NCS Newsletter Winter 1997-98
Olav Sem, Inger Karin Zettergren, Alf Tveit,
and Jonas Hjalmarsson
Featured at Scandia Festival in Petaluma, February 14-15, 1998
The upcoming Scandia Festival, the annual Scandinavian dance and music workshop
during the President's Weekend in February, will feature Olav Sem and Karen
Zettergren teaching Telespringar. Accompanying them will be Hardingfele player
Alf Tveit, who will play for the dance workshops and the evening parties.
Swedish fiddler Jonas Hjalmarsson will also be on hand to teach music workshops
during the day and also play at the evening parties. Dance and fiddle workshops
will take place at Hermann Sons Hall, 860 Western Avenue, in Petaluma,
California, 35 minutes by car north of San Francisco.
Olav Sem has become well known to Scandinavian dancers throughout the United
States since his first appearance at Scandia Festival in 1987. Coming from
Heddal in eastern Telemark, he began dancing at the age of 11, learning
Telespringar in tradition from his mother and a local good dancer, Ole Juve.
He has received the top award for his dancing at various competitions, including
the Porsgrunn festival (on three different occasions!). He is also an
accomplished singer and teacher of traditional Telemark songs. He is known
for a charming sense of humor and his excellent command of the English language.
His last visit to California was in 1993, when he taught at the Scandia Camp
in Mendocino.
Teaching with Olav will be Inger Karin Zettergren who has an impressive knowledge
of Telemark dance and culture. Describing herself, she writes "I have been
dancing since I was born. Both my parents dance and I learned from them.
I participated at my first landskappleik in 1976, and started dancing with
Olav Sem around 1983. Together we have won a lot of nice prizes and have
given concerts in Norway and abroad, alone and as part of a larger group.
I have been teaching dance (bygdedans, turdans, sångdans, gammeldans
and swing) since I was 22." This will be Inger's first trip to the U.S. in
more than 20 years.
Alf Tveit's music speaks for him. A class A master of the Hardingfele, he
is the dance fiddler preferred by Olav and Inger. Alf first taught in the
United States at Mendocino Scandia Camp in 1984. Since then he has taught
and played in many parts of the country. His last appearance in the Bay Area
was at Scandia Festival in 1992. He is fluent in English and has a soft,
friendly personal style. He is also a wonderful dancer. During the weekend
he will play for the dance teaching and at the evening parties. Alf will
be staying in the Bay Area for another week after the Festival during which
time he will teach at hardingfele workshops of February 21 and 22, and will
be available for private lessons (see the following article).
Swedish fiddler Jonas Hjalmarsson will be making his first trip to the Bay
Area to teach fiddle workshops during the weekend. Jonas is currently teaching
half time in place of Jonny Soling at the Malung folkhögskola fiddle
course, and is considered one of the most popular instructors at Malung's
annual summer fiddle course. He started playing fiddle at the age of 10.
His earliest exposure to traditional folk music was through the Älvdalen
spelmanslag. While growing up, he spent much time playing with other accomplished
fiddlers his age, such as Kalle Liljeberg, Lasse Björk, Anders Bjernulf,
Pontus Selderman and Hans Röjås. Later he attended Jonny Soling's
fiddle course in Malung, and then the Music Academy in Stockholm. He writes,
"If I were to introduce myself and my music, I would rather talk about fiddlers
who have influenced me rather than geographic areas. The fiddlers who have
influenced/are still influencing me are Gössa Anders, Evert Åhs,
Ole Hjorth, Simon Simonsson, Pål Olle, and of course, my colleagues
at Malung, Kalle Almlöf and Jonny Soling."
Pre-registration is required for the dance workshops. To do so, please contact
Nobi Kuratori at (650) 851-7077 or <nobi@juno.com>, or Brooke Babcock
at (415) 334-3455 or <forbrooke@juno.com>. Efforts will be made to
maintain a good balance of men and women. Since the number of dancers admitted
is usually limited by the number of men who register, men are encouraged
to register early. Partners will be changed frequently during the dance teaching.
Fiddle workshops will take place all day on Saturday and Sunday, February
14 and 15 at the same site as the dance workshops (although the Sunday morning
session will be off-site). Instruction will be at an intermediate/advanced
level in one group. Pre-registration is encouraged. Part-time registration
will be accepted. Beginner's can "audit" for half-price. Depending upon his
schedule, Jonas may be available for an additional workshop on Monday, February
16. For registration materials or more information, contact Fred Bialy at
(510) 215-5974 or <fredbialy@aol.com>.
Alf Tveit Hardingfele Workshops!
by Jeanne Sawyer
Master fiddler Alf Tveit will teach two hardingfele workshops in the Bay Area on Saturday and Sunday, February 21 and 22. You can go to Scandia Festival in Petaluma to dance (or to the Swedish fiddle workshops), and get your hardingfele classes the following weekend.
A "slower" workshop on Saturday will be held from 12-5 pm. Location details
are still being worked out, but we expect this workshop will be held somewhere
on the Peninsula. A "faster" workshop will be held on Sunday, exact time
and location are yet to be determined, but the workshop will be essentially
all afternoon and we expect to hold it somewhere in the El Cerrito area.
