The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #125951 Message #2806007
Posted By: Matthew Edwards
07-Jan-10 - 04:16 PM
Thread Name: Taking on the Big Boys? - classic big long ballads
Subject: RE: Taking on the Big Boys? - classic big long ballads
Somewhere earlier in this thread Richard Mellish mentioned the Faroese ballad singing tradition; this was, and still is, very much a communal performance where one person leads the singing but everyone else joins in while they all dance together in a continuously moving ring. The ballads are typically of 100 or more verses, and they are performed during the long winter nights up to Shrovetide. I've been listening to some amazing recordings from 1959, including a great version of Harpu RĂma (The Two Sisters) on a CD Traditional Music in the Faroe Islands.
There are some more recent performances of Faroese ballad ringdancing posted on YouTube such as:-
Harra Paetur og Elingburg,
Gudbrandskvaedi,
and many more - but none of them are short!
Matthew