Viking Age Music - What kind of musical instruments did the Vikings have
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- Опубліковано 11 сер 2018
- Music has since we were cavemen been part of our culture, and that was of course also the case in the Viking age. Today we can still find the remains of the musical instruments in our soil that the Vikings used during their lifetime. Unfortunately, we are not able to dig up their music and listen to how it sounded like, and there has also not been found any musical notations from the Viking age.
The archaeologists have found a wide range of musical instruments from the Viking age, and many of them still looks like musical instruments that is being used today in some parts of Eastern Europe.
Link to the musical band at the end of the video:
www.virelai.dk/english.htm
Wardruna:
amzn.to/2nxjAWJ
Forndom:
amzn.to/2P3HrK6
Amon Amarth:
amzn.to/2P7PSEi
Link to the website:
norse-mythology.net/viking-age...
Support Skjalden on Patreon: / skjalden
I own the licenses for the music for web use on platforms such as youtube
#Vikings #VikingAge #Music
Other sources:
www.flickr.com/photos/jelling...
www.flickr.com/photos/jelling...
doortonothingness.wordpress.c...
Some Danish archeologists have just found the remains of a lyre in Ribe dated to about year 720
Ribe is a great place for finding new and exciting discoveries from the past, and it seems that the city gets older and older the deeper and longer they dig there :)
I hope they find a drum
@@WisdomPrevails369 not in viking times
@@Sheepdog1314the viking age went all the way to the 9th century
The Jaw Harp is very common all over the Appalachians here in the U.S.
I had one when I was a kid.
I use one myself all the way in SE Texas
Here in Sweden we still practice the barkhorn (näverlur) as shown at 5:34. Traditionaly they was used for sending signals or messages about lifestock between farmers villages (fäbod/fäbodar) and earlier in time they've been used for signaling (true dokumentation from Norway where i lived) when ships arrived in the bays (vikr/vik, get it? Vik-ingr? Vikings?) And then as the gentleman states in the video.
I approach this video! As a scandinavian myself i find these instrument familiar and fair-sounding. They tell a story and the sound is the image, where as the listener makes the journey. Thank you for this video and may fair seas bring thee hence. Skål! 🍺
I was searching for a video like this for a long time. Finally some music that makes sense and not always heavy metal. Nothing against metal, some good songs out there, but it just didn't exist in the times of the Vikings.
Thanks a lot for this really interesting video!
The lyrics found in the law book sent me down a rabbit hole about silk trade during the Viking Age. Thanks so much for your work and your channel!
Instrument #4. the horn pipe... "Chanter." Doesn't always need the bag and other pipes. When learning the "Pipes." Beginners start with the chanter, then move up. The sound is the same.
It would be interesting to hear all of the musical instruments you described used in one song. Fascinating!
I commented before getting to the end. That last video was marvelous! Thank you!
Cathy Shepherd listen to Forndom
@sweet Texas Gal I was searching through the comments to find references to similar music found your Forndom and another reference from a comment below from colin Paterson for Eivor Palsdotir , with those I found many other ones Forndom is magical . all the best
hani karam I like some by Eivør but Forndom is my absolute favorite, no other music sounds like them. Norwegian group Myrkur has one that is great Tvo Konungabarn but the rest of their music is hard rock. German group Duivelspack song Völuspa. Herr Mannelig by Garmarna a German group. These songs are in swedish or Old Norse.
@Sweet Texas Gal thank you I will check them out and yes you have a good judgement Forndom is extraordinary and mythological
About the lyric for the song mentioned; There is a Norwegian dialect where they use the term `pæl` for boots. So, the songlyric might just be about someone who dreamt about silken cloths and fine boots?
You have failed to disappoint me again, Skjalden! Another interesting video. I loved the samples of sound you provided..was that you playing your hidden stash of instruments you found?? Haha! I recommend replicas of all the instruments found to be given to several bands like Leidungr, Wardruna, and Heilung amongst others (not so well known ) and hold one big day of music for the ancestors and their return!