The fee for the workshop will be $25 per session. Everybody is invited and
encouraged to attend either or both sessions (and play), but should not expect
the pace to be adjusted if they're not really at the appropriate level.
Alf will also be available for private lessons during the week following
Scandia Festival. The charge will $30 per hour. For more information on
times/locations or how to register for the workshops, how to schedule a private
lesson, or to get a copy of a practice tape recorded by Alf (hopefully available
at the end of January), contact Jeanne Sawyer at 408-929-5602 or email:
jsawyer@SawyerPartnership.com.
Alf will also play for the regular 3rd Saturday dance party in Sunnyvale
on February 21. It's listed in the calendar section of the News, or ask Jeanne
for more details.
The News from... Sweden
translations by Fred Bialy
Items of interest culled from the pages of Spelmannen and Dalarnas
Spelmansblad.
At this year's Zorn Medal competition that was held in Vilhemina,
Styrbjörn Bergelt from Stockholm and Sture Sahlström from Tobo
(Uppland) were each awarded a gold medal. In contrast to the bronze and silver
medals, which are awarded for exceptional playing of tunes before a jury,
the gold medal recognizes a long illustrious career within folk music (much
like the Life Achievement Award at the Oscars). Styrbjörn was recognized
for his masterly and exemplary playing of the stråkharpa, silverbasharpa
and various folk flutes. Sture, master on the nyckelharpa, was honored for
his richly traditional playing of tunes from Uppland.
Rotspel, the main Swedish mail-order source for recorded Scandinavian
and world folk music opened its first retail store in Stockholm this past
September. The store is located at Tulegatan 37 and is open M-F noon to 6:00
pm and on Saturdays 11:00 am to 4:00 pm. Owner Pierre Alwert (see "Resor
med Pierre" in NCS News V. 6, Nr. 3) also stocks music books and some
instruments. Rotspel can be reached through the internet at:
<http://www.wineasy.se/rotspel/>.
The latest issue of Spelmannen, the quarterly magazine for
Sveriges Spelmäns Riksförbund (SSR), celebrates the 50th anniversary
of the organization's birth. Gunnar Ternhag, one of the earlier editors of
Spelmannen reminisces in an article about the early days of the organization.
The first meeting to consider the formation of a national musicians organization
took place in November, 1946. Chaired by Knis Karl Aronsson, the committee
was responding to a growing interest among newly forming musicians' organizations
in the various counties for a national organization that would interconnect
the local groups. Knis Karl had also been approached by the Landslaget for
Spelemenn, the national musicians organization in Norway, that was interested
in having contact with its Swedish counterpart.
The formal founding of SSR (known as Sveriges Spelmäns Riksstyrelse
until the name was changed to Sveriges Spelmäns Riksförbund in
1951) took place at a meeting on July 5, 1947, but only after a lengthy and
heated discussion over whether the organization should be a part of the already
active Sveriges Ungdomsringen or instead be an independent organization.
The only proponent at this meeting of being part of the Ungdomsringen was
Gustaf Wetters, who had suggested this already in 1944. As a compromise,
it was decided that SSR and Ungdomsringen would each have a representative
on the others governing board.
The earliest tasks of the new organization were to plan new musicians' gatherings
(spelmansstämmor) and develope a common tune repertoire. To that end,
the various local organizations were invited to send in five tunes each of
which two would be chosen for an official Allspel collection.
In another article, Tore Sander, long-time member of SSR's board,
gives his perspective on SSR's activities through the years. From its inception,
the SSR was based in Stockholm, largely because most of the initiators of
the organization lived there. Decentralization was an unknown concept in
the '50s and '60s. The annual meeting took place in Stockholm every year
through 1968 when it was suggested to hold the next year's meeting in Hudiksvall.
This suggestion was well received and the success of 1969's meeting led to
more and more of the annual meetings moving away from Stockholm so that by
the 1980's there was little if any interest in returning to Stockholm.
In the early years of SSR, according to Tore, many important issues did not get the attention they perhaps deserved. SSR had little influence on decisions about including folk music in radio programs. Even though most of the participants at the annual Zorn medal competitions (organized by Sveriges Ungdomsringen) were members of SSR, the organization had little influence there either. It wasn't until the '60s that SSR began to make inroads upon increasing awareness of folk music and improving its status in society.
The late '60s and early '70s saw the beginning of increasing government
recognition and financial support of folk music activities. Sveriges Visarkiv
was made a state organization in 1970 and the Samfundet för visforskning
was established to help support the Visarkiv's activities. The governments
Kulturråd was formed and financial support for all cultural activity,
including folk music, increased. In 1973, the Institutet för Rikskonserter
was founded. In 1978, the Svensk Folkmusikfond was established. The improved
financial support allowed SSR to offer travel stipends to music groups travelling
abroad and organize more music courses and seminars. SSR also was able to
finally afford opening an office which was first located in Möklinta
(Västmanland), later to be moved to Västerås, and eventually
to its present location in Falun. The first issue of Spelmannen came out
in 1978.
