Liz Green "Sisters of Mercy"

One of the tracks on MoJo CD Leonard Cohen Covered Audio on soundcloud.com ... very striking accompaniment on keyboard.

Audio here: Sisters Of Mercy (Liz Green)

Posted by Peter Wrench in a review of Cohen's CD Old Ideas on the No Depression website:

For me, the best Cohen cover ever is still REM's storming take on 'First We Take Manhattan', and there's nothing quite in that league here. But honorable mentions in particular for Liz Green's intelligent rethinking of 'Sisters Of Mercy' to a piano accompaniment; Bill Callahan's questing stab at 'So Long Marianne'; and Diagrams' transformed - and lovely - 'Famous Blue Raincoat' And I was particularly taken by the Miserable Rich's version of 'The Stranger Song', after thinking I was going to hate it when it started. ...

Wrench's bottom line: "So, well worth a listen. Think of it as a CD for £4.50 with a free magazine and you'll even persuade yourself you're getting a bargain."

Liz Green playing keyboard ... accompanying herself on "French Singer." Cuts off abruptly, but there's another clip with the whole song (but terrible lighting and shot from behind so you can't see her). Sort of an ostinato accompaniment.

New Salem: Aeolian (minor) and Mixolydian dulcimer modes - "On Jordan's Stormy Banks," Idumea, "Shady Grove" and "Going to Boston"

Prominent among the preachers on the platform was Rev. John M. Berry. He would give out the hymn, read it, line it, and, in a strong voice, lead the singing himself, the people joining in one after another. "On Jordan's stormy banks I stand" and "How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in His excellent word" were favorites. ... After this he announced the text and began to preach. He did not time his sermons, neither did the people turn uneasy glances toward their camps.
-- Alice Keach Bone, Rock Creek Church: A Retrospect of One Hundred Years (1922).

Do you think tunes in a minor key are sad and major tunes are happy?

If so, think again.

Here's a group of Sacred Harp singers earlier this month in Waco, Texas, belting out a minor-key version of a folk hymn that was sung at Rock Creek campground in frontier days:



Do these people sound sad?

They may be rushing the tempo a little, but Sacred Harp singers tend to do that. The main thing is they're singing the song -- variously known as "On Jordan's Stormy Banks I Stand" or "The Promised Land" -- as it was sung in the 1800s, as we can be fairly certainly it was sung at Rock Creek, and they're singing it in a minor key.

Saturday at New Salem we're going to learn "The Promised Land" in the Aeolian, or minor, mode, as it was printed in 1835 in a shape-note tunebook called The Southern Harmony. The words are by an English cleric of the 1700s named Samuel Stinnett, and the melody is by Matilda Durham, a singing school teacher from South Carolina. It was by far one of the most popular shape-note melodies of the early 19th century.

"On Jordan's Stormy Banks I Stand" is one of four tunes we'll learn. Two others will be in the Aeolian, and one will be Mixolydian. We'll also review "Old Joe Clark," another Mixolydian tune that most mountain dulcimer players already know (although perhaps without realizing it's a modal tune). But first we'll have to look at the modes. There are four that are commonly used:

• Ionian. The most common mode, corresponding to a major scale. Almost everything from "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" to a Beethoven symphony is played in a major key descended from the Ionian mode.
  
  
• Aeolian. Musicians call it the natural minor, at least as long as they're taking music theory in school. "Greensleves" and the Irish song "Shule Aroon" are Aeolian.
  
  
• Mixolydian. A lot of the grand old southern Appalachian fiddle tunes are Mixolydian, and it's a staple in traditional Irish music as well. It's related to the African American blues scale as well, although musicologists differ on exactly how and why.
  
  
• Dorian. Sometimes called the "mountain minor." It's common to Irish music, in songs like "Pride of the Springfield Road," and a lot of high lonesome Appalachian songs. Also some very lovely ballads.

There's a lot written about the modes, and a lot of it is frankly confusing. Some of it, I think, is just flat wrong.

But basically, they're just different scales we play on a dulcimer. How simple can that be?

The best explanation I've seen for dulcimer players was in the late Jean Schilling's Old-Time Fiddle Tunes for the Appalachian Dulcimer (1973). She played with old-time string bands in East Tennessee, and she respected the spirit of the music. She also was willing to let the mountain dulcimer be a dulcimer:

In many ways, the dulcimer's limitations are actually its strengths. Nothing captures the haunting and plaintive quality of the older pentatonic ballads and archaic-sounding fiddle tunes better than an instrument bound to the simple modal scales. Too, the continual droning -- the incessant hum or wail behind a fragile melodic line -- affords the dulcimer a temperament very unlke more sophisticated chromatic instruments.

Here's how she explained the modes on a dulcimer:

Though I used a number of different tunings right from my start as a dulcimer player, it took years for me to figure out what was meant by the various tuning modes and the strange Greek words used to describe them. I simply referred to a favorite song used in each tuning, such as: "Oh, yes! That's the 'Old Joe Clark' tuning. What a revelation to find that each mode and its associated Greek name simply tells what fret the scale for that mode begins on! For example, the Mixolydian mode begins its scale -- or 'DO' note -- at either the open note (the zero fret) or the seventh fret, and can be in any key you choose within the limitations of the strings on your dulcimer. The Ionian mode, another major key ... tuning, begins its scale at the third fret. Two minor modes are the Aeolian, beginning at the first fret, and the Dorian starting at the fourth fret.

How about the strings other than the melody strings in each of the modes of tuning? They are chosen so as to provide a harmonious sound with a full strum across the fingerboard at each fret in the scale.

I would rather just say the the Mixolydian scale starts with its keynote on the open fret -- since its keynote is called sol in the shape-note traditions I sing in -- but otherwise, Schilling had it nailed. The modes are scales that begin on a certain fret, and the tunings are designed to sound good with them. They're related, but they aren't the same thing.

The tunings we'll use Saturday, DAC and DAD, are also designed to let us play everything in D. Since the Appalachian dulcimer is diatonic -- which means its frets play a particular scale, without extra sharps and flats, just like the white keys of a piano -- we retune the dulcimer so D sounds at the right place on the fretboard for each of the modes. It works like this:

• Since the Mixolydian scale starts on the open melody string, we tune it to D. That gives us a D Mixolydian scale from the open D string to the octave at the seventh fret. The drone strings remain at low D and A.
  
  
• Since the Aeolian scale starts on the first fret, we tune the melody string to C. That gives us a minor scale from the first to eighth frets.
  
  
• The Ionian scale starts on the third fret, so we tune the melody string to A. D is on the third fret, and the scale is from the third to the 10th frets.
  
  
• The Dorian scale starts on the fourth fret, so we tune the melody string down to G. That gives us a Dorian scale starting on D at the fourth fret and going up to the octave at the 11th fret.

Here are some YouTube clips of the songs we'll learn -- or review -- Saturday morning:

D Aeolian (tune DAC)

"Idumea" or "Am I Born to Die?" Another shape-note hymn --- If you saw the movie Cold Mountain, it was the haunting melody used as background music for the scenes depicting the Battle of the Crater. It's sung by an ethnomusicologist and former punk rocker named Tim Ericksen and traditional Sacred Harp singer Cassie Franklin of North Alabama:

Tim Eriksen - Am I born to die ? [Idumea]. From a CD of songs from Cold Mountain.

"Shady Grove" is an old fiddle tune in Jean Ritchie's Dulcimer Book, and it's kind of a signature tune of hers. I found two clips on YouTube, one from a folk festival at the Pine Mountain Settlement School and one from an old TV show hosted by Pete Seeger:

Jean Ritchie at Appalachian Family Folk Week 2007. Hindman, Ky. June 14, 2007.



Rainbow Quest: Jean Ritchie - Shady Grove. From Pete Seeger's TV show during the 1960s.



Jean Ritchie also has a lovely version of "Barbry Ellen" in her book, and it's available on line at http://youtu.be/9l3VePGR-QA.

D Mixolydian (tune DAD)

"Going to Boston" is a fine old A mixolydian fiddle tune that also got cleaned up as a play party tune. Or maybe it was a play party tune that crossed over to the world of oldtime string bands. According to Andrew Kuntz' Fiddlers Companion (click here and scroll down), it was collected in the 1910s in Kentucky and Indiana, so it was clearly in the oral tradition in the lower Midwest. Anyway, Jean Ritchie popularized it in folk music circles. We transpose it to "D for dulcimer." but it's still Mixolydian because its scale starts on the open melody string.

Mark Gilston, of Austin, Texas, has two instructional videos of the tune, which he learned from Jean Ritchie's book. Quite a bit of good advice on how to use a noter, etc., plus some ideas on chording that I wouldn't bother with but you may want to check out for your own playing. I'm not familiar with Gilston, but the "Going to Boston" videos do look pretty good. He also has a website at http://markgilston.com/.

Dulcimer Lessons with Mark Gilston - Going to Boston Part 1. There's also a Part 2. Each is about 10 minutes, and they'll take you through not only the song but points of technique. Gilston also has a very cool Kokopelli jamming with him.