I guess sometimes it is good to fail :) ha, If only I had the skills to play these instruments :) I would absolutely love a big festival like the Roskilde festival, but just with music like Wardruna, forndom, ect :) I think it could be possible with a big event like that once a year.
Skjalden I absolutely agree with you and I think for good measure it would be excellent to have a living museum on site along with all Norse arts and crafts to purchase. There is currently a Draken touring here (places too far for me to visit ) it would be great to have that crew at such an advent too! If you decide to arrange such an event I'll be very happy to help!
Awesome video Bro :D Love it!
The music sounds as though it would be quite comfortable on a deck of a ship or in a large mead hall, I enjoyed it.
awesome, i sure love all of your hard work putting this all together, great stuff. i don't think the church liked much of anything they couldn't control.
Thanks Wayne, yes, there could something about that :)
That attitude wasn't restricted to the Catholic Church, though...pretty much any elite thinks like that, irregardless of religion.
they sure do.
I don't think the church liked much of the guys who were raiding churches...
@@viktorsilva4017 Perhaps but there are examples from other more peaceful cultures of the church having the same opinion about pagans/heretics, a.k.a anyone not from their religion.
I do have a tagelharpa. And although I'm not good player it sumon animals. Cats, bats and hedgehogs a speciel. It's some thing with the over tones or magic maybe.
As a Norwegian musicology student, I've been getting increasingly deeper into the endless rabbit hole that is folk music, and the especially old stuff like the Sámi and Norse music has really started being on my mind recently. Definitely love me some folk metal too (after all, that's how this folk music journey started for me). Maybe my increasing interest for the Norse culture stems in part (the viking age is always something I've been interested in) from how the world is becoming increasingly digital, international and anglicised, and my resulting desire to cling onto my own nationality and culture.
This is a very good and informative video, with straight-to-the-point information and audio examples. I can't believe how Wardruna hasn't slipped my mind before, but I will most certainly give them an exploration. It's also very interesting to see just how old the jaw harp is, seeing as it is one of the major instruments within Norwegian folk music (and I assume also the Danish and Swedish).
Eskimo's didn't have music, it's a modern invention that came with the communist identity politics they have employed against you since the 1950's. Did you know that they are the only people considered indigenous to Europe? Yes, Europeans are not recognized as indigenous people. Anywhere. But the asian guys who walked in 1200 years ago - they are.
Awesome video! Thanks so much for taking the time to make this, I really appreciate it and learned a lot.
Love these videos! I listen to them and it makes me happy and I learn more about my favorite subject. Thank you.
You married the background music with your narration perfectly. If only "Hollywood" would take your respect for words and music, then perhaps I would go to the cinema to watch a movie.
This video was essential for me planning my "viking skald" bard in an upcoming D&D game.
The Lur or Näverlur (birch bark horn) is still made by artisans in Dalarna Sweden.
That's Virelai at the end!! Great band!
I am afraid, there are a few mistakes:
Lyre: Yes, there were several remains of lyres found; but the lyre Einar selvig plays is the Kravik Lyre, and it is dated far later tha the viking age. The lyre was not plicked, it was strummed while the fingers muted the strings which shall not sound. This is used for the Kantele as well.
Talharpa: It is highly questionable if the Vikings used the Talharpa. Simply because the bow emerges in Europe at the end of the viking age.
Rebec: It is not a Rebec, it is a Gudok, a slavish instrument similar to the Byzantinian Lyre (which is not really a lyre, confusing, I know). The Rebec has a fingerboard, the Gudok doesn´t. For the bow, there is the same as for the Talharpa.
Drums: While drums are popular in modern music, there are rather rare in traditionell or folk music, especially in scandinavian folk. Music works really fine without it.
Kantele: Why is it missing?
Hedeby: Hedeby is not located in Scandinavia (unless you have a rather wide defination of Scandinavia). You find it in North Germany.
