Hardanger Fiddles

Subject: RE: Hardanger Fiddles
From: GUEST,PeterA
Date: 09 Jan 06 - 03:29 AM

I see this thread is still alive, and there are several CD's mentioned. This gives me one more opportunity to advocate for the modern version of the Hardanger fiddle. Some years ago Eric Andersen set up a brilliant small group consisting of Rick Danko and the norwegian Jonas Fjeld, and they made a lot of performances and a couple of CD's. On one of them they are joined by two traditional musicians from the southern part of Norway - the fiddler Halvard Bjorgum and the singer Kirsten Braten Berg, and this CD has a lot of interesting tracks. Especially a version of Richard Thompson's "Dimming of the day". Eric Anderson writes that he has grown particulary interested in the sound of the traditional Norwegian music. As far as I remember the CD is called "Riding the Blinds" and may be a little difficult to find. I will check it out this afternoon and correct myself if the title is wrong.

Subject: RE: Hardanger Fiddles
From: Bearheart
Date: 08 Jan 06 - 04:51 PM

A very good Hardanger fiddling CD that a Norwegian friend gave me is Devil's Tune, a compilation of 16 tunes from about 11 different Norwegian fiddlers. The liner notes have very good information on this fiddle tradition and the tunes.

"The four upper strings are often tuned in different ways to create a hypnotic archaic drone, which sometimes produces an altered state of awareness in fiddlers and listeners alike. In fact, a deep state of trance may occur during which the fiddler, in particular, may have visions of beings from another dimension who teach him or her new tunes. There are many stories about exhausted fiddlers who, after days of playing, have achieved a trance-like state of ecstasy. In this state they have had access to a magic doorway into a waking dream, or twilight zone, in which myth, legend, dream and reality blend into one state of consciousness. Many well-known fiddle tunes have been inspired by such a state..."

"It is said that as many as 16 different tunings exist and are used on the Hardanger fiddle today, although some are used only in specific local districts. The names given to these different tunings are often connected with colors such as "light blue", twilight grey", and half-grey". Others are named for legendary beings such as "hulder" (wood nymph) and "troll" and still other names are simply a description of how the fiddle is retuned."

The liner notes go on to talk more about the decoration of the instrument, the rhythms and other musical attributes of the tunes, and so on.

The recordings themselves span the years 1980 to 1998, and all are beautiful examples of this music. I HIGHLY recommend it if you like this style of fiddling.

Bekki

Subject: RE: Hardanger Fiddles
From: LilyFestre
Date: 06 Jan 06 - 07:42 PM

I emailed a nearby luthier to see if he had a Hardanger fiddle in his shop or knew of anyone (locally) who played one. I had to laugh at his response: "we do not deal in those Norwegian instruments."

Ah well...I'll find one somewhere.....

Michelle

Subject: RE: Hardanger Fiddles
From: GUEST,Mr Happy
Date: 06 Jan 06 - 04:16 PM

I was at a fiend's daughter's 18th birthday bash last month.

The fiddler in the band played a multistrung fiddle & I asked about it later- turned out to be a 9 string Hardanger.



http://www.john-bull.org.uk/index.htm

Subject: RE: Hardanger Fiddles
From: skarpi
Date: 06 Jan 06 - 03:03 PM

Halló , I am playing with Rósa and she use Hardanger fiddle
along with a fiddle, but hardanger has a great sound , like when she play " The king of the faire´s " I the faire word is strange but
anyway forgive that , about the Viking´s the viking went from Norway
to Ireland , then Scotland, Shetland , OrkneyIslands, Föreyjar-
Island and to Iceland, then back to Norway so we are all
sisters and brothers in a way .

The best plays in Norway to hear the Hardanger I think will be in
mid-west Norway in a state called " Sogn og Fjördene " it´s a
great plays to visit and you can hear a great music played on
a beatuiful fiddle Hardanger . I were there for a week last
year and going back 2007.

Well all the best from Skarpi Iceland.

Subject: RE: Hardanger Fiddles
From: Henrik W.
Date: 06 Jan 06 - 02:10 PM

For an example of a beautiful Hardanger fiddle made by Leeds-based Oakwood Instruments go to http://www.oakwoodinstruments.co.uk/four/1-offs/1-off.htm
(bottom of page).

Subject: RE: Hardanger Fiddles
From: NH Dave
Date: 06 Jan 06 - 01:48 AM

I don't think the person relating red hair in Ireland to the Viking influence said or implied anything about Vikings settling down there.

