Faroese ballads

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The Faroese ballads (Faroese: kvæði ) go back in part to the Middle Ages and have been passed down orally over the centuries. They play a central role in the preservation of the Faroese language up to our time.

One of the most effective ways cultures use to preserve the stories and wisdom of the past is to put them into rhyme or, as in the case of the Faroe Islands, even to put them into chants, which are then passed on from generation to generation.

The huge amount of old Faroese ballads (by unknown authors before 1700) would probably not have been passed on if the Faroese had not at the same time stuck to the medieval Faroese chain dance - long after it had already gone out of fashion all over Europe. To dance you need songs, and the long ballads (some with over 150 stanzas) need a theme. The favorite subjects of the old ballad poets were legends, myths and folk tales , as well as religious legends. These have been saved into our time by generations of folk dancers. The most famous stories are the ballads of Sigurd the Dragon Slayer and the series of ballads about Charlemagne .

The first scholar to understand the value of these folk tunes was Jens Christian Svabo . In addition to his collection of ballads, he also wrote the first Faroese dictionary (Faroese-Danish-Latin). Nólsoyar Páll and Jens Christian Djurhuus composed popular ballads in the old style at the end of the 18th century / beginning of the 19th century.

After VU Hammershaimb began to write down the ballads in New Faroese written language around 1850 , there is now a new volume on the complete collection of Faroese ballads made by him, Svend Grundtvig and Jørgen Bloch at the end of the 19th century .

In the 20th century, new ballads were added based on the old pattern. The best known author is Poul F. Joensen .

The Faroese ballads are spread internationally today by musicians such as Eivør Pálsdóttir ( Í Gøtu a dag ) or the metal group Týr (including Ormurin Langi and Regin Smiður ).

literature

Melodies for over 1500 ballads and variations from the Faroe Islands. The editor received the MA Jacobsen Culture Prize in 2003 for her work.

Web links

Wiktionary: kvæði  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Commons : Faroese ballads  - album with pictures, videos and audio files