@thomasoeterson4105
I think it’s kind of an interesting thing to try to place and date all of this at times. We do see evidence of several Germanic type lyres particularly in Britain and North Western Europe dating back to the early 1st millennium AD, which I know you mentioned about lyres in general. We’ve also found a few bridges that seem to fit this type of long lyre in Scotland dating back roughly 2500 years. Something similar is found on a Scrythian helmet as well as having a similarity to a Siberian instrument and a finding near the Caucuses dating back around 300 AD. I honestly feel this is more of a pan Indo-European instrument with a strong Germanic tradition. Perhaps some back migration with the Goths into the east as well.
Playing style I personally believe was probably both bloke strum and pluck, why not? Then of course you begin to see fingerboards added around the time of the Viking age particularly in the British Isle.
Hand drums I also feel would have been present based on the Sami, related Siberian tribes and perhaps some Greek and Anatolian inspiration. Probably more of the former, and percussion is a pretty natural instinct for all humans. Bowing yeah pretty Central Asian in its origin, but there is even is some recent debate over it having more then a single origin and maybe older in Europe then previously thought. Of course we know what sort of amazing instruments were eventually invented in Europe the following 1000 years, but that’s another story. Just my 2 cents and not disagreeing or debating with you, just sharing.
Take care
Josh.
thanks for great vid, loved it and brought back memories. I lived in Ribe for many years but now moved
I learned so much today! Thank you for your hard work!
You are the first youtuber I saw who doesn't forget to mention that the written sources we have a full of bias.
Yeah other youtubers mention it sometimes but then seem to ignore it for the rest of their videos.
We've learned so much over the past years about the vikings. Many things we thought to "know" have proven wrong. I still find it insulting that people call them "illiterate". I mean they had the runes! We don't know how much of the poplulation knew how to read them, but they had them. I mean... in that time not every christian knew how to read latin letters, did they? Far from it! Yet, we don't call them "illiterate". Maybe the early medieval scandinavians wrote more than we know. Maybe they just used material that didn't last very long so we can't find it today.
I don't think they had their runes just for the rare occasion of carving something into a stone here and there.
By the way Skjalden: I'd love to hear what you think about Gambesons in early middle ages. People usually just take it for granted that they had gambesons because it makes sense. Yeah of course it makes sense to have padding underneath your mail armor (or just the padding, better than nothing right?). But that doesn't mean they had something specific like a gambeson. The tapestry people often refer to also isn't a reliable source in my opinion. It was made in the high middle ages as far as I know. And sources from the high middle ages aren't exactly accurate at depicting equipment from earlier. Just look at how romans are depicted in some churches. They have full high medieval plate armor, because the people of the time could relate more to that. So back to topic:
I'm not too sure what to think about gambesons in the viking age. Which sucks... I need some padding to wear underneath my mail armor so I can participate in fights... I guess multiple layers of tunics will have to do. I mean... couldn't that be what they had done? War multiple tunics underneath the mail? That would be some decent padding I think... Not a good standalone armor like a gambeson, but better than just one layer of cloth right?
THANK YOU
This was such a well presented and informative video. I learned so much. Thank You ... so interesting. 👌
I really enjoyed this, as someone who plays various instruments, and is interested in cultural history. Your video appeared in my UA-cam feed as I had just watched some videos done by the Jorvik Viking Centre in York. That included the boxwood "panpipe" that came from the Coppergate archaeological site. In fact I was living in York at the time of that and some friends worked on the site, such excitement as the past was revealed. Of course I just watched series #6 of the Vikings series. Several of these instruments appear at some places in that. I will take a listen to Virelai.
Thank you for your creation of this video!
Such a great video and channel. Subscribed in a heartbeat.
this is very interesting, Thank you for your English explanations. I loved hearing the old song at the end.
Your Danglish is very nice brother. Greetings from Aros
You blew the horn well! And I had not seen the pan pipe! A wonderful subject music. Thanks for this.
Many people say “big deal” I think it is because we should know our history and sometimes it’s good to learn from history so we don’t repeat it.