Dave

Subject: RE: Hardanger Fiddles
From: Pauline L
Date: 06 Jan 06 - 12:45 AM

There is a resemblance between the ringing strings in Shetland fiddle music and the Hardangar fiddle. I much prefer the Shetland style.

Subject: RE: Hardanger Fiddles
From: manitas_at_work
Date: 05 Jan 06 - 12:23 PM

It was Kevin Reilly on the Highland Sessions but that's not how he spells his name!

Subject: RE: Hardanger Fiddles
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 05 Jan 06 - 12:19 PM

"yes the vikings went to ireland...
that is where red hair came from!"

Naw, red hair just pops up where it wants to. Queen ELizabath I had it, Vivaldi had it, C. Columbus had it. In "Aku Aku" by Thor Heyerdahl, the daughter of the mayor of Easter Island had it. It is doubtful that the Vikings were behind this.

Anyhow, a Viking is merely a pirate. There were no female Vikings, no little Vikings. The people who left Scandinavia and settled in Ireland (and elsewhere) were the Norse.

Subject: RE: Hardanger Fiddles
From: a gud ole bwoy
Date: 05 Jan 06 - 12:12 PM

As told to me by an 85 year old Norwegian folk lady, with a certain twinkle in her eye.
"Why did the Vikings leave their own country and invade parts of Europe and England ....... because they knew that 200 years later the Hardanger fiddle would be invented".
She lived in the Hardanger region and explained that to be a good player you had to be taught by the Trols, so, for three consecutive days you had to throw a leg of lamb into the Hardanger Fiord then the Trols would come out and teach you how to play properly. I met a lot of Norwegian players who had definitely not followed that piece of folk-law. But, played well, what a majical sound, fiords, mountains and mist all rolled into one.

Subject: RE: Hardanger Fiddles
From: Peterr
Date: 05 Jan 06 - 12:04 PM

On Highland Sessions BBC4 recently a bloke played one, I'm sure.
I recall being told that the double stopping in a lot of Shetland tunes is due to the influence of the Hardanger fiddle. Fact?

Subject: RE: Hardanger Fiddles
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 05 Jan 06 - 11:52 AM

This thread has inspired me to get out my only Hardanger CD, "As Quick as Fire" by Knut Buen. (I believe I found it throught the fiddle association site mentioned above.)

Hardanger pieces seem to have a tradition of starting out with god-awful dissonances and discords. (I think it is an attempt to send an unmistakeable sound across the fjord and get distant neighbors to come dance.) Anyhow, when you first hear it, listen for awhile and give it a chance to become tuneful.

The notes have the interesting comment that modern instruments are sometimes made with wood hundreds of years old, taken from old barns.

Subject: RE: Hardanger Fiddles
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 05 Jan 06 - 11:52 AM

This thread has inspired me to get out my only Hardanger CD, "As Quick as Fire" by Knut Buen. (I believe I found it throught the fiddle association site mentioned above.)

Hardanger pieces seem to have a tradition of starting out with god-awful dissonances and discords. (I think it is an attempt to send an unmistakeable sound across the fjord and get distant neighbors to come dance.) Anyhow, when you first hear it, listen for awhile and give it a chance to become tuneful.

The notes have the interesting comment that modern instruments are sometimes made with wood hundreds of years old, taken from old barns.

Subject: RE: Hardanger Fiddles
From: open mike
Date: 05 Jan 06 - 01:51 AM

look on the hfaa pages for the AmeriKappleik Live! CD
with Loretta Kelley and others...i have videoed her at
a festival and was fascinated with the sound of her
fiddle. http://www.azaleacityrecordings.com/ArtistsPages/LorettaKelley.html
The sound is composed of a lot of double stops
and some of the intervals are modal or somehow created
tension by the sound of them...i used to think that
Norway may have had influences from the middle east
due to their proximity to the ocean and maybe some
Moorish or Phoenician influences might have gotten
into their music, since the sound was so foreign to my ear.

I have also recorded this instrument as played by
Torkel Hammer, a regualar at the Strawberry music fest.
he claims there is often a (pagan-pre-christian) symbol
on the top of the fiddle
(either at the scroll head or carved into the top)
which angers the gods in heaven, and on the back of the
hardanger fiddle are (Christian)designs which anger the devil, so
all the super natural forces are challenged by it's playing.
(that is something like what he said...hard to re-create it)

Subject: RE: Hardanger Fiddles
From: Bassic
Date: 05 Jan 06 - 01:00 AM

I was fortunate to "have a go" on Rosa`s Hardanger in Portaferry last year. As said above, they play like a standard fiddle. I found it relatively easy to get the sympathetic strings vibrating and just improvised some Norwgian "sounding" tunes in order to try it out. Trying to play "Irish style" did not work and the sympathetic strings were not very sympathetic! I fell in love with the instrument and just missed out on buying one on Ebay before christmas. Lilly, the sympathetic strings do indeed pass bellow the fingerboard, there is a channel cut down the length of the neck for these strings and the fingerboard forms the "lid" of this channel. Hope that helps.

