Music in Sweden 2 - Folk music
Swedish folk music. An introduction

 

Swedish folk music. An introduction Sweden is, today, a modern industrial nation. Most Swedes live in conurbations, large and small. Yet just a couple of generations ago almost the whole of the Swedish people lived in the countryside and Sweden's main industry was agriculture. Today's Swedish folk music has its roots in the peasant society of the 18th and 19th centuries, though many new developments have taken place during the past 80 years. Some types, such as the music from the summer pastures, have their roots in traditions perhaps more than a thousand years old. Typical for the Swedish peasant society was the small farm owned and worked by one family, occasionally with the help of a few hands. The peasantry dwelt in villages consisting of a few hundred inhabitants, all of whom knew each other and the inhabitants of the neighbouring villages. Swedish folk music developed in those villages. Large estates existed in some parts of Sweden. The gentry from these estates were able, thanks to their contact with Continental countries, to introduce the European dances of the day to Sweden. Many of these dances became in time the property of the peasantry, who reconstructed both music and dance under the influence of their own traditions. The extent and character of this reconstruction varied from one part of Sweden to another. Some parts, such as the coastal areas, had more extensive contacts with foreign countries than others. Some areas were bountiful, others had poor soils. Sweden is furthermore a long, narrow country where the climate varies greatly from the north to the south. These factors have led to somewhat large variations, both regional and local, as regards customs and also in the case of folk music. This brief background, which merely contrives to impart on acquaintance with the main features of Swedish folk music, cannot possibly cover all these regional and local variations.

 

Swedish folk music. An introduction
Music in Sweden 2 - Folk music