I love your videos! Best channel on UA-cam. Even when you have any doubt about something you always state it which is awesome. My English not the best sorry. I’m Swedish. I love your videos!
Awesome video. The visuals you paired along with it are great, like a fine red wine with aged cheese. Mmmm, yes. You've served as my gateway into the harrowing and wonderful tales of Nordic culture.
Wonderful and informative, as always! Thank you from Texas, U.S.
Thanks Kelly :)
Love your videos!
Thanks Enzo :)
The flutes and pipes we find are some of the ways to be almost sure what viking music actually ‘sounded like’. Those finger positions don’t move, even after thousands of years of being buried.
Notice how different those modes melodies are from all the brooding and dark war music that is being passed off as Viking music nowadays. It gives the impression that Vikings did nothing but make war and engage ecstatic religious practices. I think that is a grave over-simplification.
Excavated flutes are also how we have been able to reconstruct other kinds of ancient melodies from Egypt, Greece and other places.
I’m a bowed lyre fan myself, but calling some music Viking is kind of a stretch.
If I were to make an ignorant guess, I’d say the music at the end of this vid comes more accurate than many other soundscapes that are promoted as Viking. And rhythms typically can be reconstructed using the language(s) spoken.
4:30 that instrument is still used in norway!
Yeah but now it's used to entertain men in their cuck shed while Tyrone bones their wife as their gynocratic overlords dictate should be done thrice daily to compete with the Swedes for ultimate self destruction.
1:50 They probably heard they use horns as yard glasses, but didn't know which way around they drank from. So they just assumed they use it as a funnel for someone to pour a keg of beer into, thus inventing the beer bong. :P
Tagelharpa is not a scandinavian instrument. It is from the Baltics and Karelia. There are no records of it being used in Sweden, Norway or Denmark during the viking age. Lyran was used but definitely not a tagelharpa. Also bands like Wardruna, Heilung and Leidung does not make authentic viking music nor have they ever claimed they use it.
Put, or make, a trumpet dtyle mouthpiece on any tube and you can get 5 natural notes out of it without an finger holes or valves
"The Last Post" for instance is played on a natural horn like this.
Great video, thank you!
Job well done
Great video! I build myself a bukkehorn (in key G), 2 taggelharpa's, a framedrum and a rebec. Great sound!
damn, that "manipulative Lyre playing" sounds a lot like some kind of early version of the story for the (probably) much later Norwegian folk tune "Fanitullen" which is about the devil tricking a whole farm who's having a feast to kill each others as the devil (who from the story, sounds more like a pagan spirit than the devil) plays a tune on his fiddle.
It is interesting to find these possible connections on how folk music travelled
Edit: I just checked the story and I got it a bit wrong. But I'm keeping it as I remembered it for the sake of doing a little traditional transfer of folk stories (as in, not correct on the details)
Thank You Skjalden I play music and I really enjoyed this video
Very descriptive. Great video !
forndom is worth checking out! For metal, Moonsorrow really works in amazingly a lot these instruments in their music, especially the album Verisakeet.
7:36
That instrument might not have been a part of the viking age at all, and if it was it only made it into the very end of it.
The idea of using bows on string instruments didn't arrive in Europe till about 1000 after Christ from the nomadic step peoples.
The music reminds me a lot of Eastern European folk music
I was beginning to think that today there was to be no video and did not get a notification until after 11pm, but had to watch it before going to bed. I am glad that I did as it was extremely interesting. Did you perform any of the examples used here?
Have you heard the music of Eivør Pálsdóttir? She is from Faroes and I find her music and singing very good. Some of her songs are in English but most in Faroese and have an ethereal quality to them but some are also robust and spirited. I came across her during a Google search for Celtic music.
I guess that was kinda in the last minute, it is probably something that can happen again :) No, I was not playing the music in the video. I have heard her music before, I like those videos where she is performing in nature, I hope I will be able to be part of one of her concerts in the future :)
Great video!
i love your name
Thank you, very much. Your name is lovely, too.