"Old Joe Clark" is also in Jean Ritchie's book, but here's another version in case you want to hear to set the melody in your head before you play it. It's not exactly the same, but close enough.

old joe clark on banjo(clawhammer). Posted by longbowbanjoAL, from Alabama.

Video from Munnharpe and Langeleik Festival in Fagernes, 2012

Anders Erik Roine 3 (langeleik) Munnharpe festival, Fagernrs 2010



Anders Erik Roine on Munnharpe and langeleik festival, Fagernrs, Norway 2010.
Андерш Эрик Роине на фестивале мунхарпы и лангелейка, г. Фанернес, Норвегия 2010.


#3 Erik Roine, Hallgrim Berg and Brotagutad'n munnharpa and langeleik



#3 Erik Roine, Hallgrim Berg, Knut Aastad and Ole Aastad on Munnharpe and langeleik festival, Fagernes, Norway 2010. New CD release http://www.grappa.musikkonline.no/shop/displayAlbum.asp?id=40368

Халгрим Берг,Эрик Роине и братья Кнут, и Оле Аастад выступают на фестивале мунхарпы и лангелейка, г. Фанернес, Норвегия 2010. Презентация нового альбома http://www.grappa.musikkonline.no/shop/displayAlbum.asp?id=40368


Performance at Munnharpe and langeleik festival, Fagernes, 2010



From YouTube user ____: You will listen few tunes. The first one is is a Norwegian folksong Kråkevisa. The second tune is an Estonian folk tune, called "Raska på" at the concert. It is Bagpipes player's surname, but in Norwegian "Raska på" means hurry up.

Veronika Søum - Jew's harp (munnharpa)
Sigbjørn Høidalen - Jew's harp (munnharpa) and flute
Katariin Raska - Bagpipes
Olav Wendelbo -hammer harp

Звучит несколько мелодий, сначала норвежская "Kråkevisa".
Следующая эстонская, объявленная как "Raska på. Раска это фамилия исполнителя на волынке, а по норвежски "Raska på" означает поторопись.

Veronika Søum - варган
Sigbjørn Høidalen - варган и флейта
Katariin Raska - волынка
Olav Wendelbo - цитра (hammer harp)

Rick Santorum, mainline Protestants, politics and spiritual warfare: An Ash Wednesday meditation

While this year's Republican presidential primary candidates were debating tonight in Mesa, Arizona, I was singing in an Ash Wednesday service.

Out in Arizona the candidates treated each other, and CNN's audience of GOP party faithful, to a night of "brittle, passive-aggressive and macho blustering," as a live-blogger for The Guardian put it. Politics as usual, in other words. While they were politicking, I took part in my congregation's first Lenten soup supper, followed by a quick choir rehearsal; an Ash Wednesday communion service; and our regular Wednesday night choir practice after the service.

From the first bowl of soup to the last choir anthem, we spent three hours at church.

Soup suppers during Lent are a Lutheran tradition, one that's shared with Roman Catholics, the Episcopalians, the Methodists and other denominations who follow the seasons of the liturgical year. I don't know how old the tradition is. Early 20th century? But among Lutherans it's as time-honored as hot dish casseroles, Jell-O salad and lutefisk dinners in the church basement.

Ash Wednesday services are even older. The ritual is thought to date back to the 700s, and not too many years later the English homilist Aelfric of Eynsham recorded, "we strew ashes on our heads to signify that we ought to repent of our sins during the Lenten fast."

Holy Communion, of course, goes back to Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and the first Easter. Bby the time a manual known as the Didache or The Teaching of the Lord to the Gentiles by the Twelve Apostles was written at some point between 50 and 120 A.D., it was recognized as the most important part of the early Christian liturgy, in a form still recognizable to us today.

Psalm 51 is a traditional part of Ash Wednesday services. It's the penitential psalm that begins, "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your loving kindness; / in your great compassion blot out my offenses." In our service, it was followed by a general confession, which our pastor introduced by saying:

As disciples of the Lord Jesus we are called to struggle against everything that leads us away from love of God and neighbor. Repentance, fasting, prayer, and works of love -- the discipline of lent -- help us to wage our spiritual warfare.

The confession itself followed the language of an ancient prayer called the Confiteor. First recorded in the eighth century, its language is familiar throughout western Christendom:

Most holy and merciful Father, we confess to you and to one another, and to the whole communion of saints in heaven and on earth, that we have sinned by our own fault in thought, word, and deed; by what we have done and what we have left undone.

After the confession, we sang Christian contemporary settings of "Create in Me a Clean Heart" by Mary Rice Hopkins and "Change My Heart, O God" by songwriter Eddie Espinosa that pick up the familiar language of the Confietor. (That's what our on-the-fly choir rehearsal was for -- to brush up on the service music.) We also sang hymns by John Wesley, 17th-century German chorale writer Paul Gerhardt and 19th-century Welsh composer Joseph Parry.

After the service was over, we had our regular Wednesday night choir practice. It made for a long evening, but you can't sound like much of anything on Sunday if you don't practice on Wednesday.

So for Sunday we worked up a contemporary, very syncopated arrangement of "O God Our Help in Ages Past" by Isaac Watts. And we ran through the 19th-century hymn "Jesus Paid It All," set to a new tune by contemporary pop musician David Clydesdale, and the American folk hymn "Come Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy" by Marty Parks, a longtime United Methodist choir director who has put together a collection of anthems for small parishes titled O For a Dozen Tongues to Sing. I think that's one of the best titles in the whole world of choral literature.

In the meantime, out in Arizona the Republican presidential candidates were engaged in their own form of spiritual warfare. Well, the effect wasn't exactly spiritual, but they were certainly demonizing President Obama for an alleged "secular agenda" and "phony theology" ... and trash-talking each other while they were at it.

Wednesday's debate capped off a week when somebody -- it's not clear who but speculation points to Mitt Romney's campaign, made sure the media got ahold of a speech that former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum gave in 2008 at Ave Maria University, a very conservative Catholic school in Florida. In it, Santorum suggested that Satan has subverted the mainline Protestant churches, along with academia and popular culture.

Most of the media comment was, predictably enough, breath-takingly superficial. So I went looking for a transcript

In the true spirit of "horse race" coverage, the coverage centered on whether the four-year-old speech will hurt Santorum, or help him, in the presidential preference polls, and his efforts to put the issue behind him. A more nuanced assessment came from freelance writer Michael J. O’Loughlin in the Jesuit magazine America. A graduate of Yale Divinity School, O'Loughlin was troubled by Santorum's "particular understanding of the world and his unique interpretation of Catholicism." He suggested:

Utilizing one’s faith to inform one’s politics is healthy and encouraging, especially when the resulting policies answer the biblical exhortation to protect the poor and marginalized. But claiming that those who differ from you in the values they hold or the worldviews they profess have been influenced by the Devil himself is truly bizarre and perhaps abhorrent.

Most of the news media accounts just quoted little snippets -- sound bites -- from Santorum's speech, and there wasn't enough context to evaluate it. So I tracked down a transcript posted by People for the American Way on its Right Wing Watch website. Santorum's context indeed was what he described as a "spiritual war" in which Satan is successfully "attack[ing] all of our institutions" in America, starting with academic life and moving on to the church and popular culture, He said:

And so what we saw this domino effect, once the colleges fell and those who were being education in our institutions, the next was the church. Now you’d say, ‘wait, the Catholic Church’? No. We all know that this country was founded on a Judeo-Christian ethic but the Judeo-Christian ethic was a Protestant Judeo-Christian ethic, sure the Catholics had some influence, but this was a Protestant country and the Protestant ethic, mainstream, mainline Protestantism, and of course we look at the shape of mainline Protestantism in this country and it is in shambles, it is gone from the world of Christianity as I see it. So they attacked mainline Protestantism, they attacked the Church, and what better way to go after smart people who also believe they’re pious, to use both vanity and pride to also go after the Church.

Imagine my surprise. While I was singing in the choir and taking part in liturgical traditions that go back to the Apostolic church, I thought I was part of the "world of Christianity," too.

Der König in Thule - text by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - melody by Carl Friedrich Zelter

According to the Wikipedia article, Zelter was a friend of Goethe's. Composed 200 lieder, including settings of Goethe's poetry. Taught both Felix and Fanny Mendelsohn, communicated his love of Bach to Mendelsoh.

Ulricus + Friesische Hummel



Ulrich writes: "König von Thule" ist eine alte Balade von J.W.v Goethe.
Die "Friesische Hummel" ist ein altes Instrument entlang der Nordseeküste von Dänemark bis Westfriesland (NL). Replies to question: "This Hummel has a string length of 70 cm. The normal tuning is: c´c´ c´c´ f cc F . For this ballade I have the aeolian mode: b b c´c´ g cc C. In english term you woud write bb bb c´etc."

