American Cafe Orchestra

The folk traditions of North America are combined with the traditional music of Ireland, Scandinavia, and Hungary by the American Café Orchestra. Despite this ambitious-sounding name, the group is actually a duo featuring New England-born fiddler Ruthie Dornfeld and Danish guitarist Morten Alfred Høirup. Dornfeld (a former member of Boston-based contredance ensemble Yankee Ingenuity, eclectic string band the Poodles) conceived the American Café Orchestra after meeting Høirup at a bluegrass festival in Denmark in 1985. During periodic visits to each other's homeland, the two instrumentalists began performing in cafés and folk clubs throughout the Northeastern United States and Europe. The duo released their sole album, Egyptian Dominos, in 1992.