columbia Records in England.]] '''Historic American Newspapers''' *[http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/pages/results/?state=&date1=1836&date2=1922&proxtext=Ragnar+Sundquist&dateFilterType=yearRange&rows=20&searchType=basic&x=0&y=0 Ragnar Sundquist] '''Image files''' *[https://archive.org/download/SwedishAccordionists/10%20Ragnar%20Sundquist.jpg Ragnar Sundquist] *[https://archive.org/download/SwedishAccordionists/09%20Pietro%20Frosini%20photo%20inscribed%20to%20Arvid%20Franzen.jpg Photo inscribed by Pietro Frosini to Arvid Franzen] '''Discographies''' *[http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/talent/detail/52728/Sundquist_Ragnar_instrumentalist_accordion Ragnar Sundquist] on Victor Records. *[http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/talent/detail/1784/Berg_Eric_instrumentalist_accordion Eric Berg] on Victor Records. *[http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/talent/detail/64034/Franzen_Arvid_instrumentalist_accordion Arvid Franzen] on Victor Records. *[http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/talent/detail/7460/Frosini_Pietro_instrumentalist_accordion Pietro Frosini] on Victor Records. *[http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/talent/detail/60020/Olson_Eric_instrumentalist_accordion Eric Olson] on Victor Records. '''Swedish music and film''' *[http://musiknostalgi.atspace.cc/ragsun.htm Ragnar Sundquist] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220116174509/http://musiknostalgi.atspace.cc/ragsun.htm |date=2022-01-16 }} *[http://musiknostalgi.atspace.cc/eriber3.htm Eric Berg] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220116174513/http://musiknostalgi.atspace.cc/eriber3.htm |date=2022-01-16 }} *[http://musiknostalgi.atspace.cc/arvfra.htm Arvid Franzen] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220116174502/http://musiknostalgi.atspace.cc/arvfra.htm |date=2022-01-16 }} *[http://musiknostalgi.atspace.cc/eriols.htm Eric Olson (Olzen)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220116174502/http://musiknostalgi.atspace.cc/eriols.htm |date=2022-01-16 }} '''Streaming audio at the National Jukebox''' *[https://www.loc.gov/jukebox/search/results?count=20&page=1&q=text%3ARagnar+Sundquist&sort=relevance&view=list Ragnar Sundquist] *[https://www.loc.gov/jukebox/search/results?count=20&page=1&q=text%3AEric+Berg&sort=relevance&view=list Eric Berg] *[https://www.loc.gov/jukebox/artists/detail/id/5609 Arvid Franzen] *[https://www.loc.gov/jukebox/search/results?count=20&page=1&q=text%3AFrosini&sort=relevance&view=list Pietro Frosini] '''Streaming audio at the Internet Archive''' *[https://archive.org/details/SwedishAccordionists Ragnar Sundquist] *[https://archive.org/search.php?query=subject%3A%22Scandinavian+old-time%22 Scandinavian old-time] '''Videos''' *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDbatPJcVm4 ''Gräsänklingen'' played by Ragnar Sundquist and Sven Hylén] *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9RIYDMaM9o ''Lill-Jans polka'' played by Ragnar Sundquist and Lasse Benny] *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMHlxfaTqIk ''Kiruna hambo'' played by Ragnar Sundquist's Quintet]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sundquist, Ragnar}} Category:American accordionists Category:Columbia Records artists Category:Musicians from Stockholm Category:Swedish accordionists Category:Victor Records artists Category:1892 births Category:1951 deaths Category:20th-century American musicians Category:20th-century accordionists Category:Burials at Skogskyrkogården