Jump to content

Music of the Faroe Islands

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 217.172.84.120 (talk) at 03:42, 3 August 2006 (→Modern bands). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Faroese music is primarily vocal, accompanied by the fiddle (which arrived in the 17th century) and European dances like the minuet and polka. During the twentieth century choirs have played an important role in the musical history of the Faroes, and some of the best known current choirs are Tarira, Havnarkórið, Tórshavnar Manskór, Ljómur, Fuglafjarðar Gentukór, and the choirs situated in Copenhagen, Húsakórið and Mpiri.

History

Much of the imported music and instruments remained popular only in the capital and largest city, Tórshavn. Rural peoples remained true to traditions of chain dance and ballads. The three types of dance ballads are kvæði, tættir and vísir. Many of these dance forms were revived after World War 2, when a number of dance societies were formed. The ballads were largely compiled in Corpus Carminum Færoensium, which collected over 44,000 stanzas.

Faroese Jazz, Folk and Blues festival

Other songs include skjaldur, fantastic fairy tales sung by adults for children, and pitch-sliding, microtonal hymns called kingosálmar.

Modern musicians

Modern Faroese musicians like Kristian Blak, Enekk, Gunnar and Annika Hoydal and Lennart Kullgren have fused native traditions with music from Scotland, Bulgaria and the Sami people of northern Scandinavia.

Other well known faroese musicians include: Teitur Lassen, Hanus G. Johansen, Heine Lützen, Kári av Reyni, Kári Petersen, Eivør Pálsdóttir, Alex Bærendsen, Regin Dahl, Simon Von Konoy, Malan Tyril.


Modern bands

Well known faroese bands include: Frændur, maður:glotti, Moirae (band), MC-Hár, Nalja, Faroe Boys, 200, Týr, Present Past, Makrel, Gestir, Deiggj, The Story Ends, Clickhaze, Mold, Hjarnar, Devon (band), Yggdrasil, Safir

Modern classical composers

There are also some quite famous Faroese classical composers. Sunleif Rasmussen is until now the only Faroese ever to have written a symphony. Other composers are Kristian Blak, Tróndur Bogason, Kári Bæk, Filip Mortensen, Palli Hansen, Knút Olsen and Pauli í Sandágerði.

Details on specific musicians and groups

Gestir

Gestir are signed to Tutl Records. They were formed in 2002, and have been playing rock festivals in the Faroe Islands and Denmark and other countries. Their debut album Burtur frá Toftunum was to be released late in 2005. Gestir's most significant festivals in the summer of 2005 were the G! Festival and Copenhagen's Vega festival. They won the biennial Faroese music contest Prix Føroyar in 2003.

The members of Gestir are Ólavur Jákupsson (guitar, vocals), Torfinnur Jákupsson (guitar, lyrics), Jógvan Andreas á Brúnni (drums), Niels Jákup i Jógvanstovu (bass) and Knút Háberg Eysturstein (keyboard).

References

  • Gestir's website
  • Cronshaw, Andrew. "A New Pulse for the Pols". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 1: Africa, Europe and the Middle East, pp 58-63. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books. ISBN 1-85828-636-0
  • Tutl - Faroese music online
  • Gfestival- The official website of the annual G! Festival!
  • Summarfestivalur- The official website of the annual Summerfestival
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Music_of_the_Faroe_Islands&oldid=67372612"