Svensk Folkmusik

 

The sounds of Swedish folk music could easily be mistaken for the music of Scotland and Ireland, the historical intermixing of the Celtic and Norse peoples led to a sharing of instrument styles, as well as musical sounds and textures. The instruments primarily used in Swedish folk music are the nykelharpa, latfiol, sakpipa, accordion, and flutes. While modern musicians often include other instruments, such as the guitar and clarinet, in their performances, the traditional instruments are what gives Swedish folk music it’s unique sound.

            The nykelharpa is a string instrument similar to a violin, sometimes referred to as a keyed fiddle, and similarly played with a bow. Unlike the violin, “[T]he modern chromatic nyckelharpa has 16 strings: 3 melody strings, one drone string, and 12 sympathetic vibration (or resonance) strings” (nylelharpa.org). The nykelharpa has sets of keys attached to posts called tangents, these posts press the strings to allow certain notes to be played, the way a violinist does with their fingers. The sympathetic strings on the nykelharpa are not directly played but resonate with the melody strings creating a sound that almost sounds as if multiple instruments are being played instead of just one. The latfiol is a type of Swedish fiddle which like the nykleharpa makes use of sympathetic strings, though it only has two. The sakpipa is a Swedish bagpipe, it is a smaller and simpler type of bagpipe than the Scottish bagpipes, or the Irish Uilleann pipes.

Två Konungabarn played by Myrkur Oksemorder

I love this piece, it really shows the unique sounds that are produced by the nykelharpa.

Griselda Sanderson explains some of the unique features of the nykelharpa.

Thor Ahlgren & Simon Olofsson performs two south swedish tunes (skåne) at Skurups folkhögskola. This video really shows how different the sakpipa are from the Scottish and Uillean pipes, both in their simpler sound and their function.

The style of fiddling used by Swedish players is one of the ways in which Swedish music varies from that of the Irish and Scottish. “Swedish fiddling is rich in grace notes, rolls and trills, double string unisons and drones, and notes raised or lowered by quarter tones…Rolls in Swedish music are not unlike those in Irish music, but the trills which are a very characteristic feature in Sweden are never heard in Ireland.” (Haigh)

Carol Ann Wheeler: A Demonstration of Different Fiddling Styles

These instruments, together with the accordion create a hauntingly beautiful sound, giving Swedish music a sound that makes the listener think of the way it would sound played out over the fjords of Sweden. The deep and clear resonation of music played out over vast mountains and valleys on a cold crisp winter morning. “Swedish folk music evolved out of music for dancers in the courts and later in the countryside, where villagers gathered on icy winter nights and in the long, eerie twilight of Swedish summer. It has a lilting, dynamic quality reminiscent of Celtic music and a propulsive energy akin to the barn dance-driven sounds of Appalachia. But Swedish tunes, unlike their brethren to the west, are often written in time signatures based in phrases of three, lending them unusual buoyancy; players—generally fiddlers—stretch and contract these rhythms for a suspenseful, slightly off-balance feel. Tunes range from the furious and notey to the measured and stately, but like the whirling couple dances to which they owe their form, all share a sense of perpetual movement, of the centrifugal force generated by two bodies in motion.” (Mason) “Early Swedish music was primarily constituted by ballads and kulning, or herding calls. Kulning is a song typically sung by women for the purpose of calling sheep and cows down from the hills upon which they graze…Kulning’s vocalizations are marked by many quartertones and halftones – which are often referred to as “blue tones” – leading to a haunting, ghostly effect.” (Fredriksson)

I enjoy both Irish and Scottish music, but not as much as Swedish folk music. I really think that the ethereal sound of the slow songs, the deep resonance of the stronger tunes are beautiful, and the lively polska gets my toes tapping every time with it’s dance friendly rhythms.

Lyricist: Mikael Wiehe  Song: Flickan Och Kråkan, 1984  Singer: Sofia Karlsson

Song: Alla Gossar  Performed by: Triakel

 

Björnberg, Alf, and Thomas Bossius. Made in Sweden: studies in popular music. Routledge, 2017.

Fredriksson, Joan. “The Evolution of Swedish Folk Music.” The Evolution of Swedish Folk Music | Swedish Press, 1 Aug. 2016, www.swedishpress.com/article/evolution-swedish-folk-music.

Gällmo, Olle. Swedish bagpipes, www.olle.gallmo.se/sackpipa/.  

Mason, Amelia. “Väsen-And Its Nyckelharpa Virtuoso-Make Old Time Swedish Folk Music Fresh.” Väsen-And Its Nyckelharpa Virtuoso-Make Old Time Swedish Folk Music Fresh | The ARTery, www.wbur.org/artery/2014/10/15/vasen-nyckelharpa-swedish-folk-music.

Norbeck, Henrik. “Swedish Traditional Music.” Swedish Traditional Music – Svensk folkmusik, 1998, www.norbeck.nu/swedtrad/.

Chris Haigh. “Scandinavian Fiddle.” Fiddling Around the World, www.fiddlingaround.co.uk/scandinavia/.

Ternhag, Gunnar, and Mathias Boström. “The Dissemination of the Nyckelharpa The Ethnic and the non-Ethnic Ways.” STM-Online, no 2, vol. 253, no. 5021, 1999, pp. 740–741., doi:10.1126/science.253.5021.740.

“What is a Nyckelharpa?” Nyckelharpa.org, www.nyckelharpa.org/about/what-is-a-nyckelharpa/.