Two new publications about music in southern Uppland and Roslagen
are available through the Vallentuna kulturförvaltning. The first features
music of the Sander family of Vallentuna as still played by Tore Sander,
representing the family's fourth generation. The other publication features
the music of Tore Lindquist who plays his own compositions as well as tunes
learned from his maternal grandfather "Manne i Fiskeså" and other older
fiddlers. Both publications are the result of research by Per Runberg, an
ethnologist and musician. The publications contain transcriptions as well
as information about the fiddlers' lives. They are available for 85 Skr.
through PostGiro 96 56 48-9. Recordings of these musicians are available
for listening at the Vallentuna library.
This past summer, the Svensk Visarkiv published the fourth volume
of a series called Noterat. This issue contains contributions by Lars Lilliestam
(Nordman and "det svenska"), Gunnar Ternhag (Daniel Hanssons song book),
Bo Nyberg (accordions in Dalarna), and Lennar Kjellgren (the national song
competition at the turn of the century). The booklet costs 60 Skr. and can
be obtained from the Visarkiv by calling 011-46-8-34 09 35.
The Bingsjö spelmansstämma lost 40,000 Skr this past year and
is at risk for being cancelled in 1998. Unlike other towns in the Siljan
area where local organizations are responsible for arranging concerts and
dances as part of Musik vid Siljan week, there is no local organization in
Bingsjö that has taken on this responsibility. Over the years, Musik
vid Siljan has had to do all the work themselves. This has not been a problem
during the years when up to 30,000 attended the Bingsjöstämma.
In recent years attendance and income have declined but expenses have stayed
steady. Unless a better collaboration can be worked out with the residents
of Bingsjö, Musik vid Siljan will organize a different event to take
it's place in 1998.
It has been 20 years since Kalle Almlöf started teaching his folk
music course at Malungs folkhögskola, which gave cause to celebrate
this past November at a weekend gathering for alumni and anyone else who
was interested in attending. A Saturday night dinner was followed by a special
concert featuring Kalle along with Jonny Soling, Maria Röjås,
Perjos Lars Halvarsson, Jalle Hjalmarsson, Hanne Kjersti and Mats Berglund.
Hanne and Mats also were featured teachers at a song and fiddle course
respectively.
Kalle first started teaching music history a few hours per week at Malungs
folkhögskola in 1977. Freshly graduated from the Music conservatory
in Stockholm, he had sought a job at the music school in Malung, but was
turned away, apparently out of fear that he would draw away all the students
from the school's newly hired violin teacher since folk music had become
so popular. After his first year at Malungs folkhögskola, he convinced
the administration to offer a semester-long course in folk music with an
emphasis on fiddle playing. The course was so successful that the
folkhögskola added on a year-long course under the direction of Jonny
Soling for the 1979-80 school year. In 1984, the school added a semester-long
song course, first taught by Agneta Stolpe, but taken over by Maria
Röjås in 1986. In 1994, the folkhögskola began to offer a
second semester-long song course, initially thought of as a continuation
of the first course, but now open to anyone with prior singing experience.
In total, almost 700 students have now graduated from the Malung courses.
Except for a brief decline in interest in the late 1980's, the courses have
always been fully attended. In the beginning, Kalle's course had room for
twelve. That number has grown to 17, the same for Jonny's course. Maria accepts
16 in each course. Most of the students are young, the median age being in
the low 20's. But the range of ages has been 16 to 70. In the early years
there was a greater emphasis on pedagogy. Many of Jonny's graduates went
on to lead study circles at home. The first few years of his course even
included a 10 week mid-year break so that the students could get some experience
teaching before finishing off the year. Now more of the students are there
just to improve their own playing. Maria has found over the years that her
students have become more serious about learning singing technique.
Pers Hans Olsson from Rättvik has been chosen to receive a government
guaranteed annual salary as a folk musician. A recent description of Pers
Hans by Dave Richardsson (member of Boys of the Lough) in an Irish music
magazine sums up why: "This brilliant master fiddler radiates an enormous
weight and craft. He plays solo...he stands there, straight up and down -
he isn't particularly verbal - but his tone and playing style are incomparable.
Without words he speaks about his life, where he comes from - about humanity."
In the latest issue of Dalarnas Spelmansblad, Brodd Leif
Andersson reminisces about Ingvar Norman, a superb fiddler, collector
and friend with whom he played many years together and who died in May of
1996 at the age of 82 (see The News from...Sweden, NCS News, V. 7, Nr. 4)
Leif writes that it has been almost 50 years since Ingvar, together with
Johan Larsson from Gagnef, documented the old polska that was danced in Orsa.
After a trip in Norway where Ingvar had seen people dancing old Norwegian
dances, he had begun to wonder whether comparable dances could be found in
Sweden. He later learned from Gössa Anders that there still were people
in Orsa dancing the old style polska. With Gössa's help, Ingvar contacted
4 or 5 couples who danced for him and Johan at Orsa's Gammelgård in
the spring of 1947. These two men were pioneer's in the field of documenting
dance and struggled with the problem of how to describe a dance on paper
so people who had never seen the dance could understand how it was done.