Der König in Thule (voice & harp)



sandman21283 on YouTube: vocals and harp by myself (Nighttime Bird): "Der König in Thule" is a poem written by famous German author J.W. von Goethe in 1774. It is recited by Gretchen in Goethe's Faust and has also been set to music by various composers. Here you find a version done by C.F. Zelter. You'll find this song in many traditional songbooks today as it is quite famous. It was one of the first songs I sang within my classical voice training and I love it. To break the song's content down to a few sentences: It is about a king in Thule who receives a golden cup (or goblet) from his dying lover. He keeps this cup as a keepsake from his beloved one until he tosses it into the sea a short time before he dies himself- so not necessarily a happy song. ;)

Es war ein König in Thule (Goethe/Zelter), instrumental on mandolin and tenor guitar



mj10008 on YouTube: Having already recorded this piece on solo tenor guitar, I have now made a somewhat fuller arrangement, played as a duet of mandolin (melody) and tenor guitar (harmony). The instruments used are my 1921 Gibson Ajr mandolin and my Ozark tenor guitar, tuned GDAE.

This is one of several musical settings of a poem written by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in 1774. This particular tune was written in 1814 by Carl Friedrich Zelter (1758-1832). The poem attracted high caliber composers: there are other musical settings for the same words by Schubert, Berlioz, Liszt and Schumann, among others. Nevertheless, Zelter's tune is the best-known one and is still widely sung as a folk song in Germany.

Herre Gud, ditt dyre navn og ære - 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica's bio of Petter Dass

A catechism song by Petter Dass, according to Wikipedia, now sung to a folk melody from Romsdal that may be Dass'. (Google, by the way, translates the title as ""Lord God of your pet's name and honor" - because dyre means animal?) Text, in Norwegian, and MIDI file from NoS 268 are put on line in Orkdalsmenighetene by Orkdal church. Orkdal is a municipality in Sør-Trøndelag.

An old traditional Norwegian psalm tone. Two clips on YouTube, one very traditional and one by Norwegian pop and Christian contemporary artist Sissel ...

In Vang church --



Video of Musikklinja på Stange VGS - Spring 2010
Folketone fra Romedal, tekst: Petter Dass arr: Roger Andreassen

Magne Otervik og Tom Erik Antonsen, trompet
Anne Gunn Grimerud, horn
Erlend Østbø Juberg, trombone
Roger Andreassen, orgel
Musikklinjekoret og Ringsaker kantori
Torgeir Ziener, dirigent

Sissel in concert --



Sissel gives it the full treatment in what looks like a televised concert. Apparently in Sweden.
1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Dass, Petter has this:

DASS, PETTER (1647-1708), the “father” of modern Norwegian poetry, was the son of Peter Dundas, a Scottish merchant of Dundee, who, leaving his country about 1630 to escape the troubles of the Presbyterian chursh, settled in Bergen, and in 1646 married a Norse girl of good family. Petter Dass was born in 1647 on the island of Nord Herö, on the north coast of Norway. Seven years later his father died, and his mother placed him with his aunt, the wife of the priest of another little island-parish. In 1660 he was sent to school at Bergen, in 1665 to the university of Copenhagen, and in 1667 he began to earn his daily bread as a private tutor. In 1672 he was ordained priest, and remained till 1681 as under-chaplain at Nesne, a little parish near his birthplace; for eight years more he was resident chaplain at Nesne; and at last in 1689 he received the living of Alstahoug, the most important in the north of Norway. The rule of Alstahoug extended over all the neighbouring districts, including Dass's native island of Herö, and its privileges were accompanied by great perils, for it was necessary to be constantly crossing stormy firths of sea. Dass lived here in quietude, with something of the honours and responsibilities of a bishop, brought up his family in a God-fearing way, and wrote endless reams of verses. In 1700 he asked leave to resign his living in favour of his son Anders Dass, but this was not permitted; in 1704, however, Anders became his father's chaplain. About this time Petter went to Bergen, where he visited Dorothea Engelbrechtsdatter, with whom he had been for many years in correspondence. He continued to write till 1707, and died in August 1708. The materials for his biography are very numerous; he was regarded with universal curiosity and admiration in his lifetime; and, besides, he left a garrulous autobiography in verse. A portrait, painted in middle age, now in the church of Melhus, near Trondhjem, represents him in canonicals, with deep red beard and hair, the latter waved and silky, and a head of massive proportions. The face is full of fire and vigour. His writings passed in MS. from hand to hand, and few of them were printed in his lifetime. Nordlands Trompet (The Trumpet of Nordland), his greatest and most famous poem, was not published till 1739; Den norska Dale-Visc (The Norwegian Song of the Valley) appeared in 1696; the Aandelig Tidsfordriv (Spiritual Pastime), a volume of sacred poetry, was published in 1711. The Trumpet of Nordland remains as fresh as ever in the memories of the inhabitants of the north of Norway; boatmen, peasants, priests will alike repeat long extracts from it at the slightest notice, and its popularity is unbounded. It is a rhyming description of the province of Nordland, its natural features, its trades, its advantages and its drawbacks, given in dancing verse of the most breathless kind, and full of humour, fancy, wit and quaint learning. The other poems of Petter Dass are less universally read; they abound, however, in queer turns of thought, and fine homely fancies.

Fiskervise [fish song] / "Det hender sig ofte ..." / Brudlops Digt Til Rasmus Angell / by Petter Dass

Heard on casette tape Birgette Grimstad, Songs of Scandinavia [Skandisk, 1978], beginning at 14:48

---

Portrait at left, thought to be of Petter Dass, in Melhus church, Norway. Available through Creative Commons (representation of work published before 1923 and in public domain in the US).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Petter_Dass_i_Melhus.jpg

---

Petter Dass was a poet and priest in Nordland along the coast north of Trondheim, best known today perhaps for the hymn "Herre Gud, ditt dyre navn og ære" Bio in Norwegian in Den Store Norske Leksikon at http://snl.no/.nbl_biografi/Petter_Dass/utdypning. Dass wrote it as a wedding song for his brother's widow, Judith Volqvartz, and her second husband, Rasmus Angell, both of Trondheim. According to a Benkestokslekt, a Family geneological webssite:

Judith ble første gang gift 17 år gammel med handelsmannen i Åkvika på Dønna, Benjamin Peitersen Dass, bror av dikterpresten Petter Dass. Benjamin og Petter tilhørte Benkestok-slekta gjennom sin mor, Maren Petersdatter Falch.
Judith var Benjamins 3.kone, og han var 26 år eldre enn henne. Da han døde i 1702 satt Judith igjen med fire små barn, bare 26 år gammel. For Hr. Petter ble det nå viktig å finne et godt gifte til sin brors enke, og dermed en ny driver til virksomheten i Åkvika. Han var helt sikker fornøyd, for han skrev et bryllupsdikt til dem som i dag er kjent som ”Fiskervise” , men originalen var ”Brudlopsdigt til Rasmus Angell i Nordlandene”. Vi ser at Hr. Petter leker seg med Angell-navnet, og kommer med et stikk til de frierne som kom for seint.

And yes, Dass does play with Angell's name, as well as the names of sevral fish.

Set to music by Edvard Grieg, under title "Fiskervise" [fisherman's song] in Syv Barnlige Sange (Op.61-4), and to a different melody by late Romantic classical composer Ole Olsen, in the early 20th century.

Grimsted and Erik Bye popularized Olsen's song in the 1970s on EN DOBBEL DEYLIGHED ( A Double Delight), a CD of hymns and songs of Petter Dass. Grimstad covered it as a solo on the American cassette tape I found in Dad's collection ... I imagine he would have got it on a trip to Minnesota in the 70s.

Complete words (all 15 verses) in Dagbladet's kultur diktbasen at http://www.dagbladet.no/docarc/showdoc.php?a=1&d=4210 ...

Petter Dass

BRUDLOPS DIGT TIL RASMUS ANGELL I NORDLANDENE AF PETER DASS.

Det hender sig ofte
Een Mand paa sin Tofte
Har sat sig i Baad,
[Og Sidet i Slimme
Saa mangen en Time
Mens intet har faad.

Med møye tit stræfvis
Tit kastet forgiæfvis
Det Snøre for Bor,]
Det er ey hvers lykke
En Flyndre at røkke
Med Angel og Snor.


Thi Flyndren som Laxen,
Hun bider ey straxen,
Gemeenlig er Seen.
Jeg kiender de Drenge
Der Slimet har lenge,
Fik aldrig et Been.

* * *

Naar Snøren er rundet
Og Senket til Bundet,
Staar lykken hos Gud.
Hand giver ey Skarnet,
Kast derfore Garnet
I Jesu Nafn ud!

* * *

Two verses at dikt.no website under title "Fiskervise" [fisherman's song].

Also on Dagens Dikt blog at http://dagensdikt.blogspot.com/2010/05/god-onsdags-morgen-i-dag-et-lite-dikt.html ... Tuesday, May 25, 2010 ... quoted here with Google translation in italics ...

GOD ONSDAGS MORGEN ! GOOD WEDNESDAY MORNING!

I dag et lite dikt av dikterpresten Today a small poem by the poet priest
Peter Dass. Peter Dass.

FISKERVISE. FISHING SHOW.

