Music Of Iceland
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Music Of Iceland
The music of Iceland includes vibrant folk and pop traditions, as well as an active classical and contemporary music scene. Well-known artists from Iceland include medieval music group Voces Thules, alternative rock band The Sugarcubes, singers Björk, Hafdís Huld and Emiliana Torrini, post-rock band Sigur Rós, post-metal band Sólstafir, indie folk/indie pop band Of Monsters and Men, blues/rock band Kaleo, metal band Skálmöld and techno-industrial band Hatari. Iceland's traditional music is related to Nordic music forms. Although Iceland has a very small population, it is home to many famous and praised bands and musicians. Folk music Icelandic music has a very long tradition, with some songs still sung today dating from 14th century. Folk songs are often about love, sailors, masculinity, hard winters, as well as elves, trolls and other mythological creatures, and tend to be quite secular and often humorous. Bjarni Þorsteinsson collected Icelandic folk music bet ...
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Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its surrounding areas) is home to over 65% of the population. Iceland is the biggest part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge that rises above sea level, and its central volcanic plateau is erupting almost constantly. The interior consists of a plateau characterised by sand and lava fields, mountains, and glaciers, and many glacial rivers flow to the sea through the lowlands. Iceland is warmed by the Gulf Stream and has a temperate climate, despite a high latitude just outside the Arctic Circle. Its high latitude and marine influence keep summers chilly, and most of its islands have a polar climate. According to the ancient manuscript , the settlement of Iceland began in 874 AD when the Norwegian chieftain Ingólfr Arnarson became the first p ...
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Bjarni Þorsteinsson
Bjarni is an Icelandic male given name and may refer to: *Bjarni Ármannsson resigned as CEO of Glitnir (formerly Íslandsbanki) in May 2007 * Bjarni Ólafur Eiríksson (born 1982), footballer (defender) from Iceland * Bjarni Benediktsson (born 1908) (1908–1970), Prime Minister of Iceland from 1963 to 1970 * Bjarni Benediktsson (born 1970), Prime Minister of Iceland since 2017 * Bjarni Bjarnason (born 1965), Icelandic writer from Reykjavík * Bjarni Friðriksson (born 1956), retired Icelandic judoka * Bjarni Fritzson (born 1980), Icelandic handball player *Bjarni Guðjónsson (born 1979), Icelandic footballer *Bjarni Herjólfsson (fl. 10th century) was an Icelandic explorer who sighted America in 986 *Bjarni Jónsson (born 1920), Icelandic mathematician and logician *Bjarni Jónsson (artist) (1934–2008), Icelandic painter *Bjarni Thorarensen (1786–1841), Icelandic poet and official *Bjarni Tryggvason (born 1945), Icelandic-born Canadian engineer and a former NRC/CSA astrona ...
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Waltz
The waltz ( ), meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom and folk dance, normally in triple ( time), performed primarily in closed position. History There are many references to a sliding or gliding dance that would evolve into the waltz that date from 16th-century Europe, including the representations of the printmaker Hans Sebald Beham. The French philosopher Michel de Montaigne wrote of a dance he saw in 1580 in Augsburg, where the dancers held each other so closely that their faces touched. Kunz Haas (of approximately the same period) wrote, "Now they are dancing the godless ''Weller'' or ''Spinner''."Nettl, Paul. "Birth of the Waltz." In ''Dance Index'' vol 5, no. 9. 1946 New York: Dance Index-Ballet Caravan, Inc. pages 208, 211 "The vigorous peasant dancer, following an instinctive knowledge of the weight of fall, uses his surplus energy to press all his strength into the proper beat of the bar, thus intensifying his personal enjoyment in dancing." Around 1750, ...