They had no one they could ask. They had to solve the problem themselves.
From this beginning, Ingvar, by himself or in collaboration with others,
most often Johan Larsson, went on to document and publish over 90 different
polskas and local variants of other village dances from Bohuslän to
Ångermanland. In many cases, Ingvar and his collaborators were there
in the nick of time, for these dances lived on in the memories of only older
people who were close to dying and would have taken the dances to their graves.
In 1969, together with Göran Karlholm, who had been doing his own dance
research in Jämtland and Härjedalen, Ingvar and Johan began the
polska medal testing movement which yearly attracts 100-150 dance couples
and has considerably contributed to the renaissance that bygdedans has enjoys
in Sweden today.
In spite of his trailblazing efforts at documenting dance, Ingvar was foremost
a fiddler. Shortly after his birth on January 22, 1914, Ingvar's parents
moved the family to an apartment directly over that of his paternal grandparents
who were both musicians. According to Ingvar's mother, before he could talk
or even walk, Ingvar had his ear to the floor listening to the music coming
almost nightly from below.
At age seven, Ingvar started to play cittra, then at age nine, fiddle. By
the age of 14 he was playing in public, first for the local folk dance group,
then soon for four other dance groups in neighboring towns that he could
reach by bicycle. Around that time, Ingvar became involved with research
into developing a folk costume specific for Säter to replace the Hedemora
costume that was being used for lack of anything else. Contacts with older
people in Säter, notations in old estate inventories, and advice from
Karl Trotzig of Hedemora (who had worked at reconstructing the costumes for
several other local villages) finally led in 1934 to the Säter costume
that is still used today.
Around this time, Ingvar also started organizing the annual spelmansstämma
in Säter himself, thereby coming into contact with that era's most famous
Dalarna fiddlers. Ingvar particularly liked Anders Frisell and Nylands Erik
whom he had already heard playing in Säter during the 1920s.
During Ingvar's youth there were only a few of the older folk music tradition
bearers left playing in southern Dalarna. At an early age, Ingvar was already
out collecting songs and tunes from them. He himself described these experiences
as giving him a key to the older traditions that had a great influence on
his own style. His many years of collecting music has been published in three
volumes of transcriptions containing 2,332 tunes from southern Dalarna. Ingvar
was a forceful fiddler who embellished his tunes with trills and ornaments
in a characteristic style. He played double stops and open strings when they
enhanced the tone of his fiddle. His tone was certain and pure and he never
used glissando. His bowing technique stood well above the average for folk
fiddlers.
During the years, Ingvar made a large number of recordings for radio programs.
Because these recordings are difficult to obtain, plans are in the works
to produce a CD that presents a representative selection of his music.
Ingvar's teaching style would have been unsuitable for today's typical folk
music course. He had absolutely no patience for playing slowly, even less
for repeating a few bars over and over again at a slow tempo. Particularly
telling was a letter that Leif, at the age of 13, received from Ingvar just
before he (Leif) was to meet with him for the first time. Ingvar listed 56
tunes that Leif should look at before he came, acknowledging that "it was
a whole mess of tunes" but that "it would be so much better if you can also
make harmonies to them!"
Already at that first meeting with Ingvar, Leif was confronted with Ingvar's
signature dislike for accordions. In his characteristic drastic way Ingvar
explained: "Accordion players are like Egypt's grasshoppers. They come in
great multitudes and destroy all music in their path!" During an interview
for the Dala-Demokraten before a spelmanstämma Ingvar was arranging
in 1979, he commented that accordions were not welcome at the event because
"at times of war, one makes do with substitutes. But we are not at war now.
The accordion is a substitute, it's not an instrument." The ensuing storm
of letters from outraged readers continued all summer. Leif feels that Ingvar
entered the debate with enthusiasm and that he got pleasure from it because
he always found it easy to express himself.
Leif played a lot with Ingvar in public during the 1970's. He always had
to come up with the harmonies because Ingvar never played them himself. He
also found travelling with Ingvar to be very interesting because he knew
a lot about Swedish history and had interesting things to say about the places
they passed. He also told a lot of humorous anecdotes about everyday life.
If he wanted to have fun, he would test Leif on the meaning of words from
the local older dialects which Leif almost invariably didn't know, prompting
Ingvar to ask "Don't they teach you anything in school these days?"
It was only later that Leif learned of the breadth of Ingvar's knowledge
of dialects in the Säter region. Between 1954 and 1992 he sent in over
45,000 different examples of dialect words and their meanings to Uppsala
archive for regional dialects (UMLA). He also answered numerous questionaires
about different aspects of daily life, from farming methods to folk
superstitions. He also sent in contributions to UMLA's work of collecting
village and place names.