Det hender vel ofte, It happens more than often,
du kaster fra tofte you throw the thwart
ditt snøre fra bord, Your line of the table,
men har ikke lykke but do not have good luck
til flyndren å rykke to flounder is to move
med angel og snor, with the angel and cord,
med angel og snor. with the angel and the string

Når snøret er runnen When the line is the runner
og senket til bunnen, and sunk to the bottom,
står lykken hos Gud. luck is with God.
Han giver ei skarnet, He donor a mire,
kast derfor ut garnet throw out the net, therefore,
i Jesu navn ut in Jesus' name out
I Jesu navn ut. In Jesus' name out.

http://www.amazon.com/Brudlops-Digt-Til-Rasmus-Angell/dp/B001CKRD4I Brudlops Digt Til Rasmus Angell - from CD Mit Navn Er Petter Dass (1999) by Kari Bremnes & Ola Bremnes

Listed in TOC of Sangboka Syng Med at http://www.syngmed.no/sangbok_ny.htm ... homepage at http://www.syngmed.no/ ... has a song book (Kr 180), a melody book (Kr 425) and a history of the songs (Kr 125).

Bio of Ole Olsen on NRK Nordland website, by Bjørn Tore Pedersen, "Glemt komponist fram i lyset." Publisert 12.02.2010 http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/distrikt/nordland/1.6990736 "«Fiskevise» av Petter Dass, som Birgitte Grimstad gjorde til sin egen på begynnelsen av 1970-tallet, har en enkel men iørefallende melodi. Den er det Ole Olsen som har skrevet." Google translation: ""Fish View" by Petter Dass, who Birgitte Grimstad did to his own in the early 1970's, has a simple but catchy melody. Den er det Ole Olsen som har skrevet. It is the [that] Ole Olsen wrote."
Link here to Google translation

Wikipedia bio, with links, at http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ole_Olsen

"Down the River I Go" - a D mixolydian fiddle tune as played by Don Pedi, and a couple of old-time Americana string bands in Copenhagen!

"Down the River I Go" is one of those D-mixolydian fiddle tunes that sound really old ... but maybe aren't.

I learned it from Don Pedi, mountian dulcimer artist of Madison County, N.C., who got it from the Double Decker String Band, a popular group of old-time musicians on the East Coast, and an a cappella version from McDowell County, W.Va. It isn't listed in Fiddler's Companion, but it's become a favorite on the oldtime music scene. I even found video clips on YouTube of string bands playing it last year in Denmark!

Don has lived in the North Carolina mountains since the 1970s, and he specializes in fiddle tunes he learned from the oldtimers who were still active in those days. As he tells the story, he first heard the dulcimer played by Richard and Mimi Farina (Joan Baez' sister and brother-in-law) in Cambridge, Mass. He fell in love with it, migrated with the folk music scene to the Rockies and eventually to North Carolina. He is now considered a tradition bearer in his own right.

Don Pedi in Townsend, Tenn. -



Don's performance in May 2010 at Wood-N-Strings Dulcimer Shop in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, Townsend, Tenn., "Down the River" is from 4:09 to 5:41. Tab available at http://www.donpedi.com/ (click on "Tab" and scroll down. He also has instructional books, CDs and a DVD with workshops on: 1. Free Style Strumming, 2. Natural Noting and 3. How to Play By Ear. Highly recommended. He also teaches in the dulcimer traditions class at Lois Hornbostel's Dulcimerville workshop in Black Mountain, N.C. This workshop, every year in early June, is also very highly recommended!

In Copenhagen -



Foghorn Stringband, of Portland, Ore., playing at an Irish-themed pup called Bloomsday Bar in the "Latin quarter" or university district in downtown Copenhagen. Filmed by Jesper Deleuran of the Danish band Big Hungry Joe (Peter Lorichs on banjo, Jesper Deleuran on guitar and vocal, Lasse Høi on harmonica and harmony, Mathias Enevoldsen on bass and Tobias Enevoldsen on fiddle). Here they are, below, practicing "Down the River" and "Big Eyed Rabbit."



[Deleuran's YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/r810s also has a vocal of the Dave van Ronk song "He Was a Friend of Mine" and several lengthy videos of a live performance in Denmark.]

Biography of Johan Dilner, articles on psalmodikon in Swedish and English

Original, in Swedish, at http://medlem.spray.se/psalmbok/Biografier/Dillner_J.htm. Link here for the Google translation. Excerpt:

John was the son of Pastor Erik Johan Dillner in Selangor.
Dillner läste teologi vid Uppsala universitet, doktorerade och prästvigdes 1809, och förordnades samma år till adjunkt vid Finska församlingen i Stockholm. Dillner studied theology at Uppsala University, a PhD and was ordained in 1809, and ordained the same year the lecturer at the Finnish Church in Stockholm. 1810 utnämndes han till eo hovpredikant och blev 1814 regementspastor vid Jämtlands regemente under fälttåget mot Norge. 1810 he was appointed court preacher and became eo 1814 regimental pastes in Jämtland regiment during the campaign against Norway. Som kyrkoherde tjänstgjorde han i Östra Ryd församling från 1820, i Fundbo fg från 1831 och slutligen i Östervåla fg från 1839, alla i Uppland. As a pastor, he served in East Ryd parish from 1820, in Fundbo fg from 1831 and finally in Östervåla fg from 1839, all in Upland. Från 1842 var han vice kontraktsprost. From 1842 he was deputy kontraktsprost. 1860 utnämndes han till jubeldoktor vid Uppsala universitet. 1860 he was appointed Jubilee PhD at Uppsala University.
Dillner var gift med Johanna Lovisa Lidström . Dillner was married to Johanna Louisa Lidstrom.

Linked to the bio is an article on the psalmodikon, translated as follows:

A simple musical instrument consisting of a ring box (often a simple, rectangular wooden box), a string and a fret board with tape (bumps). Det spelas med knäppning, plektrum eller stråke. It is played with buttons, plectrum or bow. Det anses uppfunnet av kyrkoherden Johan Dillner i Östervåla 1829 men bygger på den mycket gamla instrumenttypen monokord , en enkel resonanslåda med en sträng som kan förkortas med ett rörligt stall. It is invented by Pastor John Dillner Östervåla in 1829 but based on the ancient instrument type monokord, a simple sounding board with a string that can be shortened by a movable bridge. Dillner försåg sitt instrument med ett fast stall, som håller upp strängen från lådan, och en greppbräda med band , en trälist med utskärningar så att åsar bildas vilka bestämmer strängens fria längd när man trycker den mot en ås. Dillner provided his instrument with a fixed bridge, which keeps the string from the box, and a fretboard with tape, a strip of wood with cutouts so that the ridges are formed which determines the string free length when pressed it against a ridge. Det fanns 32 band med en halvton mellan. There were 32 bands with a semitone between. (jfr gitarrens greppbräda) och varje band är märkt med ett nummer. (Cf. guitar fretboard) and each band is marked with a number.

Användning Use
Dillners avsikt med lanseringen av instrumentet var att förbättra psalmsången genom att kunna beledsaga sången med ett instrument som alla församlingar kunde ha råd att införskaffa - orglar var ju ofta alltför dyra. Dillner's intention with the launch of the instrument was to improve hymn singing by being able to accompany the song with an instrument that all churches could afford to purchase - organs was often too expensive.
Dillner reste runt i Sverige för att demonstrera instrumentet och gav 1830 ut skriften Melodierna till svenska kyrkans psalmer där psalmerna i 1819 års psalmbok försetts med en enkel siffernotering till ledning för hur melodin skulle spelas på hans psalmodikon - helt enkelt numret på det band i greppbrädan som åstadkommer rätt ton. Dillner traveled around Sweden to demonstrate the instrument and gave 1830 the signature melodies to the Swedish church hymns in which the hymns of 1819 years of prayer book provided with a simple numerical listing for the guidance of the melody was played on his psalmodikon - simply the number of the bands in the fretboard that achieves the right tone. Dillner lär ha sagt att han kunde lära en person utan musikalisk förkunskap att spela psalmodikon på ett par timmar. Dillner reported to have said that he could teach a person without musical prerequisites to play psalmodikon in a few hours.

Instrumentet blev mycket populärt under 1800-talets mitt, både i mindre församlingar och bland kringresande väckelsepredikanter. The instrument became very popular during the mid-1800s, both in smaller congregations and among itinerant revivalists. Ett stort antal koralböcker publicerades med musiken noterade i sifferskrift, anpassade för utförande på psalmodikon. A large number of choral books were published with the music listed in numerical script, adapted for execution on psalmodikon. Flera utgåvor omfattar hela 1820 års koralbok i siffernotering. Several editions covering the entire 1820 year koralbok in the numerical listing.

Several books and manuscripts are listed, published mostly in Stockholm and Gefle between 1830 and 1848 ...

