The Scandinavian ballad tradition is the tradition of Scandinavian poetic singer-songwriters. Within the tradition, the Swedish ballad tradition has been particularly influential, but the tradition also exists in the other Scandinavian countries. This ''visa'' tradition should not be confused with traditional "medieval" Swedish ballads (''medeltida ballader''), which are representative of a typical tradition of Scandinavian ballads.

Tradition

The Scandinavian ballad tradition today is both a respected art form and an important basis of the popular Scandinavian

sing-along Sing-along, also called community singing or group singing, is an event of singing together at gatherings or parties, less formally than choir singing, sometimes with a songbook. Common genres are folk songs, patriotic songs, kids' songs, spirit ...

tradition. The song type is typically known as ''visa'' in Swedish or ''vise'' in Norwegian, and troubadours in the genre are called ''vissångare'' in Swedish or ''visesanger'' in Norwegian. In context, the Swedish word "ballad" is a subtype of "visa" that tells a story in many verses, similar to the medieval

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

s, as opposed to for instance lyrical songs about the beauty of nature. The Swedish ballads can be performed to a big orchestra but are often sung to fairly simple

accompaniment Accompaniment is the musical part which provides the rhythmic and/or harmonic support for the melody or main themes of a song or instrumental piece. There are many different styles and types of accompaniment in different genres and styles of m ...

on guitar, or other instruments such as piano or accordion.

Sweden

The genre started with

Carl Michael Bellman Carl Michael Bellman (; 4 February 1740 – 11 February 1795) was a Swedish songwriter, composer, musician, poet, and entertainer. He is a central figure in the Swedish song tradition and remains a powerful influence in Swedish music, as wel ...

in the late 18th century. In the 19th century, poetic songwriting fell into decline in favour of academic student choirs, until it was revived in the 1890s by

Sven Scholander Sven Scholander (21 April 1860–14 December 1936) was a Swedish musician, singer, composer and sculptor.:sv:Sven Scholander, Sven Scholander. ''sv.wikipedia.org''. Retrieved: August 21, 2012. His musical innovations led to a revival in Swedish l ...

. Poets increasingly continued the tradition of having their poetry put to music to give it a wider audience. In the early 1900s, a lot of poetry of the 90s poets

Gustaf Fröding Gustaf Fröding (; 22 August 1860 – 8 February 1911) was a Swedish poet and writer from Alster, Värmland. The family moved to Kristinehamn in the year 1867. He later studied at Uppsala University and worked as a journalist in Karlstad.

and

Erik Axel Karlfeldt Erik Axel Karlfeldt (20 July 1864 – 8 April 1931) was a Swedish poet whose highly symbolist poetry masquerading as regionalism was popular and won him the 1931 Nobel Prize in Literature posthumously after he had been nominated by Nathan Söd ...

had been put to music, and the popularity of those poets largely depended on the troubadours.

Birger Sjöberg Birger Sjöberg (1885–1929) was a Swedish poet, novelist and songwriter, whose best-known works include the faux-naïf song collection ''Fridas bok'' (Frida's book) and the novel ''Kvartetten som sprängdes'' (The quartet that split up), a some ...

(1885–1929) was one of the early popular troubadours. Sjöberg published the poetry collection ''Frida's Book'' (''Fridas bok'', 1922), a light and humorous story of the young ''Frida''. In 1926, he reinvented himself with ''Kriser och kransar'' (''Crises and garlands''), a much darker collection of poetry. It is regarded as the foremost collection of Swedish poetry of the 1920s.''Tradition i förvandling'', Palm A., p.44, in Delblanc, Lönnroth & Gustavsson (ed.), vol 3. One of the most renowned Swedish troubadours of the 20th century was

Evert Taube Axel Evert Taube (; 12 March 1890 – 31 January 1976) was a Swedish author, artist, composer and singer. He is widely regarded as one of Sweden's most respected musicians and the foremost troubadour of the Swedish ballad tradition in the 20th c ...