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Polka
Polka is a dance and genre of dance music originating in nineteenth-century Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Though associated with Czech culture, polka is popular throughout Europe and the Americas. History Etymology The term ''polka'' referring to the dance is derived from the Czech word ''Polka'' meaning "Polish woman" (feminine form corresponding to ''Polák'', a Pole)."polka, n.". Oxford University Press. (accessed 11 July 2012). Czech cultural historian Čeněk Zíbrt also attributes the term to the Czech word ''půlka'' (half), referring to both the half-tempo and the half-jump step of the dance.Čeněk Zíbrt, "Jak se kdy v Čechách tancovalo: dějiny tance v Čechách, na Moravě, ve Slezsku a na Slovensku z věků nejstarších až do nové doby se zvláštním zřetelem k dějinám tance vůbec", Prague, 189(Google eBook)/ref> The word was widely introduced into the major European languages in the early 1840s. Origin and popularity The pol ...
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Sigurður Breiðfjörð
Sigurður Breiðfjörð (4 March 1798 – 1846) was an Icelandic poet. He learned cooperage for four years in Copenhagen and worked as a cooper in Iceland and Greenland. He was a prolific and popular traditional poet, known for his ''rímur In Icelandic literature, a ''ríma'' (, literally "a rhyme", pl. ''rímur'', ) is an epic poem written in any of the so-called ''rímnahættir'' (, "rímur meters"). They are rhymed, they alliterate and consist of two to four lines per stanza. T ...'' cycles. ''Núma rímur'' is his best-known work. References * Neijmann, Daisy L. (1996). ''The Icelandic Voice in Canadian Letters : The Contribution of Icelandic-Canadian Writers to Canadian Literature.'' McGill-Queen's Press. Sigurður Breiðfjörð Sigurdur Breidfjord 1798 births 1846 deaths Sigurdur Breidfjord Sigurdur Breidfjord {{Iceland-poet-stub ...
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Jón Sigurðsson
Jón Sigurðsson (17 June 1811 – 7 December 1879) was the leader of the 19th century Icelandic independence movement. Biography Born at Hrafnseyri, in Arnarfjörður in the Westfjords area of Iceland, he was the son of Þórdís Jónsdóttir and pastor Sigurður Jónsson. In 1833, he moved to Denmark to study grammar and history at the University of Copenhagen. While in Denmark, Jón developed syphilis and was bedridden for an extended period. According to historian , Jón showed little interest in politics prior to his bout with syphilis. After completing his education, Jón began to work at the Arnamagnæan Institute, which was then the home of the manuscripts of the Icelandic sagas. He became an expert on the sagas and on Icelandic history. He never graduated from university, as Icelandic politics grew to consume all his time. Before Jón moved to Denmark he proposed to his cousin, , and she and her father, Jón's uncle, accepted the proposal. However Jón and Ingibjörg ...
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Hannes Bjarnason
Hannes is a masculine given name and a diminutive of Johannes or Hannibal. Hannes may refer to: *Hannes Alfvén (1908–1995) Swedish chemist and Nobel-prize winner * Hannes Aigner (born 1989), German slalom canoeist and Olympic medalist * Hannes Androsch (born 1938), Austrian entrepreneur, consultant, politician and former Austrian Vice Chancellor * Hannes Anier (born 1993), Estonian footballer * Hannes Arch (born 1967), Austrian pilot *Hannes van Asseldonk (born 1992), Dutch racing driver *Hannes Astok (born 1964), Estonian journalist, radio presenter and politician * Hannes Bauer (born 1954), German trombonist and jazz musician * Hannes Baumann (born 1982), German sailor and Olympic competitor *Hannes de Boer (1899–1982), Dutch long jumper and Olympic competitor *Hannes Bok (1914–1964), American artist and writer *Hannes Brewis (1930–2007), South African rugby player * Hannes van der Bruggen (born 1993), Belgian footballer *Hannes Coetzee (born 1944), South African guitaris ...