Also a link to Sven H. Gullman: psalmodikon was musikintrumentet in many churches and schools , article in Lysekil Post, 2002

Link here for Google translation ... Psalmodikon was musikintrumentet in many churches and schools
Infört under juli 2002 i Lysekilsposten och Stenungsunds-Posten med Orust-Tjörn/Introduced in July 2002 in Lysekil Post and Stenungsunds-Posten with Orust-Tjörn

Dean Dillner knew of a simple close instrument that was cheap to buy and that would fit both in church and school. Han kallade det psalmodikon. He called it psalmodikon. Det var som instrument en förbättring av monokorden (av grek monos, ensam, och chorde, sträng). It was as instruments improving monokorden (from the Greek monos, alone, and chords, string). Detta bestod av en resonanslåda och på den spänd en tarmsträng, som genom ett flyttbart stall bestämde tonhöjden. This consisted of a sounding board and on the tense a gut string, which through a mobile team decided the pitch. Monokorden, ett slags cittra, hade introducerats i Köpenhamn 1823 i syfte att förbättra sången i skolorna. Monokorden, a kind of zither, was introduced in Copenhagen in 1823 in order to improve the singing in schools. Men instrumentet blev snart populärt också i kyrkliga kretsar. But the instrument soon became popular also in ecclesiastical circles. Dillner tog upp idén som snabbt slog igenom i Sverige. Dillner took up the idea that quickly became popular in Sweden. Med små förändringar kallades instrumentet psalmodikon, ett ord som i dagligt tal också ofta ersattes med notstock, notlåda eller psalmlåda. With small changes called instrument psalmodikon, a word in everyday speech often replaced with notstock, cowhide or hymn box. Det var fortfarande en rektangulär låda som spelades med stråke. It was still a rectangular box that was played with a bow. Strängen kunde vara av metall eller gjord av en tarm. The string could be metallic or made ​​of a gut. Som greppbräda tjänade en smal trälist, fastlimmad på lockets mitt. As fretboard earned a narrow strip of wood, glued to the lid in the middle. Den indelades i ca 30 halvtonsteg genom trappstegsformade nedskärningar. It was divided into about 30 halvtonsteg through step-cuts. Dessa var numrerade med siffror. These were numbered with numbers. ...

Also this, on the music:

From about 1870 began psalmodikon gradually being replaced by the harmonium, but came to be used at a few places for our time. Det finns säkert äldre läsare av denna tidning som själva minns att det användes i skolan. There are certainly older readers of this magazine itself remembers that it was used in the school. Men finns det belägg för att det kom att brukas vid gudstjänster i kyrkan? But there is evidence that it came to be used during services at church? Trots allt var det ett stränginstrument och vi förknippar kyrkorummet med orgelmusik. After all, it was a stringed instrument, and we associate the church with organ music.

Jodå. Oh yes. Johan Dillner skriver själv: John Dillner writes:

" I kyrkan bör sången gå något långsammare, i skolan eller hemma något mindre långsamt." "The church should be the song to go slightly slower, at school or at home slightly less slow."

Han utvecklar det vidare: He develops this further:

"Psalmernas tempo är ej lika för alla. Melodiens eget sinne bestämmer rörelsen. Vissa lofsånger äro eldiga och begära en hastig gång. Andra fordra en stillare rörelse. Begrafningspsalmer fordra vanligen en fördröjd och långsam gång." "Hymns tempo is not the same for everyone. Melodies own mind determines the movement. Some praises are fiery and ask for a fleeting time. Others require a quieter movement. Begrafningspsalmer usually require a delayed and slow time."

Enligt Dillner fick ett psalmodikon en allt behagligare ton, ju längre och mer det nyttjades, och lät, när det var uppspelat, som en god altfiol. According to Dillner got a psalmodikon an ever more pleasing tone, the longer and more the use, and sounded, when there was a break out, like a good viola. Konsten att spela instrumentet var enligt honom lätt och snart lärt. The art of playing the instrument was, according to him easily and quickly learned. På mindre än en halvtimme garanterade han att alla skulle kunna spela vilken psalm som helst. In less than half an hour he guaranteed that everyone could play the hymn at any time. Varför inte låta detta instrument få en ny renässans! Why not let the instrument get a new renaissance! Men tillverkas det i den ursprungliga utförandet? But it made ​​in the original design?

Följande fyra psalmverser ur hans bok är hämtat från 1819 års psalmbok men fortfarande välkända för många. Four hymns from his book is taken from 1819 year book of hymns, but still familiar to many. Siffrorna framför varje ord har sin motsvarighet i instrumentets trälist, där varje skåra har motsvarande nummer. The numbers above each word has its counterpart in the instrument's wooden strip, where each slot has a corresponding number.

It is followed by four hymns in sifferskrift, Nos. 204 and 74 (with parts of 205 and 75 at the bottom of the respective pages).

Separate link to article "Psalmodikon var musikintrumentet i många kyrkor och skolor
Infört under juli 2002 i Lysekilsposten och Stenungsunds-Posten med Orust-Tjörn" at
http://svenhgullman.nu/oevrigt/psalmodikon1.htm

Music Encyclopedia article by Philip Bate at http://www.operas.com.ar/Music-Encyclopedia/67304/Psalmodikon.htm has this:

In its earliest form the psalmodikon consisted of a flat, rather shallow soundbox, in plan a tall trapezium (or occasionally a rectangle), with a single (bowed) string of gut supported by a nut at each end and passing over a bridge. Beneath and parallel to this string was a strip or ‘rule’ of wood transversely ridged to form frets, with the stopping positions marked by letters (see illustration). Thus the player could follow a printed cue-sheet instead of formal music notation. There were also a number of wire drone strings which passed over sections of the bridge that were cut lower so as not to impede free bowing. In some early instruments further clearance was provided by cutting the soundboard away in a concave ‘bout’ on the near side of the bridge. Additionally the more sophisticated examples were provided with several alternative rules differently marked so that the instrument could be played in several keys.

The presence of a bowed string associated with a fretted and lettered fingerboard recalls John Playford´s 17th-century Psalterer (though there is no evidence that either Dillner or Roverud had any knowledge of Playford’s work). Both instruments were designed expressly to support choral singing in lieu of an organ or other skilled instrumental accompaniment.

Psalmodikon. The psalmodikon enjoyed great popularity in Norwegian and particularly Swedish schools until about 1860; it was also used by Scandinavian immigrants, for instance in the USA, where it is reported until about 1900. It appeared in a number of different versions, some with as many as four bowed strings, and with a variable number of drones. Such instruments were professionally made, but certain museum collections have examples of rustic copies of varying sophistication. Probably the most singular of these is one colloquially called notstok, in which the body was boat-shaped (sometimes not even hollowed out) while the fingerboard resembled a long handle passing through it. A keyed psalmodikon was also known at one time: all forms of the instrument, however, except perhaps the rural ones, seem to have gone out of use with the introduction of the harmonium in Scandinavian schools.

New Salem: Reading shape notes, "Amazing Grace," and lining out hymns at Rock Creek campground ** w/ UPDATE**

UPDATE: The Smithsonian Institution published a 16-page "Shape-Note Singing Lesson" in October 2000 as part of the Smithsonian in Your Classroom series. It is available on line as a PDF file. Designed for use by elementary school teachers and incorporating learning standards for grades 3-8, it is also entirely suitable for adults who want to learn the music.

At this month's workshop on music appropriate to our period at Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site, we'll take up two songs - both in Ionian or DAA tuning - and learn a little bit about the way people in New Salem would have sung religious music.

The first song is The Devil's Nine Questions. You can hear it on YouTube, in an audio file with still pictures, as performed on "American Songs of Revolutionary Times & the Civil War Era" - an LP featuring songs by Jean Ritchie and Paul Clayton, and storytelling by folklorist Richard Chase. There are several video clips of a slightly different version (which matches the one in Ralph Lee Smith's "Tunes and Tales of the Wilderness Road," by the way, for those of you who have Ralph's book.

Most of the songs that we know were sung at New Salem, or west central Illinois, during our period are religious. And many of them are in The Online Southern Harmony - it's an 1835 shape-note hymn book (updated in 1853 and republished in facsimile several years ago by the University Press of Kentucky) and a wonderful source of music from our period, in the Online Southern Harmony on the Christian Classics Ethereal Library website. I'll link you to a directory of songs in the Southern Harmony, with links below to a recording of some of the more popular pieces at the "Big Singing" several years ago in Benton, Ky. The CCEL website also has the introduction to the UK edition by Harry Eskew, a scholar on shape-note hymnody who comes to it from the perspective of singing in the tradition.

Songs in Southern Harmony with specific ties to New Salem, camp meetings and churches in Menard County, Abraham Lincoln's family, the Rev. Peter Cartwright and/or singing schools in the Sangamon River country include Old Hundred (22t), Idumea (32t), The Promised Land (51), Green Fields (71), Legacy (73), Pisgah (80), Romish Lady (82), The Saint's Delight (104), Hail Columbia (141), Bound for Canaan (193t), The Morning Trumpet (195t), The Saints Bound for Heaven (258), Plenary (262), Hebrew Children (266) and Coronation (299). I'll bring copies of Old Hundred with the words to Ralph Waldo Emerson's "Concord Hymn" that I made for the Fourth of July at New Salem a couple of years ago. It's the poem we all memorized in junior high school that begins "By the rude bridge that arched the flood, / Their flag of April's breeze unfurled," and Emerson wrote it for the dedication of a monment to the Battle of Concord in 1836. So it fits our period.

Reading shape notes couldn't be any easier. Here are the shapes (reproduced with permission of Ottawa Shape Note Chorus) at http://ottawashapenote.org/


And here are the corresponding positions on the fretboard. "Fa" (the tonic) is on the third fret


Southern Harmony also has the original version of New Britain, or "Amazing Grace" ... audio and video clips of several versions are linked or embedded below. In recent years, "Amazing Grace" has suffered from any number of sweetened-up, New Age-y arrangements, and the melody has lost some of its original character from the Anglo-Celtic oral tradition.

