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Fiddling From The Islands of The North Sea!
Topic Rating: 5 Topic Rating: 5 Topic Rating: 5 Topic Rating: 5 Topic Rating: 5 Topic Rating: 5 (4 votes) 
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ELCBK
USA
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July 12, 2024 - 8:00 pm
Member Since: June 10, 2020
Forum Posts: 9240
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Don't know if we've talked about any music of the Faroe Islands while looking at Orkney, Outer Hebrides & Shetland Isle tunes... 

The Faroe Islands (17 out of 18 are inhabited) - VERY strong musical heritage (Composition in the Faroe Islands).  They are uniquely situated equidistant from Iceland, Norway & the UK!  Their language is easily understood by Icelanders & the islands were originally settled by Norse-Gaels, or Vestmenn

@AndrewH -

You may be interested, or know of this: 

The first known instrumental composition is a short piece for organ, composed by Jógvan Waagstein (1879-1949) in 1932. The pioneer of Faroese instrumental composition is however the internationally acclaimed writer William Heinesen (1900-1991), who during the 1950’s wrote a cantata as well as two pieces for solo viola and piano respectively. These pieces are still performed on a regular basis and have been an inspiration for following generations of Faroese composers.

 

I happened to be going over the 3 tunes I learned (a few years back) from Spælimenninir - "Konvulsionslåt", "Marianna's Hambo" (post#63, Anyone Interested in a "Scandinavian Fiddle Genre"? Thread) & "Vals efter Per Röst" (post#14, The Vals - how complicated can it be? Thread).  I had recorded Marianna's Hambo (back in Share), but been wanting to work on it more & re-record it... think I recorded Vals efter Per Röst, too - maybe for the Waltz Party.

Anyway, Spælimenninir members have been together for 45 YEARS!  Based in the Faroe Islands, they draw from native & surrounding traditional music, with Kristian Blak & Ívar Bærentsen being recognized Faroese Composers.  I didn't remember going thru all of Spælimenninir's albums, so while listening to some (today) I found they did an educational performance for The American Folklife Center (Library of Congress) last year!  Perfect opportunity to get to know more about the Faroe Islands & Spælimenninir's music! 

<a href="

A 'reinlander' is the same as a 'schottische' - "a kind of slower polka" (Wikipedia). 

Here's another one I love from Spælimenninir - "Jannes Reinlender"!  Listen for the unique modulation from Minor to Major & back to minor! 

<a href="

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AndrewH
Sacramento, California
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July 12, 2024 - 8:41 pm
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I haven't been able to find sheet music or recordings of any of Heinesen's music for viola and piano in their original form. One of the pieces, his "10 Variations on a Faroese Melody", has been recorded but only in an arrangement for solo guitar.

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ELCBK
USA
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July 12, 2024 - 9:55 pm
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@AndrewH -

Of course... guess that's what you'd call REALLY obscure. 😁

Then, all we can do is ask... so I did, but only in a comment for Olavur's recording (might be better to ask in his website, if you're interested).  Figure at least he's seen it - and we now have a name for the piece (more than I had a little while ago)!

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