Norden Sackpipa Association of the Americas (NSAA)

Idoheby · Joined: 05 Dec 2006 Posts: 33

Could somebody tell me about this topic?
What music is typical for Iceland?
I heard only about singing (rimur..or smth like this..)
What instruments?

Is there any sites about? (in english)

Aaron K. Holt · Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2006 8:55 pm Post subject:

I have seen very little information about Icelandic music, apart from rimur, which you mentioned.
Though not immediately related, there is an early music group called Sequentia, who you may be interested in. They have two albums (one of which is a double disk set) of "reconstructed" performances of Eddaic poetry called "Edda: Myths from medieval Iceland" and "The Rhinegold Curse"
The singing (in Old Icelandic) is accompanied by a lyre, similar to the one found at Sutton Hoo in England, as well as several bone whistles, and an instrument that sounds like a rebec (I haven't seen a picture of it, the liner notes refer to it ambiguously as a "medieval fiddle").
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Aaron

texasbagpiper · Senior User Joined: 24 Oct 2006 Posts: 352 Location: Texas

I like your Hurdy Gurdy avatar, I'm making one of these right now... Lots of fun.. We need a section for Lira's

Liraman · Joined: 04 Nov 2006 Posts: 26 Location: Uppsala, Sweden

Well, Icelanders sing and dance, i e they sing their dances, for hours....and the dances are many many hundred years of age.
I've seen a youth marimba orchestra in the middle of Icelandic nowhere and some good jazz ensembles and there is of course always Bjork if you like modern music (if you can lay your hands her elder material, singing jazz evergreens in her fathers jazz combo, buy it!)

I've been there twice and the only bagpipe I saw was the one my friend Rino Rotevatn (from Sweden) brought with him:

Sigurður Rúnar Jónsson is the guy to read, meet and look for on the net to if you want know more. He plays, among a lot of other things he does, and old Icelandic bowed instrument that looks like a mix between a mountain dulcimer and a monochord or a langeleik and a psalmodikon for those more familiar with Scandinavian instrumrents:

Idoheby · Joined: 05 Dec 2006 Posts: 33

Idoheby · Joined: 05 Dec 2006 Posts: 33

Thank you Liraman! Something with the picture of a bagpipe. I can not see it...
How is it possible to contact Sigurður Rúnar Jónsson?

Idoheby · Joined: 05 Dec 2006 Posts: 33

jerry revelle · Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 3:48 pm Post subject: Things Icelandic

Norden Folk's board member Valorie A. offered this website for reference; she's spent some time in Iceland working with culutre and continues to have interest in the area: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LearningIcelandic/.

JoshCobb · Joined: 25 Oct 2006 Posts: 54 Location: Hopkins, Minnesota

Aaron,

The medieval fiddle is just that. It's not a rebec, and there were of course many different styles of medieval fiddles, but it really is simply called a "fiddle" (or "fiedel", "vielle", etc.). What they needed to put in the liner notes is from which area they reconstructed the fiddle. She seems to use something close a reconstruction from the Memling painting, and it very much sounds like there are frets on her fiddle. Sorry to get off-topic.
But on the topic of Icelandic music, I've read all sorts of controversy over how accurate the singing is from Sequentia, but I care not! Those Edda CDs do true justice to the beauty of medieval Icelandic poetry.

Aaron K. Holt · Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2006 5:13 pm Post subject:

I'm familiar with medieval fiddles, but not having seen it, their description (which included details such as three strings etc.) sounded a lot more like a rebec.
Do you know where I can find a photo of their instruments? I can't seem to find much info about them at all.
The only instrument of theirs that I've seen is Benjamin Bagby's lyre, which is a very strange interpretation, it looks like there is a "pseudo"-nut below the tuning pins, which none of the surviving examples have.

I love their albums, but I can understand why there is controversy about their accuracy. For instance, the vocabulary they employ reguarding the specific aspects of Eddaic poetry doesn't conform to any standard I'm aware of (at the most basic level, they use "Bard" and "Minstrel" instead of "Skald"), and don't get me started on the translation they include in the liner notes... I could get into it further, but nobody wants to hear all that, and like you pointed out, this isn't the place for it anyway.

I agree though - great albums! I listen to them pretty frequently.
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Aaron

Aaron K. Holt · Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2006 11:14 pm Post subject:

Josh,

I just had a look at the notes again, I don't know where I got rebec out of all that, maybe I was remembering something else (the fuzzy description of an ambiguous, three-srtinged instrument carved from a single block of wood is somewhere in my disk collection.)
Sorry about the mix-up
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Aaron

michael j king · Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 6 Location: England

Hi, I have made copies of the 2 instruments used by Sigurður Rúnar Jonsson who is also known as "Diddi Fiðla"

The Icelandic Langspil is a bowed langeleik type instrument, one melody string, two drones
The Fidla, an open strung bowed instrument with in the example I made two strings.
The instruments went out of use in the late 19th century.

frost · Joined: 21 Dec 2006 Posts: 2 Location: Dalarna, Sweden

I do not know much about Icelandic music, but check out this link: http://www.tvfolk.net/ There you'll find folkmusic from northen Europe, but not too many bagpipes though...

Idoheby · Joined: 05 Dec 2006 Posts: 33

Michael , could you please share a photo with us?

Frost, I tried to find there, but found only rimur...

michael j king · Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 6 Location: England

There are a couple of pictures here on my website( I haven't got my head around how to post pictures here yet...)

http://www.michaeljking.com/langspil.htm

I also recorded this quick video sample on the day the instrument was collected, I don't play so please excuse the poor bowing!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fwLTLfO_jI