Highly Recommended
Folklore And Cultures
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Swedish traditional folksong – När som jag var på mitt adertonde år (When i was on my eighteenth year)
When I was on my eighteenth year, there were a beautiful boy that I liked* Him I wanted to own forever. But this my thought was soon to disapear. There was anouther girl who was put into his arms. Her he likens to a rosy flower. Though I have treasured my father and mother dearly, aswell as siblings and friends who have loved me here, this love surpasses them all. Thank you for being my sole consolation and thank you for all the times I’ve rested on your chest. In heaven shall we be united again.
När som jag var på mitt adertonde år, det var en vacker gosse som föll uti min håg. Den tänkte jag förevigt att få äga. Men denna min tanke rätt snarelig försvann, det var en annan flicka som lades i hans famn. Den liknar han vid rosende blomma. Nog än jag hållit fader och moder så kär, samt syskon och vänner, som älskat mig här, så går dock denna kärlek över alla. Tack för att du varit min endaste tröst och tack för alla stunder jag vilat vid ditt bröst. I himmlen skall vi åter bli förenta.
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05
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Ack Värmeland du sköna - Jussi Björling (Oh, Vermelandia thou beautiful. Swedish trad)
Johan Jonatan “Jussi” Björling (5 February 1911 – 9 September 1960) was a Swedish tenor. One of the leading operatic singers of the 20th Century,
Värmland is a historical province or landskap in the west of middle Sweden. It borders Västergötland,Dalsland, Dalarna, Västmanland and Närke. It is also bounded by Norway in the west. Latin name versions areVermelandia and Wermelandia. The origin of the province’s name is uncertain. It may refer to the large local lake by the name of Värmeln.
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Kulning
Kulning, or herding calls (called kauking and kaukning in some parts of Norway and the former Norwegian provinces in Sweden Jämtland and Härjedalen, also kulokker, kyrlokker or a lockrop) is a domesticScandinavian music form, often used to call livestock (cows, goats, etc.) down from high mountain pastures where they have been grazing during the day. It is possible that the sound also served to scare away predators(wolves, bears, etc.), but this was not the main purpose of the call. The song form is often used by women, as they were the ones tending the herds and flocks in the high mountain pastures, but there are recordings of these calls sung by men. There is some speculation that it was one of the first ways to tame animals in herds (see domestication) in the Scandinavian and Ural regions, with pre-historic origins. The knowledge about it today originates, however, from regions near mid Fennoscandia. The song has a high-pitched vocal technique, i.e. a loud call using head tones, so that it can be heard or be used to communicate over long distances. It has a fascinating and haunting tone, often conveying a feeling of sadness, in large part because the lokks often include typical half-tones and quarter-tones (also known as “blue tones”) found in the music of the region. The kulokks can belong to an individual, but are sometimes family-based and are handed down so that a family’s cows know they are being called and thus respond. A number of calls contain names of individual (sometimes the “lead”) animals, as herds are not very large. When a call is made in a valley, it rings and echoes against the mountains. The animals, a number of whom wear bells tuned so that the livestock’s location can be heard, begin to respond to the call, answering back and the sound of the bells indicates that they are moving down the mountain towards their home farm. In comparison with other regional song traditions, e.g. joik, there is no evidence that this genre has been used in religious rituals or for other purposes. It has been used on farms in stock-raising since the medieval times. The tradition continues today.
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![Galdr
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaThe völvas were pagan priestesses and they were specialists at chanting galdrs.
Galdr (plural galdrar) is one Old Norse word for “spell, incantation”, and which was usually performed in combination with certain rites.[1] It was mastered by both women and men and they chanted it in falsetto (gala).
[edit]Etymology
The Old Norse word galdr is derived from a word for singing incantations, gala (Old High German and Old English: galan) with an Indo-European -tro suffix. In Old High German the -stro suffix produced galster instead.
The Old English forms were gealdor, galdor, ȝaldre ”spell, enchantment, witchcraft”, and the verb galan meant “sing, chant”. It is contained in nightingale (from næcti-galæ), related to giellan, the verb ancestral to Modern English yell; cf. also the Icelandic verb að gala ”to sing, call out, yell”. In Dutch language gillen.
The German forms were Old High German galstar and MHG galster ”song, enchantment” (Konrad von Ammenhausen Schachzabelbuch 167b), surviving in (obsolete or dialectal) Modern German Galsterei (witchcraft) and Galsterweib (witch).
[edit]Practice
The incantations were composed in a special meter named galdralag.This meter was similar to the six-lined ljóðaháttr but adds a seventh line.[5] Another characteristic is a performed parallelism, see the stanza from Skirnismál, below.
A practical galdr for women was one that made childbirth easier, but they were also notably used for bringing madness onto another person, whence modern Swedish galenmeaning “mad”. Moreover, a master of the craft was also said to be able to raise storms, make distant ships sink, make swords blunt, make armour soft and decide victory or defeat in battles. Examples of this can be found in Grógaldr and in Frithiof’s Saga. In Grógaldr, Gróa chants nine (a significant number in Norse mythology) galdrs to aid her son, and in Buslubœn, the schemes of king Ring of Östergötland are averted.
