Music and Dance in Bunad at Folk Museum in Norway

June 8, 2010
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Folk Music and Dance in Bunad at The Norwegian Museum of Cultural History – The Folk Museum – was on the program. In beautiful warm summer weather, my wife DianeCA and I had another quality time and as always we love to share with. I’ll get back to this great, Open Air Museum later – now let’s get straight to some cultural highlights from Norway:

The Bunad:
Norway Bunad & Folk Music #1

A Bunad is our traditional costume, typically of rural origin and local to different districts. It’s a result of both cultural evolution and organized efforts to discover and modernize older patterns. The designs are elaborate, with embroidery, scarves, shawls and hand-made silver or gold jewellery – both for men and women.

It’s common to wear Bunad at various celebrations, such as: Weddings, 17th of May National Day and even accepted as proper gala attire in recent years – so its use has reached far outside folk dancing and music.
Norway Bunad & Folk Music #5

Norway Folk Music:
Unlike many other European countries, Norway has an unbroken folk music tradition. Instrumental music is most commonly played on the fiddle or on the Hardanger Fiddle – Harding Fele – which is considered the national instrument of Norway. The Harding Fiddle is a violin with four or five sympathetic strings. It is beautifully decorated and is constructed somewhat differently from an ordinary violin. The traditional music with its associated dances has resisted all the changing fashions of music through the ages and is today firmly embedded in the country’s culture. In contrast to many other countries, this type of music and dance has never fallen entirely out of use and in many parts of the country an unbroken tradition still lives on:
Norway Bunad & Folk Music #8

Since it has been passed along continuously from generation to generation, there has been no need for a folk music revival. Norway has a strong and active body of folk musicians and dancers. This, together with in–depth research and professional collections and archives, has meant that the variations and dialects have been retained and developed into a rich variety of both music and dance. They start very young – as a true reflection of the Norwegian soul itself – and we saw the most adorable troupes:
Norway Bunad & Folk Music #9

Live Folk music and Dance:
Besides taking a lot of pics, I also shot some vids with my new Cannon G11. I’ve edited them all into one video– a potpourri – and hope you enjoy it and get an idea of what I’d like to share through this post:

As a visitor, you will not search in vain for the exotic and folklore–inspired image of Norway in which music, song and dance emerges directly from the landscape – wild and mysterious.

Experience for yourself at OsloBG:
Oslo Blog Gathering by RennyBA’s TerellaRead more about this Folk Museum on my post: Lefse and rural farmhouse from Norway. Also read my wife’s review of the same day: Folk Dance and living history at Norwegian Folk Museum.
This museum is located at Bygdøy Island – 20 min by boat on the fjord from Oslo. Here you also find: The Viking Ships Museum, Norway Maritime Museum and Kon Tiki Museum.
Remember also; with the Oslo Pass, included in the Oslo Blog Gathering, you get free boat transportation and free entrance. This island is TorAa’s old stomping ground, as he was born and raised on Bygdøy so I am sure he will be happy to give you a personal tour around the island and tell you some of its little secrets during the gathering.

Culture, History, OsloBG, Summer, Tradition