But in the 1960s Mrs. Edd Presnell played "Amazing Grace" the old way on one of her husband's dulcimers for an LP called Instrumental Music of the Southern Appalachians. Her version of the melody is the same as in Southern Harmony, and she plays the dulcimer as it used to be played before the folk revival. The CD is a classic recording, collected in North Carolina and Virginia, and it's available for download at Amazon.com. There are 30-second audio clips, but you may want to get the whole album. It has fiddle, guitar and banjo versions of a lot of the songs we can play at New Salem, like "Cripple Creek," "Soldier's Joy," "Pretty Polly" and "Sourwood Mountain," including Nettie Presnell's dulcimer versions of "Shady Grove" and "Sally Goodin," both of which also fit our period at New Salem.

A shape-note version of Amazing Grace" (New Britain) at a traditional Sacred Harp singing convention in Holly Springs, Ga., in 1982. Notice how they sing the fa-sol-la shapes before moving on to the lyrics.



Lining out is a very old tradition in singing religious music. It dates back to the 1640s in England, when hymnals were scarce, and it was just about universal during the 1830s. (See below for details on Rock Creek campground.) The video clip embedded here is from a recent Primitive Baptist church meeting in Kentucky. The hand-shaking is a ritual at the close of worship services sometimes known as extending the "right hand of fellowship." Primitive Baptists, who choose that name because they wish to recreate the spirit of the primitive Christian church of the first century, are deeply conservative; often they cherish "lining out" as part of their unique religious heritage, even if it's not practiced now as much as it used to be. So lined-out hymnody continues to be a living spiritual tradition. When I demonstrate it in talks and performances at living history sites, I always try to keep that in mind.



The singing in religious services at New Salem would have sounded a lot like that in the YouTube clip. Writing in the 1920s, old settler Alice Keach Bone described the singing at Rock Creek campground like this:

Prominent among the preachers on the platform was Rev. John
M. Berry. He would give out the hymn, read it, line it, and, in
a strong voice, lead the singing himself, the people joining in
one after another.

'On Jordan's stormy banks I stand,' and 'How firm a foundation,
ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in His excellent
word' were favorites. These were frequently followed by

'There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Emmanuel's veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains.'

Then came an earnest, heartfelt prayer and, sometimes, another
song. After this he announced the text and began to preach. He
did not time his sermons, neither did the people turn uneasy glances
toward their camps. (Bone 31-32)

When Rev. Berry (whose son was Abraham Lincoln's parnter in what we call the Berry-Lincoln stores) "lined" the hymn, he would have chanted in the same manner as a Primitive Baptist elder in our day. There's more about Rock Creek, Rev. Berry and lined-out hymn singing in my paper on the subject, "American Folk Hymnody in Illinois, 1800-1850." While my focus was wider, the paper relies heavily on county histories and other old settlers' accounts from the vicinity of New Salem and Menard County. There's an exhaustive (exhausting?) discussion of the background of lined-out hymnody, too, and a list of 109 works cited in the bibliography.

Drømde mig en drøm i nat

According to Wikipedia, "Drømde mig en drøm i nat is the oldest known secular song in the Nordic countries, written around 1300. It is written in Old Danish and is included in Codex Runicus, a transcript of Scanian Law where it forms a final note. Like the law itself, it is written in runes, and the tune is written on two simple staves in an early form of musical notation."




At the Faculty House, Columbia University, Jun 19, 2011, Beowulf Consort. Hanne Ladefoged-Dollase, contralto; Frank Foerster, viola; José Luis Rodriguez, harp; Lawrence Zoernig, cello




At Lind­holm Hø­je Viking Festi­val, Ju­ne 2010, Krauaka, Ak­sel Stri­im, bowed ly­re, shawm, flu­tes & vo­cal; Gud­jon Ru­dolf, le­ad­vo­cal, jew's harp & percus­sion; Jens Vil­ly Pe­der­sen,​ ly­re, percus­sion, flu­tes & vo­cal; Sø­ren Ze­der­kof,​ bass. http://www.krauka.dk/krauka.dk/HOME.html




Krauka and Kari Tauring - Kari Tauring and Drew Miller join Krauka to play the song Drømte. Tauring is from Minneapolis, webpage at http://karitauring.com/about.html. It looks like Miller (?), at far right, is playing an Appalachian dulcimer in this performance.



Skyn, Wynde and Wyre [of the Society for Creative Anachronism in Hershey, Pa.] performs at the Vinland Games in the Shire-Marche of Blak Rose on May 8, A.S. XLV (2010 A.D.) Skyn, Wynde and Wyre is an inter-shire music group in the south western corner of the Kingdom of the East. The original piece is monophonic. The arrangement is by Doña Sol la Cantor.

Gjøvik Spelmannslag and Nordic Harp Meeting - langeleik, kantele and various Scandinavian harps

Gjøvik Spelmannslag in Norway has a langeleik group. The town is north of Oslo on Lake Mjøsa. According to the group's website:

Gjøvik Spelmannslag er et allsidig lag med egen fele-, langleik-, torader- og bygge-gruppe. I tillegg kan vi presentere en rekke eldre instrumenttyper som norske harper, lyre, strykelyre, sekkepipe og diverse fløyter. Mange av instrumentene vi bruker er bygget av vår egen instrumentbygger-gruppe som har innredet et flott verksted, der det holdes årlige kurs i instrumentbygging.

Hosted the 3rd annual Nordic Harp Meeting in Gjøvik, in 2010. Here they are, playing a reinlender on YouTube:



Langeleikmøte på Gjøvik april 2011
Langeleikmeeting in Gjøvik april 2011
The Nordic Harp Meeting is an interest group (see below) of people who play Scandinavian, Finnish and Icelandic harps and folk zithers, including the Swedish psalmodikon group.

Nordic Harp Meeting home page at http://www.nordic-harp-meeting.se/ ... navigate by clicking on links to the left of the page ... describes the group like this:

Nordisk harpetræf - pohjoismainen harpunsukuisten soittimien kokoontuminen - Nordic gathering of musicians who play harp, lyre, kantele, langeleik and related plucked string. ...
The Nordic Harp Meeting is a gathering of musicians who play, build or simply like the harp, lyre, kantele and related instruments and who have a particular interest in music from the Nordic countries. We meet to get acquainted with each other, learn and teach tunes and play together. Everybody is welcome, no matter if you are advanced harper or beginner, professional musician or just curious! The purpose is to actively share our interests in plucked string instruments and music.

The Nordic Harp Meeting 2011 is made possible by financial support from the Nordic Culture Fund and Gjøvik spelmannslag. It will be arranged in cooperation with Broby Gamle Skole (Denmark), Gjøvik spelmannslag (Norway), Malmös medeltidsförening Torsheim (Sweden), Musikkulturföreningen Kantele- och Kalevala Vänner (Sweden), Nordiska psalmodikonförbundet (Sweden), Finnish Harpist Society (Finland), and Teater Kontur (Sweden).

More details, and music on the "Allspiel" page; click on "Allspel" on left and page will launch ...

The "allspel" is literally translated as "all play": all participants are invited on the stage or in the central place to play some tunes together. The tunes are taken from the common repertoire and can be downloaded here. All tunes are traditional and in public domain.
The allspel is usually led by somebody who knows the tune and makes sure that everybody starts in the same key and at the same time. For example, Maja Lillian Marcussen from Norway might lead the historical tunes Drømte mig en drøm (Denmark), Völuspá tune (Iceland) and Olav's sequence [music for all three].

Music from Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Iceland.

The 2011 programme has more information. There is also a year-long aevents schedule currently updated through the fall of 2011. The group has had meetings in Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark so far. Nothing posted yet for 2012.

CD with Marit Mattisgard playing langeleik (among vocals and other instruments) Tre ord te de (ta:lik). Blurb on CD Roots: "A beautiful collection of traditional Norwegian songs and tunes performed by Mattisgard (langeleik and vocal) and accompanied by Rolf Karlberg (voice, munnhørpa-jews harp), Ellen Marie Selland (accordion), Berit Selland (voice, flute) and Magne Olav Selland (hardingfele).

Op-ed piece on Porgy and Bess, stage history in New York Times

By op-ed columnist Joe Nocera on the Times' website today, a good brief summary of different productions and changing racial attitudes of the years, which have been quite conflicted.

Including this, quoting Jack O’Brien, director of the Houston Grand Opera revival of the original uncut opera version of Porgy and Bess in 1976:

After its 1976 run in Houston, the opera played in Washington, on its way to New York. Todd Duncan, Gershwin’s original Porgy, saw it there. Forty years earlier, Mr. Duncan had refused to sing “Porgy and Bess” in Washington unless the theater where it was being performed was desegregated. (It was, but only temporarily.) When he went backstage to shake the latest Porgy’s hand, he could only marvel at what he had seen. “It’s so black!” he told Mr. [Donnie Ray] Albert [who played Porgy in the Houston production].

