July 2010

We may not have classical music be we got this!

July 27, 2010 15:48

I must admit that it tickled me to read the responses to my last blog post about the lack of Scandinavian classical composers out there. It´s true that Scandinavia does definetly not have a big population (if anything we boast proudly of being a cluster of tiny countries) and there wasn´t much outside culture influence or diversity until in the 20th century. So instead of being exposed from early on to the glories of classical music the people here developed a strong tradition for folk singing. So we may not have classical music but we got this!

This is a traditional folk melody, a lullaby. The text is from a famous play where a mother that is an outlaw sings this lullaby to her child before throwing it into a waterfall.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Nfmf7PtWiI

And this song is pretty special. This type of song is very Scandinavian and is special because it´s sung in perfect fifth. There is always a perfect fifth between the the notes the two voices are singing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwm5Mg442bM

So we certainetly do not got much classical music up our sleeve but we got a proud collection of weird folk melodies. This one is a favourite of mine. It comes from a ghost story.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4qECgRnV64

So sit back and enjoy some true Scandinavian weirdness :) And I couldn´t figure out how to post the videos themselves. I happen to be very bad at all things technical.

2 replies | Archive link

When composers´s nationality kicks in.

July 25, 2010 08:54

When looking at the nationality of the great classical composers it becomes overwhelmingly obvious that nearly all of them were from Mid Europe with Russia also having it´s share. Germany, France, Russia and Italy all boast of being the countries of some of the most famous composers today.

For someone like me that´s about as Scandinavian as I could possibly be as well being an enthusiastic music nut I admit it can be a bit depressing that in the world of the famous composers, precious few are from Scandinavia.

If anything, the musical heritage of Scandinavia isn´t exactly big whe it comes to classical music (possibly traced back to the oh so heathen and and uncivilized viking roots ;)

But thankfully there are a few that hold up the flag for Scandinavia proudly in the world of classical composers. The one´s that first come to my mind are Grieg and Sibelius.

Grieg is in my opinion one of the best composers out there. His music is so incredible, beautiful and hunting. Not to mention it sounds wonderfully Norwegian.

Sibelius certainetly keeps everyone on his toes with his wonderful violin concerto and his incredible symphonies. and the best part is he´s Finnish!

So everytime I hear music by those composers I admit I feel proud that they come from Scandinavia. It´s good to know that there are composers proudly holding the flag for us Scandinavians in a classical world so filled with Mid-European composers.

8 replies | Archive link

More entries: June 2010

July 2010

We may not have classical music be we got this!

When composers´s nationality kicks in.

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