Subject: RE: Hardanger Fiddles
From: Stephen L. Rich
Date: 04 Jan 06 - 10:05 PM

I've seen and heard those. there's a woman (whose name, unfortunately, escapes me at the moment) here in madison, WI who plays one. It is a remakable looking instrument and a truely amazing sound. Does anyone know of a source for recording of the darned thing?

Stephen Lee

Subject: RE: Hardanger Fiddles
From: LilyFestre
Date: 04 Jan 06 - 09:41 PM

I read that the strings go under the fingerboard but look at this photo...kinda looks like it goes through and then I guess comes out at the base? Interesting to look at, anyway.
Under? Through? Between?

Michelle

Subject: RE: Hardanger Fiddles
From: Susan A-R
Date: 04 Jan 06 - 09:33 PM

Ah, but then there's the Nikelharpa (sp?) Now that's the sound I love, but you have to be absoulutely in tune and it is played differently.

Subject: RE: Hardanger Fiddles
From: Kaleea
Date: 04 Jan 06 - 08:01 PM

I was once at a Music fest when a gal came along & played one for our camp. It was terrific. One of the fellers ecen recorded it. I don't recall the colour of the gal's hair!

Subject: RE: Hardanger Fiddles
From: open mike
Date: 04 Jan 06 - 07:56 PM

yes the vikings went to ireland...
that is where red hair came from!

Subject: RE: Hardanger Fiddles
From: GUEST,PeterA
Date: 04 Jan 06 - 12:44 PM

If you guys would like to listen to Hardanger-fiddles played in a traditional way with a new - or "modern" twist to it - look up a CD with "Spindel". This is a group of musicians from Bergen, excellent players, composers and performers. Their last CD is called "Aminje" which is an old norwegian term for "resting your mind" or something like that. I have been travelling a lot in Ireland and in my opinion the traditional music in Ireland and Norway has a lot in common.

Subject: RE: Hardanger Fiddles
From: Grab
Date: 04 Jan 06 - 07:42 AM

Another place to find out what they sound: Lord of the Rings DVDs. The Two Towers uses a Hardanger fiddle for the Rohan theme.

Graham.

Subject: RE: Hardanger Fiddles
From: Pauline L
Date: 03 Jan 06 - 10:53 PM

I have played one. The drone strings are underneath the fingerboard, as several people have noted. The one I played had a less curved bridge and a wider neck than "regular" fiddles. I don't know whether this is true of all Hardangers or just some, including the one I played. If you can play "regular" fiddle, you can play Hardanger. After saying all this, I have to be honest and tell you that I don't particularly like the way the Hardanger sounds.

Subject: RE: Hardanger Fiddles
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 03 Jan 06 - 08:43 PM

I've played one, though quite a long time ago. Like Sorcha, I want one of my very own. The extra strings aren't drones, but sympathetics, as has already been mentioned; they ring with what you're playing (you don't touch them with the bow), but typically need to be tuned to suit the key.

Really they belong only to the Handanger area; their adoption as a "national" instrument is relatively recent. There are past discussions here on the subject, which you should be able to find via the search engine ("lyrics and knowledge search" at the top of every page).

More info from (for example) the Hardanger Fiddle Association of America:

http://www.hfaa.org/

Subject: RE: Hardanger Fiddles
From: NH Dave
Date: 03 Jan 06 - 04:50 PM

The fiddles are played the same as a regular fiddle, the instrument of course. The drone or sympathetic strings run from the pegs UNDERNEATH the fingerboard, down to the bridge, underneath the regular strings, so they can't be fingered while playing. You might even be able to get a traditional Norwegian instrument by Googling "Husfliden", and searching for one. Husfliden is the Norwegian national crafts sales company, a bit like a central Cecil Sharpe House, with stores in most cities selling native crafts of their area as well as the whole of Norway.   

I have never played a Hardanger Fiddle, but I've seen them around Norway when I was over there with the forces. There was a Norwegian Air Force pilot who was famous around their military for having made and learning to play a Hardanger Fiddle. I think they are an interesting instrument, for the use of the drone strings, but since I don't play fiddle at all, would be a complete waste for me. Not that this has ever stopped me in the past.