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Skald
A skald, or skáld (Old Norse: , later ; , meaning "poet"), is one of the often named poets who composed skaldic poetry, one of the two kinds of Old Norse poetry, the other being Eddic poetry, which is anonymous. Skaldic poems were traditionally composed on one occasion, sometimes extempore, and include both extended works and single verses ('' lausavísur''). They are characteristically more ornate in form and diction than eddic poems, employing many kennings and heiti, more interlacing of sentence elements, and the complex '' dróttkvætt'' metre. More than 5,500 skaldic verses have survived, preserved in more than 700 manuscripts, including in several sagas and in Snorri Sturluson's ''Prose Edda'', a handbook of skaldic composition that led to a revival of the art. Many of these verses are fragments of originally longer works, and the authorship of many is unknown. The earliest known skald from whom verses survive is Bragi Boddason, known as Bragi the Old, a Norwegian ska ...
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Edda
"Edda" (; Old Norse ''Edda'', plural ''Eddur'') is an Old Norse term that has been attributed by modern scholars to the collective of two Medieval Icelandic literary works: what is now known as the ''Prose Edda'' and an older collection of poems without an original title now known as the ''Poetic Edda''. The term historically referred only to the ''Prose Edda'', but this has fallen out of use because of the confusion with the other work. Both works were written down in Iceland during the 13th century in Icelandic, although they contain material from earlier traditional sources, reaching into the Viking Age. The books are the main sources of medieval skaldic tradition in Iceland and Norse mythology. Etymology At least five hypotheses have been suggested for the origins of the word ''edda'': * One hypothesis holds that it is identical to a word that means "great-grandmother" appearing in the Eddic poem ''Rígsþula.'' * Another hypothesis holds that ''edda'' derives from Old Nors ...
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Viking Age
The Viking Age () was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. It followed the Migration Period and the Germanic Iron Age. The Viking Age applies not only to their homeland of Scandinavia but also to any place significantly settled by Scandinavians during the period. The Scandinavians of the Viking Age are often referred to as ''Vikings'' as well as ''Norsemen'', although few of them were Vikings in sense of being engaged in piracy. Voyaging by sea from their homelands in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, the Norse people settled in the British Isles, Ireland, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, Normandy, and the Baltic coast and along the Dnieper and Volga trade routes in eastern Europe, where they were also known as Varangians. They also briefly settled in Newfoundland, becoming the first Europeans to reach North America. The Norse-Gaels ...
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A Cappella
''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato musical styles. In the 19th century, a renewed interest in Renaissance polyphony, coupled with an ignorance of the fact that vocal parts were often doubled by instrumentalists, led to the term coming to mean unaccompanied vocal music. The term is also used, rarely, as a synonym for '' alla breve''. Early history A cappella could be as old as humanity itself. Research suggests that singing and vocables may have been what early humans used to communicate before the invention of language. The earliest piece of sheet music is thought to have originated from times as early as 2000 B.C. while the earliest that has survived in its entirety is from the first century A.D.: a piece from Greece called the ...
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Ólafur Liljurós
"Elveskud" or "Elverskud" (; Danish for "Elf-shot") is the Danish, and most widely used, name for one of the most popular ballads in Scandinavia (''The Types of the Scandinavian Medieval Ballad'' A 63 'Elveskud — Elf maid causes man's sickness and death'; ''Danmarks gamle Folkeviser'' 47; ''Sveriges Medeltida Ballader'' 29; NMB 36; CCF 154; IFkv 1). Origins and distribution The origins of the ballad are agreed to be considerably earlier than the earliest manuscripts, in the Middle Ages, but there is little consensus beyond this. Many scholars suggest a Breton or French origin but the routes by which it came to and was disseminated within Northern Europe are unknown. The ballad has close parallels across Europe (the closest English-language parallel being " Clerk Colvill"). The earliest surviving manuscript is Karen Brahes Folio, a Danish manuscript from the 1570s; the earliest surviving Swedish version is from the 1670s. At least seventy Scandinavian variants are known; ove ...
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