Traditional Music of Norway

Before 1840, there was restricted written history of folk music in Norway. Initially these historical achievements were assumed to have a different Christian influence. As research continued, there was also mythical and fairy tale linking to the traditional music. The overall purpose of the traditional music was for entertainment and dancing.

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Norwegian traditional music may be divided into two groups: instrumental and choral. As a rule instrumental traditional music is dance music (slatter). Norwegian traditional dances are social dances and mainly performed by couples, though there are a number of solo dances as well like the halling. Norway has small ceremonial dance which is characterized by other cultures. Dance melodies may be divided into two kinds: two-beat and three-beat dances. The previous one is known as Halling, gangar or rull, whereas the later one is springar or springleik.

The traditional dances are normally known as bygdedans (village or regional dance). These dances, sometimes known as courting dances were frequently linked to the important occasions of rural farming life: weddings, funerals and cyclical feasts like Christmas.

Traditional music in Norway falls in another two main groups based in the ethnic populated from which they spring such as Sami and North Germanic.

Folk Sami music is based around a particular choral pattern known as joik. Initially, joik referred to only one of several Sami singing pattern, but in English the word is frequently used to mean to all types of traditional Sami singing. Its sound is similar to the traditional chanting of some American Aboriginal cultures.

Traditional North Germanic Norwegian choral music includes ballads, kyad and short frequently improvised songs (stey), among the most popular types of traditional music. Work songs, travelling vocal, hymns and old printed ballad stories and skillingsviser have also been well-known.

Norway has some Nordic dance music tradition with other neighbouring counties like Sweden and Denmark, where the most natural instrument is known as the fiddle. In Norway, the Hardanger fiddle (hardingfele), the most unique instrument in Norwegian traditional music, looks and plays like the standard violin. This is only been found mainly in the western and central part of the country. The Hardanger fiddle traced back from 1700 and however varies from the ordinary fiddle in many respects. More importantly it has supportive cords and less curved bridge and fingerboard. Thus, the artist plays on two strings most of the time, making a natural bourdon style. The Hardanger fiddle custom is rich and influential. In the tradition oral message is been pass and it is one of the most important aspect of the Hardanger fiddle player’s achievement.

Epic traditional songs are the most essential type of choral folk music in Norway. Though there are numerous types of epic traditional songs, the most intriguing are the primitive ballads. They were first translated in the past century, but the ballads custom has been handed down from the middle Ages. The lyrics of these songs also change around this time of history, recounting tales of the lives of prominent and knights and maidens. A series of the ballads define historical events and they are frequently dramatic and tragic.

At the second half of the 19^th century, some fiddlers, especially those from Voss, Telemark and also Lars Fykerud (who finally migrated to Stoughton, Wisconsin the United states and later came back to Telemark) and began to introduce more expressive ways of playing, turning the folk slat music to shows music for the urban classes.

In the same period, new dances and tunes were introduced from Europe and includes fandango, waltz, reinlender, mazurka and polka. The present scholarship suggests that a number of these types may have initially been brought to Norway by Romani (known in Norwegian by the negative term tater) and among them is the fiddler Karl Fant. These types are now called rundans (meaning round dances) or gammeldans (which means old dances).

Possibly the most renowned and controversial of the new Hardanger fiddle musicians is Annbjorg Lien who produced her first song Annbjorg in the year 1989. The album featured Helge Forde and Frode Fjellheim and was both praised for its new combination and expressive pattern and criticized for its watering-down of folk sound and a lack of regional custom.

Presently, there is an eclectic use of both the traditional music and its traditional instruments. Interest in traditional music is growing and there are a series of promising upcoming artists. They are not only draw to instrumental music; however, numerous young people are now learning to sing in the traditional patter. During the previous few years (since the folk rock movement), folk artists have showed a greater interest in experimentation. The new generation has appeared which, while showing respects for the ancient customs, it is also willing to think along with the new lines. A number of renowned traditional music musicians like Gate and Odd Nordstoga have made traditional music more available to the younger masses. Gate combined traditional music with metal and became most popular. Lumsk is another band combining Norwegian traditional folk music with metal. The most popular Sami singer is undoubtedly known as Mari Boine who sings a type of minimalist folk-rock with joik origin. Karl Seglem is a Norwegian artists and composer who plays saxophone and bukkehorn. Sofia Jannok is also another renowned Sami current musician.

There are also some important organizations, for instance the National Association of Folk Musicians. This is an organization that was established in the year 1923 for folk music musicians and folk dancers and it is mainly a union for indigenous and regional traditional music associations, but it is also open to individual members. As of 1990, this association had 6,000 members from 125 diverse indigenous organizations. The national association of folk musicians publishes Spelemannsbladet, a traditional music journal that comes out 12 times in a year. This also arranges the yearly Landskappleinken (national Competition for Traditional Music), which is the most essential occasion of its type in Norway.

Traditional music has a different part of Norwegian record, and most historical collection was done by L.M Lindeman. A big part of theses collections are maintained and preserved in the national folk music collection and at the national library.

Norwegian broadcasting corporation (NRK) also uses recordings of the traditional music from the archive of NRK, which contains over 50,000 records from 1934 until now, in addition to other recordings in the radio stations and the specialized radio station known as NRK Folkmusikk.