The title of (, ''National Spelman'') is a generally recognized badge of mastery for

Swedish folk music Swedish folk music is a genre of music based largely on folkloric collection work that began in the early 19th century in Sweden. The primary instrument of Swedish folk music is the fiddle. Another common instrument, unique to Swedish traditio ...

ians. It is an honor bestowed upon bearers of the silver or gold Zorn Badge, awarded annually by the Zorn Jury, a panel of experts under the auspices of

Svenska Folkdansringen Svenska Folkdansringen (The Swedish Folk Dance Ring), usually just called "Folkdansringen," is Sweden's largest amateur folk culture organization. Its primary focus is folk dance, but all aspects of Swedish folk culture fall under its purview, inc ...

. The silver Zorn Badge is the highest award attainable for musicians who play before the Zorn Jury in their annual Zorn Trials. (Other possible awards include a certificate,

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

Zorn Badge, and post-bronze certificate.) The gold Zorn Badge cannot be sought, but is reserved for one or two master musicians pre-selected by the Jury. Since the creation of the title in 1933, it has been awarded to an average of ten people per year. Sweden today has approximately 300 living riksspelmän. Since 2013 Denmark has a corresponding title of , which has been bestowed on 23 musicians who play

Danish traditional music 350px, ''Rebild Spillemandslaug'', a guild of traditional musicians founded by Evald Thomsen. Danish traditional music (Danish language">Danish: ''spillemandsmusik'') is the music genre that has its roots in pre-modern Denmark. In this period it ...

Etymology

In 1910, a national folk musicians' gathering () was called at

Skansen Skansen (; "the Sconce") is the oldest open-air museum and zoo in Sweden located on the island Djurgården in Stockholm, Sweden. It was opened on 11 October 1891 by Artur Hazelius (1833–1901) to show the way of life in the different parts ...

, Stockholm's

open-air museum An open-air museum is a museum that exhibits collections of buildings and artifacts outdoors. It is also frequently known as a museum of buildings or a folk museum. Definition Open air is "the unconfined atmosphere ... outside buildings" ...

of Swedish

folk culture Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as tales, myths, legends, proverbs, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also includes mat ...

.Ramsten (1985):193. A number of musicians were invited to play; the 65 who heeded the call were all awarded a

silver badge Silver is a chemical element; it has symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. Silver is found in ...

designed and financed by the painter

Anders Zorn Anders Leonard Zorn (18 February 1860 – 22 August 1920) was a Swedish artist who attained international success as a painter, sculptor, and etching artist. His portrait subjects include King Oscar II of Sweden and three President of the Un ...

. Later, in 1933, Svenska Ungdomsringen för bygdekultur (The Swedish Youth Ring for Village Culture) created a system by which

folk musicians Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

could play music before a

jury A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence, make Question of fact, findings of fact, and render an impartiality, impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a sentence (law), penalty or Judgmen ...

of experts. Various awards for the participants of these

Trials In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal, wh ...

would be handed out at an annual "National Folk Musicians' Gathering," a name taken from that original event in 1910. The highest award for participants in the trials would be that same

. Those who received this highest honor would be known as . In other words, while the name of the event was taken from that initial gathering in 1910, the meaning was changed in 1933. In 1910, the national folk musicians' gathering was a National Gathering of Folk Musicians. In 1933, it became a Gathering of National Folk Musicians (''riksspelmän'').

The Zorn Jury

The Zorn Jury () is made up of nine members. When a member retires, the jury selects a new member, subject to the approval of

. Generally, the jury is made up of folk musicians with a great deal of experience and knowledge, most of whom are also . One position on the Jury may also be held by a scholar, whose primary credentials are academic. , the current jury members are: Jan Burman, Verf-Lena Egardt, Christina Frohm, Wille Grindsäter, Pers Nils Johansson, Krister Malm, Cajsa Ekstav, Peter Pedersen, and Tony Wrethling.

The Zorn Trials

In any given year, three members of the Zorn Jury are selected to

adjudicate Adjudication is the legal process by which an arbiter or judge reviews evidence and argumentation, including legal reasoning set forth by opposing parties or litigants, to come to a decision which determines rights and obligations between th ...

the week-long Zorn Trials (). The trials are always held during the summer months, each year in a different location in Sweden.Kaminsky (2007):28). A local representative is appointed as a fourth

adjudicator An adjudicator is someone who presides, judges, and arbitrates during a formal dispute or competition. They have numerous purposes, including preliminary legal judgments, to determine applicant eligibility, or to assess contenders' performan ...

. Each participant in the trials is given a fifteen-minute time slot, and asked to play three to five tunes for the jury. The trials are closed to the public, but are recorded by Svenskt Visarkiv (The Centre for Swedish Folk Music and Jazz Research) for posterity. The results are posted at the end of each Trial day, and the awards are distributed at the National Folk Musicians' Gathering (''riksspelmansstämman'') at the end of the week.

Criteria

The

s judge participants on four criteria:

rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular r ...

technique Technique or techniques may refer to: Music * The Techniques, a Jamaican rocksteady vocal group of the 1960s * Technique (band), a British female synth pop band in the 1990s * ''Technique'' (album), by New Order, 1989 * ''Techniques'' (album), by ...