Ingvar was extremely ambitious and stubborn in whatever he undertook. But
he was always willing to share in what he collected, either in book form
or through courses that he arranged. If he recognized that someone was interested
he was very generous in sharing his knowledge. On the other hand, if he felt
someone was indifferent, he took offence. He could be frightfully angry and,
unfortunately, on more than one occasion misunderstood the situation and
quarreled with people unnecessarily. His vehement and stubborn moods were
to his detriment and probably contributed to him not getting the recognition
he deserved. His somewhat fierce demeanor probably had a deterring effect
on people who didn't know him. He was quick of mind and tongue and enjoyed
himself most when one met him halfway and he could engage in a little verbal
sparring.
Leif writes that when he met up with Ingvar in the early 1990's for the first
time in almost three years, he was worried how Ingvar would react to his
long absence. Upon seeing Leif and pausing for awhile he said "Jasså,
är ä du! Ja känd ent igen dä först. Du ser ju så
skäggu å jävlu ut!" ("So, it's you! I didn't recognize you
at first. You look so unkempt and terrible!") Leif felt that he could relax,
for when Ingvar greeted one in such a manner, you knew he was in a good mood.
Leif's visits to Ingvar were infrequent the next few years. By the fall of
1995, Ingvar was suffering from lots of aches and pains, was totally blind
in one eye and barely had vision in the other. During one visit, Leif asked
him to play something. In spite of the loss of technique from lack of playing,
poor memory and worsening hearing, it was still clear from his playing what
an exceptionally fine fiddler he had been. He still had something special
in his playing that endowed it with unmistakable authenticity. He had an
ability to find the heart of the old tunes, an ability that so few are blessed
with. In that moment Leif felt such reverence and respect for the old man.
It was the last time he heard him play and one of the last times he got to
see him before he died.
New Recordings from Sweden
JONAS KNUTSSON - "Malgomaj" (Atrium)
Jazz/folk blend by saxophone player from Västerbotten.
TRIO PATREKATT - "Adam" (Xource)
Johan Hedin and Markus Svensson play nyckelharpa with cellist Annika
Wijnbladh.
VÄSEN - "Världens väsen" (Xource), "Whirled" (Northside).
Olov Johansson, Mikkel Marin, and Roger Tallroth have added percussionist
André Ferrari.
KLINTETTEN - "Två" (KLCD)
Twelve member band from Östergötland. Includes fiddles, nyckelharpa,
accordion, cittra, and song. Very danceable.
KALABRA - (Caprice)
Sextet with jazz saxophonist Amanda Sedgwick and nyckelharpist Markus Svensson.
TILJA - (Amigo)
Nyckelharpist Pernilla Karlsson (Bohuslän), and fiddlers Karin Olsson
(Värmland) and Jeanett Walerholt (Småland) play traditional tunes
plus new compositions.
FOLK MUSIC IN SWEDEN - "Blod, lik & tårar" (Caprice). 18 singers,
including Lena Willemark, Brita and Maria Röjås singing songs
from old skillingtryck.
BOCK - "Ingen som jag" (FTG)
Music from a theater work about Hällsingland fiddler From-Olle. The
band includes Jonas Olsson, Fredrik Lindh, Lasse Sörlin, Andreas Malmqvist
(bass), and Olle Bohm (drums).
PLOMMON - (BGSCD)
Five women from Skåne who sing and play fiddle, pump-organ, flutes,
and clarinet. Music from Sweden, Finland, Slovakia, Denmark, Belgium, and
Lithuania.
FALU SPELMANSLAG - "I stöten" (Tongång)
Driving, danceable music recorded with dancers.
PERSSON, ÅRFORS, EKLUND - "Bra dansmusik" (SUR). Gammaldans, polskas
on fiddle, accordion, bass.
HANS GILLE & KURT SÖRDERGREN - "På vårat vis"
(Tongång). Two tradition bearers from Österbybruk in Uppland playing
mainly tunes from Ceylon Wallin.
The News from... Norway
translations by Crystal Lokken
Items of interest culled from the pages of Spelemansbladet.
The fourth volume in Slåtter for vanlig fele, a planned
six volume work on Norwegian flat fiddle music, was just published by
Universitetsforlaget at the end of 1997. Encompassing music from Hedmark
(which includes the border towns of Trysil and Engerdal), the book contains
15 halling tunes, 194 pols and springar tunes and 30 marches. The main source
of the included tunes are recordings of fiddlers who were already old by
the middle of the 1900's. The introduction contains information of the fiddle
traditions in Hedmark as well as older playing styles. Earlier releases in
this series includes two volume on Oppdal and one volume on Nordfjord.
A recent article (which draws on information in the recently published volume of flat fiddle music from Hedemark mentioned above) explores the history of the Pols dance from Rendal in Hedemark and whether it once was done as a combination of a gangar and a springar type dance. Several references to the gangar in the music and dance history of Rendal have led people to believe that the gangar was once danced in Rendal even though the pols is the bygdedans danced there today.
It is said that the oldest known fiddler in the Rendal district was "Gangarguten"
from Mømb in Øvre Rendal. He was most active around 1680, which
was also the time that the fiddle became established in the district. It
is believed that his name derives from gangar the dance. Also, In Jakob Breda
Bull's novel Herr Samuel, we meet a fiddler named Eric Barstad at a dance
in Rendalen about 1810. According to him, new dances at that time that had
become popular were the "lancers, figaro, and fandango - which no farmers
knew - but all had learned the waltz. The pols was old at that time, as well
as the gangar - which only the eldest dancers knew." Bull had great knowledge
and respect for the old folk culture, so his mention of the gangar was unlikely
to be a fantasy.