Medieval music - Blackmores Night, Faun
Viking music - Skald, Runfell, Danheim, Wardruna
Metal viking music - Brothers Of Metal 👈🏻 Sings about Hel, Njord, Sons of Odin ect. Excellent band 🤗
Gotta give an honorable mention to Heiling thought
@@ISAYWORDS1 Heilung suppose to be bronze age
12:46 Saxo Grammaticus describes the first mosh pit
My blood is viking. Im trying to learn everything
"Friends of the Sun cross" by, Amon Amarth
Some like heilung,skald,shireen can be cited..but dont eventually use these instruments.
Thank you for bring 3 bands as reference. I only knew about wardruna thanks to vikings serie and later i found aurora as well
Later found elyphas and tyr bands
Eivor another good one
it's a deal. thumbs up. did ya ever notice that the men that drink mead will even play the lead. we had a minstrel in the village a fortnight ago. he could make a flute toot. it was hilarious. the guy on the drum is pretty dum. don't forget the bells. cris kringle had them on his sleigh. then we had a group kinda like little beatles, if i remember correctly they were the bedbugs. they could sure get ya stompin your feet and dancin i tell ya. really enjoy your shows skjalden. take care gare
Thank you Gary :)
Forndom is my favorite Nordic Swedish group. He keeps the instruments authentic. Even my husband likes them and he doesn't try new music 😂.
Very interesting
Intressting that no drums has been found since it almost not used in swedish folkmusik more modern time.
That was awesome ! Mange tak.
Oh my god I still have so many questions. Great video!! Do you happen to know any books in English about the subject? :)
props for mentioning Amon amarth, another Viking themed metal band you might be interested in checking out would be TYR, a band from Russia called fferyllit, a non-metal band I listen to with Viking themes would be SAXON MOON, some of the music at 18:05 sounded like it would be used in a BLIND GUARDIAN song. sorry for the lengthy comment, keep up the good work.
Thanks, Matt Partington for mentioning fferyllit, I've not heard about that band before, I will check them out later tonight :)
Skjalden it's all in Russian so you probably won't know what they're saying lol, check out their video for their song "yule"
I like the fact that you dont say the Kravik lyre, which is what Einar uses, because the Kravik lyre was first believed dated to 14th century,but when they dated the wood it was actually 15-16th century. So the different lyre fragments/bodies found in central europe,like the Cologne/Oberflacht/Trossingen and the Sutton Hoo/Bergh Apton in England is dated pre and early viking age,so i would think they were used in performances/skaldic verses,story tellings and accompanied with other instruments found in the viking era like drum/flute/jawharp and lur
The jaw harp at 4:25 looks like a pretty typical jaw harp, and sounds like it, too. They are still made, sold and used today. The Nepalese use a Jew's harp that looks almost exactly like the one in this video. Scandinavian Jew's harps today are pretty much the same as US ones - but the sound is the same.
Do dream must be a Proto-Indo-European word! Although Denmark is pretty near to England I could almost follow it. Mik for me ect.
The most Northern music I know from discovering it myself is a track called Keena marame sung by Anneli Drecker who has the voice of an angel. From Tromsø I think...
Ótimos instrumentos
First time watching this that music from around before 18:40 sounds very much like common Scandinavian folk music. It sounds familiar, like I've heard things like it before.
I was searching for a video like this for so long. I swear to god man, people just see vikings as brutes ignorant of their culture
3:19 sounds like midgard music from minecraft norse mythology soundtrack.
Brilliant video however your channel dose make me wish I were a Viking
If you want to get a glimps at how a Bard might have really sounded like, check out Benjamin Bagby reciting Beowolf. Thank me later... 🙂
The blood of the Vikings runs through my veins..
Second-generation American.
😎😎 Denmark..
Something that many don't really talk about is were are talking about 700 +/- years. What might be acceptable(earrings for instance) in a couple of generations, could easily go out of favor later, just as thing do now. So tattoos, haircuts, jewelry, ect, could have gone in and out of favor, and the types also. Just like a man wearing an earring on the right side, certain tattoos, ways of walking or sitting can mean different things to different groups.