Mr. O’Brien says that he doesn’t think of “Porgy and Bess” as African-American music. “It’s American music,” he said — and really, who can disagree? The blues and spirituals that make up the core of “Porgy and Bess,” written by a white Jewish composer and originating in the African-American community, is music we all embrace. It is part of America’s heritage and a source of American pride. It is unlikely that will ever change, for which we should be thankful.

Dan Lundberg:"Swedish folk Music - from village greens to concert platforms" [excerpt]

Dan Lundberg, Director of Svenskt visarkiv (Centre for Swedish Folk Music and Jazz Research) and a professor in music and cultural diversity, in "Swedish folk Music - from village greens to concert platforms" on the Svenskt visarkiv website at http://www.visarkiv.se/online/swedish_folkmusic.htm:

Festivalisation, concerts and medialisation are all parts of a process where the boundaries between musical genres and categories of musicians become harder and harder to distinguish. Maybe in the not too distant future we will be forced to discard the labels “folk music” and “popular music”, which are already problematical. When what we today call folk music focuses less and less on reproduction and more and more on innovation, then it would seem that we have returned to the order which existed before the term folk music was first introduced at the end of the eighteenth century. Perhaps it is time to dispense with Johann Gottfried von Herder’s prefix folk and simply talk about music.

Gärdebylåten - a Swedish gangar (and it's in D no less!)

Gärdebylåten med Flemming Fiol
Swedish tune played at a bar in Denmark. Posted by PikaBanditKat on YouTube: Fiol spiller på Kupeen i Nørre Åby [Nørre Aaby, a small town on Funen island in Denmark]. Flemming Fiol is stage name for Flemming Pedersen, a session player from Denmark. Description in Google translation



This background on the tune from Dan Lundberg's "Swedish folk Music - from village greens to concert platforms" on the Svenskt Arkiv website of Stockholm:

With the development of spelmanslag (fiddlers’ groups) during the 1940s, a new type of organised folk music emerged.

The most influential trend-setter was the Rättviks Spelmanslag whose signature tune, Gärdebylåten (The Gärdeby Tune) , became Sweden’s first folk music hit, thanks to the mass media. Through radio broadcasts and gramophone recordings Gärdebylåten became something of a national plague towards the end of the 1940s.

ABC file available on line at ABC Notation website:

|: FG \
| "D"ABAF ABAF | A2fe d2c2 | "G"BdBG BdBG | "Em"B2gf e2d2 | "A7"c3d c2B2 |
| A2g2 f2e2 |1,3 "D"d2de f2fg | "(A7)"a6 :|2,4 "D"d2fd "A7"Acec | "D"d6 :|
|: fg \
| "D"a4 fdfa | b2a2 g2f2 | "Em"g3e B3e | g2f2 e2d2 | "A7"c3d c2B2 |
| A2g2 f2e2 |1,3 "D"d2de f2fg | "(A7)"a6 :|2,4 "D"d2fd "A7"Acec | "D"d6 :|

Also as MIDI and PDF files.

Roselil og hendes moder

Roselil og hendes moder
Folkemelodi, dansk

Text (1845) by Christian Knud Frederik Molbech 1821-1888

Text on www.danskesange.dk website. Very nice mp3 file by Martin Hagerup, swings it more than I'm used to hearing in Scandinavian folk songs.

Melody in abc file in G and an abc file in A

Piano arrangement by Erling Jan Sørensen on YouTube



Roselil' og hendes moder de sad over bord,
Roselil' og hendes moder de sad over bord,
de taled så mangt et skæmtens ord.

Ha, ha, ha! Så, så, så, så!
Ha, ha, ha! Så, så, så, så!
De taled så mangt et skæmtens ord.

[five more verses]

Jeg løfter opp til Gud min sang

Heard on Kirsten Flagstad's double CD of Norwegian hymns ...

Jeg løfter opp til Gud min sang NoS 014


A very interesting organ, piano and band arrangement by Iver Kleive on Kyrie (1994), mp3 download of the CD available from Amazon.com ...



Choral version on Nettkirken - Sjømannskirken | Den norske kirke - at https://www.nettkirken.no/23110 (scroll down on No. 10)

Fremført av Bergen Domkantori under ledelse av Magnar Mangersnes. Orgel: Tor Grønn.


Also on Nettkirken website:

1. Av dypets nød jeg må rope (Luther) -
   
2. Deg å få skode er sæla å nå (Be Thou My Vision - T: Irsk tekst frå 700-t/Til engelsk ved Mary Byrne 1905 og Eleanor Hull 1912; O: Arve Brunvoll 1978; M: Irsk folketone)
   
3. Den store hvite flokk å se (Brorson - Heddal folketone, sounds like Grieg's arrangement)
   
4. Du Far og Herre, du som rår (Text J.G. Whittier 1872, 1884; Oversett: Arve Brunvoll 1978; M: C. H. H. Parry)
   
5. Du Ord frå alle æver (T: Arve Brunvoll 1978; M: William H. Ferguson 1919)
   
6. Gjør døren høy, gjør porten vid (T: Georg Weissel 1642; O: N. J. Holm 1829/M. B. Landstad 1861; M: Louis Bourgeois, Genève 1551 [Old Hundred])
   
7. Guds kirkes grunnvoll ene (The Church's One Foundation)
   
8. Herre Gud, ditt dyre navn og ære (Peter Dass 1698; Norsk folketone (Romedal)
   
9. Ingen er så trygg i fare (Chldren of the Heavenly Father)
   
10. Jeg løfter opp til Gud min sang
    
11. Kjærlighet er lysets kilde (T: N. F. S. Grundtvig 1853; M: Ludvig M. Lindeman 1862)
    
12. Kjærlighet fra Gud (T: J. N. L. Schjørring 1854; M: H. S. Thompson omkr 1840)
    
13. Med Jesus vil eg fara (T: Elias Blix 1875; M: Antwerpen 1540/Norsk folketone [Sunnmøre])
    
14. Nærmere deg, min Gud (Nearer My God to Thee)
    
15. Nå rinner solen opp (T: Thomas Kingo 1674; M: H. O. C. Zinck 1796)
    
16. Nå skrider dagen under (T: Vektervers 1683; Tr: W. A. Wexels 1840; M: Norsk folketone [vektersang])
    
17. Om alle mine lemmer (T: Petter Dass omkr 1704/Morten Eskesen 1881
    M: Sigvald Tveit 1982)
    
18. Tårnhøye bølger går (T: John M. Neale 1862, etter Anatholios 800-t; O: Dagfinn Zwilgmeyer 1958, 1967; M: Egil Hovland 1972)

Misc. notes on creolization

Pour l'écrivain Edouard Glissant, la créolisation du monde est "irréversible"
LEMONDE.FR | 03.02.11 | 19h19 • Mis à jour le 04.02.11 | 09h53

Le Monde republished interview with Glissant on his death in 2011 ...

Le grand écrivain antillais Edouard Glissant est mort le 3 février, à Paris, à l'âge de 82 ans. Poète, romancier, essayiste, auteur dramatique et penseur de la "créolisation", il était né à Sainte-Marie (Martinique) le 21 septembre 1928 et avait suivi des études de philosophie et d'ethnologie, à Paris.

Nous republions ici l'intégralité de l'entretien qu'il avait accordé au Monde 2, en 2005. Il venait alors d’achever son dernier ouvrage “La Cohée du lamentin” (Gallimard).

Qu'entendez-vous par la nécessité de développer une "pensée du tremblement", à laquelle vous consacrez votre prochain livre ? Selon vous, seule une telle pensée permet de comprendre et de vivre dans notre monde chaotique et cosmopolite ?

Edouard Glissant : Nous vivons dans un bouleversement perpétuel où les civilisations s'entrecroisent, des pans entiers de culture basculent et s'entremêlent, où ceux qui s'effraient du métissage deviennent des extrémistes. C'est ce que j'appelle le "chaos-monde". On ne peut pas diriger le moment d'avant, pour atteindre le moment d'après. Les certitudes du rationalisme n'opèrent plus, la pensée dialectique a échoué, le pragmatisme ne suffit plus, les vieilles pensées de systèmes ne peuvent comprendre le chaos-monde.

Même la science classique a échoué à penser l'instabilité fondamentale des univers physiques et biologiques, encore moins du monde économique, comme l'a montré le prix Nobel de chimie Ilya Prigogine. Je crois que seules des pensées incertaines de leur puissance, des pensées du tremblement où jouent la peur, l'irrésolu, la crainte, le doute, l'ambiguïté saisissent mieux les bouleversements en cours. Des pensées métisses, des pensées ouvertes, des pensées créoles.

Pourriez-vous donner une définition de la "créolisation" ?
L'apparition de langages de rue créolisés chez les gosses de Rio de Janeiro, de Mexico, ou dans la banlieue parisienne, ou chez les gangs de Los Angeles. C'est universel. Il faudrait recenser tous les créoles des banlieues métissées. C'est absolument extraordinaire d'inventivité et de rapidité. Ce ne sont pas tous des langages qui durent, mais ils laissent des traces dans la sensibilité des communautés.