It is now believed that the Rendal pols as danced in the 1600's was a composite
dance with a fore-dance in 2/4 rhythm (gangar type) and an after-dance in
3/4 rhythm (springar type). Eventually the two parts were separated and the
gangar part went out of use in the 1700's. the after-dance that was left
evolved into the pols that is danced today.
This theory of the evolution of the Rendal pols is in keeping with ideas
about the development of polska music and dance in Sweden. The Swedish researcher
and fiddler Anders Rosen believes that the Swedish "polska" originally had
"a slow fore-dance (introduction) in 2-beat and a livelier after-dance in
3-beat rhythm, but with time, the after-dance dominated." Such a separation
had already happened by the mid 1600's in Poland and Sweden. The same thing
very likely happened in Norway for one or another form of bygdedans in 3-beat
pols rhythm has dominated in all areas where the ordinary (flat) fiddle is
played in Norway.
Examples of composite dances can be found in other parts of Norway. The closest,
geographically, was the "Brides-dance" from Alvdal from 1918 in which "the
bride and bridegroom do a march around the floor before they do the pols."
The march had the feeling of a slow halling, with both march and pols building
on the same melody. The bride's dance from old times in Urskog shows the
same composition, build-up and function. The first part of the dance is "similar
to a kind of polonaise." There is a pols with gangar and springdans parts
described in the Hadeland district from the end of the 1700's. Also similar
is a description of a dance from Krogsherad: "First a short march, then a
short springar." In Vest Oppland there is mention of a "gangar," which could
be played as a "halling." Perhaps this was originally a "fore-dance?" It
is possible that the "springleik" developed from a 2-beat rhythm. Both the
melody and the name hints at that.
These examples support Bull's description of a composite 2-part tune and
dance form in Rendal. Some of the descriptions describe the first part as
a kind of march, where Bull speaks of the gangar. But is the gangar so different
from a march? The gangar has been described as a ceremonial start for the
wedding dance, when the master of ceremonies and the single men guests danced
with the bride.
Does gangar music continue to live in Rendal? There are certain marches from
Engerdal, Trysil and Rendal that appear very old and have a danceable feature
similar to the halling. You can imagine that these old tunes very likely
could have been used for the fore-dance of a 2-part composite dance. So the
musical counterpart to the 2-part dance that Bull describes in Herr Samuel
is recognizable and is still in use today. Perhaps this has parallels over
the entire county? It remains to be seen, and worked on some more.
The munnharp tradition in Telemark died out, possibly having gone
out of use because of the popularity of the hardingfele. The same thing happened
to several other old instruments, for example the langeleik, seljefløyte,
and bukkehorn. Today, however, the munnharp is experiencing a renaissance
in the area.
The work of author Rickard Berge has been the main source of information
about the history of the munnharpa and other old instruments in Telemark.
According to Berge, some of the famous early Telemark munnharpists are: In
the l800's, the brothers Gunnar and Gunnliv Myri played the munnharp. Gunnar
went to America, so little is known of him. His younger brother Gunnliv,
moved to western Norway and married there. He had a son, Johannes Eide, a
hardingfele player, who remembered his father, Gunnliv, playing the munnharp
while he and his mother sat and listened. But nothing is known about the
tunes he played, nor his teachers, nor whether Johannes played his father's
tunes on his hardingfele.
Reidar Sevåg tells of his two uncles who played the munnharp. Good
Christians, they felt that the munnharp was a less evil instrument than the
fiddle! In Tuddal, there was Halvor Torgrimson (b. l830). It was said he
played so loud that it could be heard by everyone, though the room was full
of dancers. Halvor Mikkelson Rolegheta (d. 1870) was a shoemaker, and an
outstanding munnharp player. He played for dances, both springars and gangars.
He could put the harp into his mouth and strike it with his tongue. But he
was an awful drinker and lived a miserable life.
Not far away in Kilen lived Nils Ellingson who played Myllarguten tunes on
his munnharp. Torkil Hellickson Husvolldalen, an itinerant harvester, taught
munnharp tunes to Olav Bernos Kvåle, from Tinn, who played them on
his hardingfele. The munnharp was a popular instrument in Tinn - many good
smiths there, and also in Numedal, made them.
It is possible to trace old munnharps back to the smiths who made them. Niels
Bjortuft made hundreds of munnharps and sold them in western Norway. In the
Øyfjell museum there are munnharps which were made by Olav Trovatn,
who also made lurs. He went to America two times, returning for good in l921,
after being gone for 16 years. One of his munnharps is inscribed "Palermo,
North Dakota, 1905". Olav Augundson Bakkane (1800-1885) was a smith and a
munnharp maker, who made exceptionally fine ones.
There is indeed, good information about the munnharp and even some of the
tunes that were played on them in Telemark in the early days. Some of them,
in fact, are older than hardingfele tunes.