(1890–1976). He established himself as a performing artist in 1920 and toured Sweden for about three decades. He is best known for songs about sailors, ballads about Argentina, and songs about the Swedish countryside.''Nöjets estradörer'', Lönnroth L., in Lönnroth, Delblanc & Göransson (ed.), vol 3, pp.275–297 A poet who is known for songs is

Nils Ferlin Nils Ferlin (11 December 1898 – 21 October 1961) was a Swedish poet and lyricist.''A History of Swedish Literature'' by Ingemar Algulin, (Stockholm: Swedish Institute, 1989) pp. 247–248. Biography Nils Ferlin was born in Karlstad, Värml ...

(1898–1961) who published six collection of poetry between 1930 and 1957. Ferlin melancholic but with a stinging irony, and very rhythmical which made them easy for friends and colleagues to put music to. The titles of some of the poems already from the start referred to them being sung as songs, such as "En valsmelodi" (which translates as "A waltz tune"), and the title of his first collection of poems, "En döddansares visor". Other well-known singer-songwriters in the Swedish ballad tradition after Evert Taube were

Olle Adolphson Olle Adolphson (2 May 1934, in Stockholm – 10 March 2004, in Stockholm) was a Sweden, Swedish writer, singer and songwriter. He released a range of books (''Aubade'', ''Foliá''), LPs (''En stol på Tegnér'', etc.) and CDs (''Älskar inte ja ...

(1934–2004) and

Cornelis Vreeswijk Cornelis Vreeswijk (8 August 1937 – 12 November 1987) was a Dutch singer-songwriter and poet who lived and worked primarily in Sweden. Born to Dutch parents in IJmuiden, Netherlands, he emigrated to Sweden with his parents in 1949 at the age ...

(1937–1987). Vreeswijk's songs were initially

leftist Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social hierarchies. Left-wing politi ...

protest song A protest song is a song that is associated with a movement for protest and social change and hence part of the broader category of ''topical'' songs (or songs connected to current events). It may be folk, classical, or commercial in genre. ...

s where he took upon himself to speak for the weaker men of society. After his death, Vreeswijk also gained appreciation for his poetic qualities. A Swedish contemporary troubadour is

Lars Winnerbäck Lars Mattias Winnerbäck (born 19 October 1975) is a Sweden, Swedish singer and songwriter. He was born in Stockholm but spent his childhood in Vidingsjö, Linköping, where he attended Katedralskolan (Linköping), Katedralskolan. He moved bac ...

, whose folk-rock ballads, often infused with a poetic quality, mix a Christian socialist political message with a typically Swedish sensitivity to nature in the spirit of Vreeswijk, making him one of Sweden's most popular currently active musicians.

Norway

The contemporary Norwegian ballad tradition, known as the "ballad wave" ({{langx, no, visebølgen), started as a cultural movement in the 1960s, greatly inspired by the Swedish ballad tradition and its modern representatives such as Olle Adolphson and Cornelis Vreeswijk. Some of its prominent representatives are

Ole Paus Ole Paus (1947–2023) was a Norwegian singer-songwriter and poet, widely regarded as one of the most innovative Norwegian musical figures of the 20th century and "Norway's most significant troubadour at the time of his death." Emerging during t ...

Lillebjørn Nilsen Lillebjørn Falk Nilsen (born Bjørn Falk Nilsen; 21 December 1950 – 27 January 2024) was a Norwegian singer-songwriter and folk musician. He was born in Oslo, and was considered by some to be the leading "voice of Oslo", thanks to numerous c ...

and

Finn Kalvik Finn Bjørn Kalvik (born 30 April 1947) is a Norwegian singer and composer. He represented Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 1981. Early career He was born in Fåvang, but his family moved to the working class district of Grorud, Oslo in 19 ...

;

Alf Prøysen Alf Prøysen () (23 July 1914 – 23 November 1970) was a Norwegian author, poet, playwright, songwriter and musician. Prøysen was one of the most important Norwegian cultural personalities in the second half of the 20th century. He work ...

was also called a ''visesanger'', and influenced but in many ways preceded the Norwegian "ballad wave."

Notes and references

Literature

* Lönnroth, L., Delblanc S., Göransson, S. ''Den svenska litteraturen'' (ed.), 3 volumes (1999) Ballad tradition Ballad tradition