Classical Music of Greenland

Some of the composers of European classical music have Greenlandic themes in their music, including Adrian Vernon Fish, and Poul Rovsing Olsen whose output includes over fifty works inspired by Greenland, its topography, icescapes and music. Among his work are the four Greenland symphonies (number 3,4,10 and 13). The current composer Mads Lumholdt (who is also a member of the group Northern Voices, singer in the group Nowhere land and in No Offence, a vocal band) has become popular and his work Shaman, which debuted at the 2004 to 2005 Etoiles Polares Arctic Culture Festival was nominated for the Nordic Council Music Prize for its mixture of traditional Greenlandic music with the current patterns and technology. The Nordic terms his work as seeking  to allow the traditional Greenlandic culture to be communicated through current cultural language in such a way that respect for the original culture is preserved on the one hand yet passed on to  a wider, current spectators on other hand.

Greenland’s national anthem is Nunarput utoqqarsuanngoravit, which means as our country, who’s become so old. It has been official since 1916, and was composed by Jonathan Petersen with words by Henrik Lund, both Greenlanders.