Même histoire en musique. Si on va dans les Amériques, la musique de jazz est un inattendu créolisé. Il était totalement imprévisible qu'en 40 ou 50 ans, des populations réduites à l'état de bêtes, traquées jusqu'à la guerre de cessetion, qu'on pendait et brûlait vives aient eu le talent de créer des musiques joyeuses, métaphysiques, nouvelles, universelles comme le blues, le jazz et tout ce qui a suivi. C'est un inattendu extraordinaire. Beaucoup de musiques caribéennes, ou antillaises comme le merengue, viennent d'un entremêlement de la musique de quadrille européenne et des fondamentaux africains, les percussions, les chants de transe. Quant aux langues créoles de la Caraïbe, elles sont nées de manière tout à fait inattendue, forgée entre maîtres et esclaves, au cœur des plantations.

La créolisation, c'est un métissage d'arts, ou de langages qui produit de l'inattendu. C'est une façon de se transformer de façon continue sans se perdre. C'est un espace où la dispersion permet de se rassembler, où les chocs de culture, la disharmonie, le désordre, l'interférence deviennent créateurs. C'est la création d'une culture ouverte et inextricable, qui bouscule l'uniformisation par les grandes centrales médiatiques et artistiques. Elle se fait dans tous les domaines, musiques, arts plastiques, littérature, cinéma, cuisine, à une allure vertigineuse…

Selon vous, l'Europe se créolise. Vous n'allez pas faire plaisir au courant souverainiste français…
Oui, l'Europe se créolise. Elle devient un archipel. Elle possède plusieurs langues et littératures très riches, qui s'influencent et s'interpénètrent, tous les étudiants les apprennent, en possèdent plusieurs, et pas seulement l'anglais. Et puis l'Europe abrite plusieurs sortes d'îles régionales, de plus en plus vivantes, de plus en plus présentes au monde, comme l'île catalane, ou basque, ou même bretonne. Sans compter la présence de populations venues d'Afrique, du Maghreb, des Caraïbes, chacune riche de cultures centenaires ou millénaires, certaines se refermant sur elles-mêmes, d'autre se créolisant à toute allure comme les jeunes Beurs des banlieues ou les Antillais. Cette présence d'espaces insulaires dans un archipel qui serait l'Europe rend les notions de frontières intra-européennes de plus en plus floues. * * *

Click here for translation by Google

* * *

Marc Chemillier, "Jazz, Africa and creolization: about Herbie Hancock. Interview with French Jazzman Bernard Lubat." Full version in French published in Les Cahiers du jazz, n° 5, 2008, pp. 18-50 (Éditions Outre-Mesure). http://ehess.modelisationsavoirs.fr/lubat/creolisation/

The purpose of this article is to analyze examples of traditional African music and to discuss with jazz musician Bernard Lubat (pianist and drummer who played with Stan Getz) whether or not one could imagine a cross-fertilization of jazz with this music. We shall also analyze recordings by jazz pianist Herbie Hancock presenting various kinds of fusion music including recycling of traditional African repertoires and we shall study what kind of meeting of jazz and Africa is actually realized in these recordings. According to the aesthetic of Bernard Lubat, these different kinds of meetings will be critized in relation to the concept of "creolization" of poet and philosopher Edouard Glissant. Here are a few statements by Glissant about creolization (available online):

• The Caribbean is the exemplary model of interbreeding: "Take the example of West Indian music in which new rhythms are being born of the interaction with Africa and the United States. We are at the present time witnessing the "archipelagoization" of the Caribbean, which is exemplary and is moving in the direction of creolization. But the entire world is being creolized today."
  
• Creolization, which implies no domination, is the way to protect us from globalization: "Globalization is universality achieved through the lowest common denominator, through homogenization, through standardisation. It is the screen behind which new oppressions and dominations hide".
  
• Creolization is related to the impossibility of predicting and governing the world: "We now have to get used to the idea that we can live in the world without having the ambition to predict it or dictate to it. We should also get accustomed to the idea that our identity is going to change profoundly on contact with the Other as his will on contact with us, without either of them losing their essential nature or being diluted in a multicultural magma. "

[A native of Martinique, Glissant is teaching French Literature at the City University of New-York]

* * *

Thomas Hylland Eriksen [University of Oslo], 2007. "Creolisation in anthropological theory and in Mauritius." In Creolization: History, Ethnography, Theory edited by Charles Stewart (Left Coast Press 2007). http://folk.uio.no/geirthe/Creolisation.html

very interesting, nuanced discussion of linguistic, anthropological language ... Eriksen argues for broader definition

“Creolization,” as the term is used by some anthropologists, is an
analogy taken from linguistics. This discipline in turn took the term from
a particular aspect of colonialism, namely the uprooting and displacement
of large numbers of people in colonial plantation economies. Both in the
Caribbean basin and in the Indian Ocean, certain (or all) groups who
contributed to this economy during slavery were described as creoles.
Originally, a criollo meant a Spaniard born in the New World (as opposed
to peninsulares); today, a similar usage is current in La Réunion, where
everybody born in the island, regardless of skin color, is seen as créole,
as opposed to the zoréoles who were born in metropolitan France. In
Trinidad, the term “creole” is sometimes used to designate all Trinidadians
except those of Asian origin. In Suriname, a creole is a person of African
origin, whereas in neighboring French Guyana a creole is someone who
has adopted a European way of life. In spite of the differences, there are
resemblances between the conceptualizations of the creole. Creoles are
uprooted, they belong to a New World, and are contrasted with that
which is old, deep, and rooted.

A question often posed by people unfamiliar with these variations is
“What is really a Creole?” They may have encountered the term in connection
with food or architecture from Louisiana, languages in the Caribbean,
or people in the Indian Ocean. The standard response is that whereas
vernacular uses of the term “creole” vary, there exist accurate definitions
of creole languages in linguistics and of cultural creolization in anthropology.
There are nevertheless similarities, although there is no one-toone
relationship, between the ethnic groups described locally (emically)
as creoles and the phenomena classified as creole or creolised in the
academic literature. ...

* * *

... The incorporation of Country & Western music into the standard cultural repertoire of rural southern Norway can accordingly be described as a process of creolization, just as the complex cultural dynamics, involving interaction among various groups of Europeans, Asians, Africans, and Native-Americans, leading to the emergence of a distinctive Caribbean cultural intersystem during and after slavery. ... (19)

Raymond Hickey. 1997. "Arguments for creolisation in Irish English." http://www.uni-due.de/~lan300/19_Arguments_for_Creolisation_in_Irish_English_(Hickey).pdf

JSTOR has "The World in Creolisation" by Ulf Hannerz, Africa: Journal of the International African Institute Vol. 57, No. 4, Sierra Leone, 1787-1987 (1987), pp. 546-559 (article consists of 14 pages) http://www.jstor.org/pss/1159899

Anchorage Daily News video, radio talk show on KXMT-FM of Kodiak on "Starring" and Russian Orthodox Christmas

Russian Orthodox Christmas Starring from anchoragedailynews on Vimeo.

KXMT public radio of Kodiak aired a 30-minute segment "Talk of the Rock: The Russian Church in Alaska" hosted Jan. 3 by Jennifer Canfield of KMXT. "On today's show we'll be discussing Russian Christmas and New Year, the history of the church in Kodiak and what it means to be a part of the church. Our guests today are Father Paisius and Father Michael from St. Innocent's, Katie Oliver from the Baranov Museum and Sven Haakanson from the Alutiiq Museum." Singers from St. Innocent's Academy and Saint Herman Seminary singers at 21:15. Yup'ik troparion and carolers' songs. "Skania" (phon.) at 25:10.

Oops! Double-blind test shows concert musicians can't tell the difference between a Stradivarius and a modern violin

Say it ain't so, Joe!

According to a story on the Guardian.co.uk website today, a double--blind study indicates that musicians prefer modern violins to 17th-century instruments valued at more than a million dollars. While the sample is small, the study appeared in a reputable journal, The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and it replicates other studies.

Ian Sample of The Guardian sums up the study like this:

... it appears that concert violinists cannot tell from the sound alone whether they are playing a 300-year-old Stradivarius or an instrument made last week. And, for playing quality alone, the virtuoso will opt for the modern one when asked which fiddle they would like to take home.

These discordant findings emerge from experiments by Claudia Fritz, a researcher at the University of Paris, at an international violin competition in Indianapolis in 2010. She asked 21 musicians to play six different violins, three modern instruments and three by Italian maestros – one made by Guarneri del Gesu around 1740, and two made in Antonio Stradivari's workshop around 1700.

The Guardian also contacted a luthier, who said the study confirms other findings:

Kai-Thomas Roth, secretary of the British Violin Making Association, said that double blind tests, where neither experimenter nor musician knows which violin is played, had already shown people cannot distinguish a modern violin from a priceless work of art.

"There's some myth-making that helps old instruments," Thomas said. "If you give someone a Stradivari and it doesn't work for them, they'll blame themselves and work hard at it until it works.

"Give them a modern violin, and they'll dismiss the instrument straight away if it doesn't work for them. That's the psychology at work. Modern violins are easily as good, but even a good maker can make an instrument that doesn't work out."