The oldest known recording of the munnharp in Telemark was made in l937 by
Olav Orholte (l865-l944). He was considered a master player in his time though
nothing is known about how he learned to play, or about the munnharp he played
on.
Through the years different combinations of fiddles and other instruments
in ensembles have gone in and out of fashion in Norway. Ensemble playing
that included fiddles and drums has been documented as early as l760. Written
documents from eastern Norway (Hedmark, Gudbrandsdal, and Hadeland) report
such combinations at dances, and at wedding celebrations with fiddlers and
drummers leading the procession to and from the church. In western Norway,
where pietism was widespread, drums were used only on May l7th, when they
played solo performances based on military signals.
The tamburtromme was a 40-cm high drum, with skin stretched on both ends,
and lacing in between. These drums were used both on military and civil
occasions, both as a musical instrument and as an alarm. There is a privately
owned wooden drum from the l600's in existence. This type was used in the
military until the l750's. By the end of the 1800's, the combination of drum
and fiddle had died out.
Triangles and clarinets are also mentioned as taking part in ensemble playing.
The clarinet was first used in the military. Clarinets were made in Meråker
and Østerdal. In the l750's, they were played in place of the oboe
(early oboes were called hoboer - they were larger and stronger in tone).
The clarinet was most popular in Norway from l800-1850. It was played in
many rural areas. Hardangar fiddles and clarinets were played in ensembles
in Telemark. A fiddle, flute and clarinet made up a little orchestra in Numedal
between 1780 and 1798. The traditional bridal march also included the clarinet.
It was so important during the 1800's that most prominent musicians on other
instruments also played the clarinet.
In Hedmark, north of Oslo, clarinetists were often found in ensembles along
with fiddlers and other instruments. In Sølor, Finnskog, (also north
of Oslo) the clarinet is named as a folk music instrument along with the
lur, bukkehorn, munnharpe and fløyte.
Ensemble playing of fiddle and clarinet is also documented in pictures. A
painting on a trunk from Sør Trondelag from the end of the 1700's
shows a bridal couple performing a "stump dance" (stabbedans). On one side
are the musicians, one with a fiddle, and one with a clarinet-type instrument.
The Trondheim area has had a very rich folk music heritage over the
last two hundred years. Towns such as Rorøs, site of the famous copper
mines, recruited and supported their own musicians. One such musician, Eric
Johannesen Skomager, went to Trondheim to learn to play the organ and classical
violin and also learned new dances from the city's musicians.
Detliv Blom (1820-1892), was a well known fiddler and composer who opened
a guest house at Heimdal in l859 which became an important meeting place
for well known traveling musicians north of Dovre. In the last half of the
1800's, at places like Ilsvikøra and Ilevollen, one could listen or
dance to the music of both local and traveling fiddlers, and later on, accordion
players. Fishermen and seamen would come there after weeks of grueling work
to dance the pols.
Musicians from the Ålen and Rorøs districts would send tunes
to composer Martin Andreas Udbye (1829-1889) in Trondheim, to be arranged
for fiddle ensembles or for string quartets. In l857, Udbye wrote Norway's
first opera, "Fredkulla."
Many rural musicians came to Trondheim for shorter or longer stays. Several
became involved as military musicians or in the theatre. They often played
for dances in town and in the surrounding area. Many wrote tunes and dance
melodies which then became available to musicians in most of Trondelag and
the southern part of Helgeland.
Early in the 1900's, Trondheimers encountered many local musicians who played
different instruments - accordion, flute, clarinet and drum. In addition,
there were also wandering organ grinders, who played barrel organs which
were made in the Steinkjerdistrikt and Åfjorden during the last half
of the 1800's. There were also well-documented musicians' groups in Mekhus,
Lienstrand, and Byneset, near Trondheim.
In 1922, the well-known dance collector, Klara Semb wrote down dances from
Namsdalen with the help of dancers in Trondheim's Bondeungdomslaget (Farm
Youth Group). The BUL Heimdal and Trondheim spelemannslags have been instrumental
in keeping alive the folk music tradition in Trondheim.
New Recordings from Norway
SUSANNE LUNDENG - "Ættesyn" (Kirkelig kulturverksted). Second CD from
this fiddler from northern Norway. Together with Morten Huuse on accordion
and keyboard.
ARVE MOEN BERGSET - "Religiøse folketonar" (Grappa). Recorded in Oslo
cathedral with organist Kåre Nordstoga and fiddler Geir Inge
Lotsberg.
CHATEAU NEUF SPELEMANNSLAG - "Tjuvgods" (Grappa). Second recording by 18
member band that includes both acoustic, electric and brass instruments.
Fun music.
DET SYNG! - "Ballader på vandring" (Grappa)
Eli Storbrekken, Sinikka Langeland, Halvor Håkanes, Agnes Buen
Garnås, and Anne Marit Jacobsen singing acappella or with
sälgflöjt and kantele.
GUNNAR STUBSEID & ALE MÖLLER - "Reiseren" (Heilo). Hardingfele playing
Stubseid with mandola playing Möller.