Dave

Subject: RE: Hardanger Fiddles
From: Fullerton
Date: 03 Jan 06 - 04:39 PM

I went to an Workshop in Yorkshire a few years ago with Annbjørg Lien. She played one.

Lovely sound.

Great link Countess Richard. Well bookmarked.

Reminds me of nights in the Leeds Thornvilles.

Subject: RE: Hardanger Fiddles
From: Fullerton
Date: 03 Jan 06 - 04:39 PM

I went to an Workshop in Yorkshire a few years ago with Annbjørg Lien. She played one.

Lovely sound.

Great link Countess Richard. Well bookmarked.

Reminds me of nights in the Leeds Thornvilles.

Subject: RE: Hardanger Fiddles
From: Jon W.
Date: 03 Jan 06 - 04:34 PM

I've never played (or even touched) one but from written descriptions and pictures I know that the drone strings are not played at all. They run under the fingerboard and across the bridge well below the playable strings and are quite close together. They vibrate sympathetically with the notes being played and add the droning sound by that means.

Subject: RE: Hardanger Fiddles
From: LilyFestre
Date: 03 Jan 06 - 04:12 PM

Ok, but have you guys played them? Do they play the same as a fiddle? Do those drone strings get played on when then come out from under the finger board naturally (I'm thinking that maybe they sit just a tad lower than the regular strings) or do they rise up to the same height as the regular strings and then on to the bridge?

I'm going to check a few of these sites...I believe I read most of the FHAA site last night (even emailed the president and got a response already!!).

LF, have you played a Hardanger? What did you think of it?

Michelle

Subject: RE: Hardanger Fiddles
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 03 Jan 06 - 02:45 PM

Wall-to-wall hardangers on Norwegian state radio stream devoted entirely to traditional music here.

NB to display the playlist you need IE6 + WMP9.   Gatesware deigns not to make IE updates for Macs available above v5.3 nor WMP above v7 you're stuffed if you want to know what you're listening to unless you're running nasty Windows XP or something. Boo hiss

Subject: RE: Hardanger Fiddles
From: NormanD
Date: 03 Jan 06 - 02:32 PM

If you ever want to see one - at least in a glass display cabinet - go to The Horniman Museum in Forest Hill, south London. The museum has a vast collection of world-wide musical instruments, and a great afternoon's entertainment.

Norman

Subject: RE: Hardanger Fiddles
From: open mike
Date: 03 Jan 06 - 02:12 PM

This is a fiddle from Norway, which has sympathetic harmonic strings
which go under the bridge. If you watched the Olympics from Lillehammer
Norway a few years back, the opening ceremony was perfromed by a host
of fiddlers on skis (or were they skiers with fiddles?) sliding down
the hillside while playing! what a spectacle. for more you can go to
http://www.hfaa.org/ Hardanger Fiddle association of America. Here you can find sound samples, instruments fro sale and more. In Norwegian it is called a hardingfele is the national instrument of Norway, as the Nyckelharpa (which also has sympathetic resonating strings )is the national instrument of Sweden. It originated near the Hardanger fjord of Norway. Each instrument is decorated with inlay, scrimshaw-like ink designs and carved head stock. often a lion. (though lions were not found that far north!!)

Subject: RE: Hardanger Fiddles
From: Tootler
Date: 03 Jan 06 - 01:48 PM

Subject: RE: Hardanger Fiddles
From: Leadfingers
Date: 03 Jan 06 - 12:41 PM

It was a difficult decision - Which looked nicer , Rosa or her Hardanger ! And both played beautifully !!

Subject: RE: Hardanger Fiddles
From: Donuel
Date: 03 Jan 06 - 11:59 AM

Hardingers are the Shania Twains of the classical world, the sitars of the west and a little bit country with a touch of Tiffany.

Subject: RE: Hardanger Fiddles
From: Sorcha
Date: 03 Jan 06 - 11:57 AM

I WNAT one!! Does that count?

Subject: RE: Hardanger Fiddles
From: mooman
Date: 03 Jan 06 - 11:35 AM

Several fiddling 'Catters played on beautiful Icelandic Rosa's beautiful Hardanger at last year's Portaferry Gathering.

Scroll down and lookit here

Peace

moo

Subject: Hardanger Fiddles
From: LilyFestre
Date: 03 Jan 06 - 11:21 AM

Has anyone here ever played one of these? I'm intrigued.

Michelle