It is also mentioned in several of the poems in the Poetic Edda, and for instance in Hávamál, where Odin claims to know 18 galdrs. For instance, Odin mastered galdrs against fire, sword edges, arrows, fetters and storms, and he could conjure up the dead and speak to them. There are other references in Skírnismál, where Skirnir uses galdrs to force Gerðr to marry Freyr as exemplified by the following stanza:
34. Heyri jötnar,heyri hrímþursar,synir Suttungs,sjalfir ásliðar,hvé ek fyrbýð,hvé ek fyrirbannamanna glaum mani,manna nyt mani.34. “Give heed, frost-rulers,hear it, giants.Sons of Suttung,And gods, ye too,How I forbidand how I banThe meeting of men with the maid,(The joy of men with the maid.)A notable reference to the use of galdrs is the eddic poem Oddrúnargrátr, where Borgny could not give birth before Oddrún had chanted “biting galdrs”[2] (but they are translated as potent charms, by Henry Adams Bellowsbelow):
7. Þær hykk mæltuþvígit fleira,gekk mild fyr knémeyju at sitja;ríkt gól Oddrún,rammt gól Oddrún,bitra galdraat Borgnýju.-8. Knátti mær ok mögrmoldveg sporna,börn þau in blíðuvið bana Högna;þat nam at mælamær fjörsjúka,svá at hon ekki kvaðorð it fyrra:-9. “Svá hjalpi þérhollar véttir,Frigg ok Freyjaok fleiri goð,sem þú feldir mérfár af höndum.”6. Then no morethey spake, methinks;She went at the kneesof the woman to sit;With magic Oddrunand mightily OddrunChanted for Borgnypotent charms.-7. At last were borna boy and girl,Son and daughterof Hogni’s slayer;Then speech the womanso weak began,Nor said she aughtere this she spake:-8. “So may the holyones thee help,Frigg and Freyjaand favoring gods,As thou hast saved mefrom sorrow now.”](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lbbyhiBPlr1qer9b0o1_400.jpg)
Galdr
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The völvas were pagan priestesses and they were specialists at chanting galdrs.
Galdr (plural galdrar) is one Old Norse word for “spell, incantation”, and which was usually performed in combination with certain rites.[1] It was mastered by both women and men and they chanted it in falsetto (gala).
[edit]Etymology
The Old Norse word galdr is derived from a word for singing incantations, gala (Old High German and Old English: galan) with an Indo-European -tro suffix. In Old High German the -stro suffix produced galster instead.
The Old English forms were gealdor, galdor, ȝaldre ”spell, enchantment, witchcraft”, and the verb galan meant “sing, chant”. It is contained in nightingale (from næcti-galæ), related to giellan, the verb ancestral to Modern English yell; cf. also the Icelandic verb að gala ”to sing, call out, yell”. In Dutch language gillen.
The German forms were Old High German galstar and MHG galster ”song, enchantment” (Konrad von Ammenhausen Schachzabelbuch 167b), surviving in (obsolete or dialectal) Modern German Galsterei (witchcraft) and Galsterweib (witch).
[edit]Practice
The incantations were composed in a special meter named galdralag.This meter was similar to the six-lined ljóðaháttr but adds a seventh line.[5] Another characteristic is a performed parallelism, see the stanza from Skirnismál, below.
A practical galdr for women was one that made childbirth easier, but they were also notably used for bringing madness onto another person, whence modern Swedish galenmeaning “mad”. Moreover, a master of the craft was also said to be able to raise storms, make distant ships sink, make swords blunt, make armour soft and decide victory or defeat in battles. Examples of this can be found in Grógaldr and in Frithiof’s Saga. In Grógaldr, Gróa chants nine (a significant number in Norse mythology) galdrs to aid her son, and in Buslubœn, the schemes of king Ring of Östergötland are averted.
It is also mentioned in several of the poems in the Poetic Edda, and for instance in Hávamál, where Odin claims to know 18 galdrs. For instance, Odin mastered galdrs against fire, sword edges, arrows, fetters and storms, and he could conjure up the dead and speak to them. There are other references in Skírnismál, where Skirnir uses galdrs to force Gerðr to marry Freyr as exemplified by the following stanza:
- 34. Heyri jötnar,
- heyri hrímþursar,
- synir Suttungs,
- sjalfir ásliðar,
- hvé ek fyrbýð,
- hvé ek fyrirbanna
- manna glaum mani,
- manna nyt mani.
- 34. “Give heed, frost-rulers,
- hear it, giants.
- Sons of Suttung,
- And gods, ye too,
- How I forbid
- and how I ban
- The meeting of men with the maid,
- (The joy of men with the maid.)
A notable reference to the use of galdrs is the eddic poem Oddrúnargrátr, where Borgny could not give birth before Oddrún had chanted “biting galdrs”[2] (but they are translated as potent charms, by Henry Adams Bellowsbelow):
- 7. Þær hykk mæltu
- þvígit fleira,
- gekk mild fyr kné
- meyju at sitja;
- ríkt gól Oddrún,
- rammt gól Oddrún,
- bitra galdra
- at Borgnýju.
- -
- 8. Knátti mær ok mögr
- moldveg sporna,
- börn þau in blíðu
- við bana Högna;
- þat nam at mæla
- mær fjörsjúka,
- svá at hon ekki kvað
- orð it fyrra:
- -
- 9. “Svá hjalpi þér
- hollar véttir,
- Frigg ok Freyja
- ok fleiri goð,
- sem þú feldir mér
- fár af höndum.”
- 6. Then no more
- they spake, methinks;
- She went at the knees
- of the woman to sit;
- With magic Oddrun
- and mightily Oddrun
- Chanted for Borgny
- potent charms.
- -
- 7. At last were born
- a boy and girl,
- Son and daughter
- of Hogni’s slayer;
- Then speech the woman
- so weak began,
- Nor said she aught
- ere this she spake:
- -
- 8. “So may the holy
- ones thee help,
- Frigg and Freyja
- and favoring gods,
- As thou hast saved me
- from sorrow now.”