These musical instruments are very similar to those from the British isles and throughout Celtic civilization, there must have been trade even before the bronze age
4:57 my grandmother have one of those
One important thing about the "dromte mig en drom" Song is, we don't know the rythmic of it, from the notation we can only tell the melody! And I would even disagree with the melody shown in the Video, but i am still making Research on that.
Wait...so they didn't play heavy metal?
3:30 and 4:16 where can I buy this instrument and how do you spell its name?
How did the jaw harp arrive in a Viking's repertoire?
I watched the whole video but I'm still waiting for you to talk about the Viking Age electric guitars that were used to make Viking Metal????
Same
Who says Viking metal have to have electric guitars? ua-cam.com/video/QRg_8NNPTD8/v-deo.html
(Scandinavian Iron and Viking Age)
@@user-mq5xt5jf4o Somehow I knew before I clicked that link that it was going to be Heilung!
8:42 sounds oddly familiar to The Sims Medieval Peteran Church soundtrack
What period were each of the instruments dated to?
Can someone link me the version of dromte mug en drom that he played
One of my artist made one of those he played the lyre and the other string instruments. We only became Roman so we could trade .they didn't like us much .you play well yes I can read music .it was the last of the song . That is how I read it .That just me .you gave us three choices . When I first read it you said the first two I'm like That s not it, the third is the right one..we are farmers we are fighters .Father's made sure their children could fight with great fun . Dad golden glove . My brothers and sisters were not like me .I'm both handed , some times my brother would join a little girl with a wooden sword and a wooden shield to fight papa . Was given a real bow and arrow at 9 . Of course play a instrument my first Lang.
So beside taken out and showed how to plant and every name of every plant .I thought it was wasted . Nope my mind remembered every thing . I played the accourden. Now I have a 40 in back .That s ok I look small .and tall .we're big but not at all fat 125 lb s . Strong 125 lb Hei this is me . Again . I have too say I don't like the Romans I have no idea why .ancestors. I don't know .really would love to solve that one ..we're great on music . My father dances on air . I don't know how he does it .big guy . When I was little his armsblook like Popeye arms .Yes I wanted Popeye arms too . I do but not with deff .11 inches around this comment is on 2 of your videos rolled in to one that we ofcouse were farmer .we love to eat .very God on the instruments ran out of juice on one of my devises, sorry for confusion . Skáll
Did they play these relics for their research or are they too afraid to damage them?
vikings also traveled across the northern boundaries to where what is now called native Americans lived and they traded - good chance they got the skin drum from there, also
in europe always existed...
I believe that skalmejen is simply a chanter reed. We have these to practice and learn bagpipe playing today. It can also be played alone. But this is just the pipe without the bag. I have a secret theory that the pipes came from scandinavia as den säckpipan and became the pipes that we know today over time and influence in ireland, scotland and the surrounding areas. Was there a reed found in the mouthpiece and what was it made out of?
There's bagpipes all over the world. Most of the European countries have their own tradition Most probably it originated around the mediteranian area and moved on from there. Long before the viking age... Although I'm not very up to date and informed about bagpipes.
MORE COWBELL!
'kæft det' fedt det her!!
There is a danish song " jeg drømte mig en drøm i nat"
How do ypu spell the instrument at 3:32 id like to do some research on it
You can always find the text on the website.
norse-mythology.net/viking-age-music/
@@Skjalden thankyou
4:50 YEE HAW
In English you have to dlsay b not h. It works a bit differently
Would please put the spellings of the instruments in the comments?
Halo SKjalden could u do me a favor and look into the Norman french name Rogers?
its from china, it comes from rogeryong. you are not a viking, sorry.
Skálmöld :)
träumte mich ein traum in nacht, um seide und herrlichen pelz
You missed to say Danheim! Viking music from Denmark
flytes
:)
Baltic pagan approve!