music of the faroe islands

The Faroe Islands are a self-governing part of Denmark, and are an isolated group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean. Most Faroese music is primarily vocal, accompanied by the fiddle (which arrived in the 17th century) and European dances like the minuet and polka. Much of the imported music and instruments remained popular only in the capital and largest city, Trshavn. Rural peoples remained true to traditions of circle dancing and ballads. The three types of dance ballads are kvi, tttir 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 Froensium, which collected over 44,000 stanzas. Other songs include skjaldur, fantastic fairy tales sung by adults for children, and pitch-sliding, microtonal hymns called kingosálmar. 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 Ltzen, Kri av Reyni, Kri Petersen, Eivr Plsdttir, Alex Brendsen, Regin Dahl, Simon Von Konoy Other well known faroese bands include: Frndur, , Moirae, MC-Hr, Nalja, Faroe Boys, 200%, Tr, Present Past, Makrel, Deiggj, Clickhaze, Mold, Hjarnar, Devon, Yggdrasil, Safir

References

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

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