Faroese folksongs and ballads
35 traditional Faroese melodies
(20 folksongs and ballads) collected throughout the islands over a period of 95 years.
mp3 clip! 360KB (Flúgvandi biðil)
The first documentary recordings in the Faroes were made with the phonograph by the Danish musicologist Hjalmar Thuren in 1902, and there are four samples of these early recordings presented on the CD. Five other recordings, presented here, were made in 1927-28, but most of the tracks were recorded at a more recent date - the most recent ones in 1997.
Stories are chanted about saints and witches, heroes and traitors, humans in the likeness of seals and a giant snake encircling the king's castle.
The title of the CD, "Flúgvandi biðil", translates as "The Flying Suitor" and it is adapted from one of the ballads. This particular ballad is about a young man, who, with the advise from his stepmother, makes himself some silver wings so that he can fly to a young maiden he is smitten with.
The CD was produced by Kári Sverrisson in cooperation with the Faroese University, and it contains a booklet with Faroese and English text.