LOM SPELEMANNSLAG - "Tonegjerd" (Lily)
Soloists, small and large groups play gammaldans, springleiks, hallings.
KRISTEN BRÅTEN BERG and others - "Frå Senegal till Setesdal"
(Grappa). Setesdal singer together with folk musicians from Senegal and Ivory
Coast.
Scandinavian Web-Sites
Compiled by Wes Ludemann
Here is a listing of some Scandinavian web-sites that I have visited. Although
the list is far from complete, many of the sites give links to other sites.
The preponderance of Swedish sites reflects only my personal interests. If
you have some hot sites you would like to share, email their addresses to
Wes Ludemann <WesBakmes@compuserve.com>, and I'll compile an update
to include in a future issue of the newsletter.
Web Tunebook:
http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/1789/
In English and Swedish. This is Henrik Norbeck's home page. There are essays
on Swedish folk music, links to Traditional Music in Sweden, Hundreds of
Tunes in ABC Format, ABCMUS, an ABC Tune Player/Handler Program, and Some
Tunes and Songs (sheet music and lyrics.)
Henrik Norbeck's ABC Tunes:
http://home/.swipnet.se/~w-11382/abc.htm
This site (which can also be reached through a link from the Web Tunebook
above) has tunes, information on how to read .abc files correctly, and an
ABCMUS .abc player. There are links to The Official ABC Home Page, and to
programs for printing sheet music.
Folk Net Sweden:
http://www.folknetsweden.com
Created by Olle Paulsson, owner of DRONE Music. Links to 6 record
companies.
Musik vid Siljan:
http://www.siljan.se/
Has English pages. It gives information on Rättvik, Leksand, Folklore,
etc. Not yet updated for 1998.
Falu Spelmanslag:
http://www.datastugan.se/~fsl
Links to Musik vid Siljan, Falun Folk Music Festival, Leksands Spelmanslag
and more. Has a picture and a tune archive.
Mellan Ljungen och Ljusnan:
http://homepage.calypso.net/~ci-18034
Lennart Sohlman's well-designed home page with about 50 fiddle tunes from
Jämtland, Härjedalen, Dalarna, Finland and Medelpad. Some
transcriptions play out on MIDI.
Swedish Information Service:
http://www.webcom.com/sis
In English. A one-step guide to Sweden. Links to search engines, fact
sheets on Sweden, newspapers and more.
Swedish pages Online:
http://www.markovits.com/sverige/
http://www.svenska-sidor.com/
In Swedish and English. Address book, libraries, municipalities, news, etc.
Inetmedia:
http://www.markovits.com/inetmedia/
A newsletter about the internet, IT and media. The newsletter comes out
on Wednesdays, and has more web addresses than you'll have time to check
out. Invaluable source.
Sverige runt: Virtual Sweden
http://www.it-kompetens.com/swedish/sv
Museums, communes, etc. Links to many sites.
Statens Kulturråd:
http://www.kur.se/
In Swedish and English. The Swedish book market and libraries in Sweden.
Also a link to SUNET, the Swedish University Network (Swedish only).
Museer i Sverige:
http://www.icom.org/vlmp/sverige.html
Mostly in Swedish, with links to 51 museums and more.
Musikmuseet:
http://www..smus.se/musik.museet/
In both Swedish and English. Lots here, including a virtual museum, technical
drawings and a list of publications.
Swedish cursing:
http://users.bart.nl/~sante/enginvek.html
A comprehensive guide to 10 categories Swedish cursing with examples of usage
and sound clips in wav-format. (I haven't tried the sound.) Explanations
in English, Swedish and Dutch.
The Nordic Pages
http://it-kompetens.com/nordic/
A subject guide, plus links to sites for Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway,
Sweden, The Faroe Islands, Greenland and the Åland Islands.
Danish Folk Music web site:
http://home1.inet.tele.dk/eswo/
Transcriptions of Danish traditional folk music. The page has good links
to other sites.
Virtual Finland:
http://virtual.finland.fi/
Official press releases, maps, news, general information (Moomintrolls, whooping
cranes, Jan Sibelius, etc,). Questions can be e-mailed to Virtual Finland.
Finn facts:
http://www.tat.fi
Most topics are in Finnish, but some, including Finnish Music and Dance,
The Finnish Dance Scene, and Finnish Folk Dancing are in English as well.
Links to other sites.
Travel in Finland:
http://www.travel.fi/int/
In English. Events, Areas Culture, etc. It has a search ability.
Kaustinan Folk Music Festival:
www.stri.fi/x/folkmusicfestival
Not yet updated for 1988.
The Smart Door to Iceland:
http://www.smart.is/
Links to Iceland, including Santa Claus (and why he lives in Iceland:
http://santa.smart.is/:82/santa.html).
Norwegian Online Information Service:
http://www.norway.org/
News, events, business, government, tourism, culture and history, maps and
links.
Spelemenn i Cyberspace:
http://home.sol.no/a-haugen/
The homepage for dance and folk music from Hallingdal, Røros and
Nordfjord. Various topics plus links to festivals and kappleiks throughout
the north.