Norway


 * Norway by Van **



The music of Norway has been passed down by ear through the past few hundred years. Unlike many other European countries, Norwegian traditional and folk music still exist and admired by people. It is quite a difficult task to describe Norwegian traditional music because it varies from region to region. Not many types of European traditional music vary as much as Norwegian’s. The music of Norway mostly consists of classical, orchestra music or folk songs. Some of the instruments they use are: flute, violin, saxophone, other string instruments and other wind instruments. Some types on Norwegian traditional instruments include: bukkehorn (goat horn), lur (trumpet – like instrument), meraker (clarinet). The classical and orchestra songs usually have slow tempo and they sound very weary, they songs usually tell a folk story or describe Norwegian weather, or its beautiful nature and environment. Norwegian music is mostly based on North Germanic and Sami. These vocals include chanting – like style and ballads. Norwegian and Swedish folk music is unusual in Europe because they were developed mostly among small groups of farmers. Norwegian folk music (both vocals and no vocals) are mostly performed by soloists. Instrumental music is usually played on the hardanger fiddle, which is also considered to be the national instrument. The hardanger fiddle is a violin with four or five strings, but its structures are somewhat different to a regular violin because it is decorated very beautifully. The folk music with vocals usually contains powerful chants in a style called joik. These are mostly performed by indigenous people in Lapland. Norwegian’s traditional dance is called “bygdedans” which basically means the countryside dance. This type of dance is classified by rhythm and different regions in Norway dances to different rhythms. Bygdedans is an improvisatory dance where dancers choose from a variety and collection of dance accordingly to the rhythm of the music. Works Cited: []media type="file" key="Traditional Norwegian Music - Smrligren.mp3" width="240" height="20" media type="file" key="Arve Moen Bergset Bukkene Bruse - Norway folk song.mp3" width="240" height="20" Viet: "This looks like Van's but i'm not sure, sorry Mr. Mcgibbon"