Icelandic folk music

Icelandic folk music#

was originally the name of a kind of dance, but the name has since been transferred to a form of Icelandic song designed for people to dance to. poems (Icelandic ) are characterised by having a refrain that rhymes with the following line. Such poems usually open with an introductory stanza one of whose lines becomes the refrain. New refrains can, however, be brought into the poem. The content of the poems is very varied and can be narrative, descriptive, or dialogic, and secular or religious. According to Margrét Eggertsdóttir, “the precise origin of the tradition is unknown, but it has been observed that it shows a relationship to foreign chorus poetry, especially the English carol”. saw a decline at the beginning of the 20th century, although efforts are being made to keep it alive.

Icelandic folk music#

are a type of epic vocal poem, with fixed diatonic melodies (except in Breiðafjörður, the district where the traditional music is oldest in style, and folk melodies are variable, not based on fixed scales). melodies (, , ) are often standard, and found throughout the country. These epic poems are written in a narrative style, using elements of Icelandic literature and folklore. The performers were lauded for their ability to tell a story in verse. A verse is made up of trochaic lines which use literary techniques such as rhyme and alliteration. There are between two and four lines with a pattern of syllabic stress and alliteration. Music author Hreinn Steingrímsson describes rímur this way: The four-line metres are a combination of two couplets with four stressed syllables in the first line of each, and two such syllables (first and third, second and third, or third and fourth) alliterate with the first stressed syllable of the second line. The earliest known text of a dates to the 14th century; for the subsequent six hundred years, were the most prolifically produced form of Icelandic literature. melodies date back to publications by folklorist Ólafur Davíðsson and were then collected in the first Icelandic folk music collection, Íslenzk þjóðlög, by Bjarni Þorsteinsson. , especially the short four-line metrical form , is still very popular today in Iceland in most social groups. It is common to compose a () about current events usually in the form of a joke or ridicule. These short rhymes tend to proliferate via email. It is also common during parties that a guest may say a that they have learned or composed as a form of a joke, often an insult. Skill at composing is often admired. A common game is to tell the first part (, the first two lines) of a , and for others to complete the third and fourth lines (to ), each in their own way. The one whose is the cleverest wins. This game can become a serious competition (known as ) when two or more who are particularly skilled at composing come together. It is an informal rule that if one is ridiculed or even insulted with a they must answer back in kind; any other form of answer is invalid. Use of as a form of joke or games is most common in relation to inland travel and sports such as horsemanship but also in relation to cultural/seasonal periods like Þorri as well as in political circles. Many members of parliament pride themselves on being good at composing and using them to ridicule each other, or opposing parties, in a friendly manner.

References#

• • KVÆDASKAPUR: Icelandic Epic Song by Hreinn Steingrímsson