, intonation, and "qualities as a

folk musician Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has bee ...

" (''egenskaper som spelman''). The fourth criterion relates to stylistic authenticity in musical expression, and is weighted more heavily than the other three. Also of import is that participants in the trials demonstrate mastery over a single regional tradition. Attempting to play tunes from multiple different regions never results in a silver badge.Kaminsky (2007):45.

Eligibility

The Zorn Trials are open to musicians aged sixteen and older. Few receive the

on their first try, however. Notable exceptions include Marie Stensby (1975),

Åsa Jinder Åsa Tindra Jinder (born 9 October 1963) is a Swedish nyckelharpa player, composer, producer, songwriter, author and lecturer. She has scored Sverigetopplistan, album chart successes in Sweden. She lives in Stockholm. 2006-2017 she lived in Acktj ...

(1979), and Jeanette Eriksson (2002), all of whom became riksspelmän at age sixteen. Only players of instruments regarded as "traditional" may play for the Zorn Jury. There is no official list of traditional instruments, however. Musicians who apply for a time slot before the jury are simply rejected if they list an instrument that the adjudicators regard as non-traditional. Instruments that have been accepted in the past include:

fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...

, chromatic nyckelharpa, silverbasharpa, kontrabasharpa, clarinet, durspel, harmonica,

kulning Kulning, also known as the Nordic herding call, refers to high-pitched herding calls that were developed centuries ago in Norway and Sweden. Different regions have different names for these calls, such as ''kauka'', ''lålla'', ''kula'', ''kulok ...

, spilåpipa, härjedalspipa, träskofiol, travers, hummel, näverlapp, cow horn, näverlur, and

Swedish bagpipes Swedish bagpipes (säckpipa, , or ''dråmba'', ''koppe'', ''posu'', or ''bälgpipa'') are a variety of bagpipes from Sweden. The term itself generically translates to "bagpipes" in Swedish, but is used in English to describe the specifically Swed ...

. It is permissible to play multiple instruments for the

Jury A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence, make Question of fact, findings of fact, and render an impartiality, impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a sentence (law), penalty or Judgmen ...

. There are no restrictions with regard to nationality. Currently, four non-Swedes hold the title: Kristian Daugaard Madsen (Denmark, 1982), Oline Bakkom-Härdelin (Norway, 1996), Emma Reid (England, 2006), and David Kaminsky (United States, 2007). Musicians who are already are not eligible to participate in the Zorn Trials.

Common Misunderstandings

Folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

ians are occasionally credited with being riksspelmän erroneously. In some cases, these are musicians who have been granted lesser awards by the Zorn jury (a certificate or

Zorn Badge). In other cases, they are well-known

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

ians who people simply assume are riksspelmän. The main reason behind these misunderstandings is that the title of riksspelman is far better known than are the official mechanisms and processes that grant it.

Controversy

The authority and expertise of the Zorn Jury, which awards the Zorn Badge, is generally accepted within the

community. The controversy associated with the system generally relates to the question of which instruments are regarded as

traditional A tradition is a system of beliefs or behaviors (folk custom) passed down within a group of people or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examp ...

, and thus approved for judgment by the jury. Many argue that no such limitations should exist, the argument being that "it's not what you play, but how you play." Others push for the acceptance of certain specific instruments. The best-known case in which such a movement succeeded resulted in the jury's allowance of the diatonic button accordion ( durspel) for the first time in 1979. Currently (), a similar movement is pushing for the acceptance of ''trall'', or vocable singing, as a traditional instrument. Another controversy regards the word (literally "play-man") itself, given the growing number of female and in Sweden.Olsson (2007):21, Ramsten (1985): 195–196.

Notes

References

*Hallhagen, Erika. 2007.
"Gästerna gör festen på stämman"
''Svenska Dagbladet'', May 23, 2007. Retrieved April 11, 2008. *Kaminsky, David. 2005. "Hidden Traditions: Conceptualizing Swedish Folk Music in the Twenty-First Century." Ph.D. Dissertation, Harvard University. *Kaminsky, David. 2007. "The Zorn Trials and the Jante Law: On Shining Musically in the Land of Moderation." In ''

Yearbook for Traditional Music A yearbook, also known as an annual, is a type of a book published annually. One use is to record, highlight, and commemorate the past year of a school. The term also refers to a book of statistics or facts published annually. A yearbook often ...

'' 39:27–49. *Olsson, Thorbjörn. 2007. "Spelman – ett förlegat begrepp pelman – An Obsolete Term" in ''Spelmannen'' 2007(4):21. *Ramsten, Märta. 1985. "The New Fiddlers: trends and revivalism in the folk music of the seventies." In ''The Folk Music Vogue,'' Lena Roth, ed. 193–200. *Svenska Folkdansringen. n.d.
"Så blir man riksspelman"
Svenska Folkdansringen homepage. Retrieved April 14, 2008.

External links

Zornmärkesnämnden
(the Zorn Badge committee in Svenska Folkdansringen)
Riksspelmän 1936–2018
{{Swedish folk music Swedish folk music Swedish folk musicians Swedish music awards 1933 establishments in Sweden