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Dispersion and Circularity of Folkmusic in Roslagen: A case study of a key-fiddler’s music in the 19th century
Royal College of Music in Stockholm, Department of Music Education. susanna.leijonhufvud@smi.se.ORCID iD: 0000-0003-2250-3939
2024 (English)In: The Past, Present and Future of Ethnomusicology in theNordic-Baltic Region, Helsingfors, 2024Conference paper, Oral presentation with published abstract (Refereed)
Abstract [en]

When studying Swedish folk music, the earliest historical source used by scholars inmusicology and ethnomusicology is Karl Petter Leffler’s book Om Nyckelharpospelet påSkansen (trans. Eng. Key-fiddeling at Skansen, an outdoor museum of Swedish cultureestablished in 1891 in the heart of Stockholm). In the book, two key-fiddlers fromUppland are presented: Johan Edlund from the parish of Harg and Jonas Skoglund fromthe Tolfta parish. The book also includes transcriptions of 113 melodies. The aim ofemploying these musicians and their music at Skansen was to perform old Swedishmusic. However, the dances and styles identified by Leffler stem from abroad e.g.Poland, Germany, Bohemia, England, and France.Focusing on the first of these fiddlers – Johan Edlund – the parish of Harg is situated inRoslagen, sharing the water with the Sea of Åland. Throughout history, Roslagen isknown for its ship and boat building, and the shipping of timber and iron. The area flourished in the 16th and 17th centuries from its mining, and skilled Walloon andLancashire smiths immigrated from Germany and Belgium. Roslagen was also duringthe 18th and 19th centuries a center for sea transports and trades. These tradestraversed along the north coastlines of Sweden and Finland, as well as to the capital ofStockholm and other cities of the Baltic coastline e.g. Tallinn, Riga, Memel, and Danzig.There were also long trades to the European continent and other parts of the world likeSouth and Central America and Australia.This paper presents the node in which ethnomusicology meets the history of shippingin the 19th century, focusing on Edlund's transcribed music. The aim is to show thepotential for cultural exchange between people and thereby show how music could havehad the possibility of dispersion and circulation. The presentation will show how the folk music presented at Skansen is not necessarily of a national origin, but rather aconglomerate of international influences taking the sea and its travelers into account.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Helsingfors, 2024.
Keywords [en]
key-fiddler, folk music, 19th century, Roslagen, Baltic, seatrade
National Category
Musicology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kmh:diva-5724OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kmh-5724DiVA, id: diva2:1935624
Conference
ICTMD Nordic-Baltic Network Conference, Helsinki, 8–10 October 2024
Available from: 2025-02-07 Created: 2025-02-07 Last updated: 2025-09-10Bibliographically approved

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