"Icelandic Viking Poetry Chanting" is how the avant electro-folk
group Sigur Rós described Steindór Andersen's contribution
to their 2001 collaboration and that is a pretty accurate representation
of the sounds contained herein. The great Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson
is the common thread linking Andersen and Sigur Rós, here
he has recorded the singer in various Icelandic locations:- "Tracks
1 to 7 … in the small confines of the traditional baðstofa,
and the perspective was that of a member of the household listening
in a typical evening wake situation", others inside a small turf
church and the Salurinn Concert hall, with its "beautiful acoustics".
Hilmar gives a detailed account of the recording process with
the performer himself enlightens us to the history and development
of rímur in a very readable but detailed fashion.
According to Anna M. Magnúsdóttir, rímur
(plural of ríma) are "melodies sung to long narrative poems,
characterised by irregular accents corresponding to changes in
the underlying poetic metre". Like its Lydian mode dominated folk
music, they are central to the Icelandic musical heritage and
play a pivotal role in the music of the country's classical composers,
such as Jón Leifs and Karl Runólfsson.On this inspired
disc from Naxos World, Steindór Andersen proves to be an
expert and genial guide. In their original settings rímur
cycles can go on for hours so here we are treated to well chosen
excerpts or "chapters" The subject matter ranges from "tales of
ancient warriors, life's lessons, songs to the sea, and how to
buy a horse!" and the composers dates span the 18th,
19th and early 20th centuries. Most of the
rímur are sung solo unaccompanied but in some Andersen's
elemental voice is twinned with another chanter, a didgeridoo
(that must be Hilmar's influence!) and an Irish harp. Unfortunately,
the otherwise very detailed booklet does not give us much information
about the additional performers or whether Andersen himself or
indeed Hilmarsson sang or played the accompaniments. On the turf
church recordings, he is occasionally accompanied by the howling
wind outside, its haunting sound fitting the subject matter being
sung about. It is perhaps an indication of my own musical preoccupations
that I found the harp pieces particularly affecting but I also
found some kinship within the more sparse pieces with the glorious
sean-nos Irish singing tradition. However, the Celtic muse is
generally a little less abrasive and more soft-focussed than the
rímur tend to be, the latter measuring up well to the Nordic
characteristics the aforementioned Leifs tried to create in his
own music, namely "laconic, stoic, objective, stern, usually sober
and serious, but given to occasional outbursts of harsh and sardonic
humour".
This is a wonderful introduction to a virtually unknown genre
outside its native land and should be of interest to anyone interested
in Nordic/Celtic folk music or the wider musical traditions, classical
included, of northern Europe. Recommended for serious listening
but not as background music, "Adiemus" it isn't!
Neil
Horner
Steindór Andersen,
voices