A Scandinavian view on Music Archaeology: Research, Directions, Methodology, and Materials
Arxeologïyalıq qazba jumıstarınan tabılğan köne mwzıkalıq aspaptar: jïnalw jäne zerttelw mäseleleri [Ancient Musical Instruments found in Archaeological Excavations: Problems of Collection and Research]: 79–85, 207 (figures). Almaty: Museum of folk musical instruments named after Ykhlas (2019)
Music archaeology is well known in Scandinavia among archaeologists and musicologists. Still, this interdisciplinary field of research is a fairly marginal subject, and there is no chair in music archaeology at any university, neither in Scandinavia nor elsewhere. This paper describes the characteristics of music archaeology, especially its Scandinavian version, including its aims, directions and methods, and exemplifies some of the relevant artefacts. It also discusses terminology, such as the use of ‘sound tools’ instead of ‘musical instrument’.
English text. Printed in Kazakh journal. Keywords: Music archaeology, archaeomusicology, archaeoacoustics, Scandinavia, musical instruments, sound tools, methodology
Akustikk og kommunikasjon til sjøs. Roperten fra Kvalsundskipet og dens slektninger
Norwegian article about a possible megaphone from a ship excavated in Kvalsund, Sunnmøre, on the west coast of Norway, 7th to 8th century AD. In addition to this wooden funnel-shaped object, the article discusses wooden trumpets (lurs), found in Norse sagas and traditions. Both megaphones and lurs were sound-producing devices used for acoustic communication at sea or in costal landscapes.
New directions in contemporary fiddle playing in Norway
Liz Doherty and Fintan Vallely (eds.) Ón gCos go Cluas – From Dancing to Listening – Fiddle and Dance Studies from around the North Atlantic 5, The Elphinstone Institute, University of Aberdeen (2019)
Published online (OA)
Klokkene ringer for deg – et glimt inn i bøndenes, gårdsarbeidernes og gjeternes klangunivers
Frank Meyer (ed.), Norges lyder. Stabbursklokker og storbykakofoni. Oslo: Norsk lokalhistorisk institutt: 23–42 (2018)
Article in Norwegian about village bells and animal bells, and their use in rural Norwegian soundscapes.
Disse arkeologiske funnene viser at vi har ravet siden steinalderen
Festivalmagasin Sommerøya, 10–11 (2018)
Popular article in Norwegian about the archaeology and evolutionary history of groove. Also published online, in subjekt.no, 13 Jun 2019 (link below).
Jew’s Harps of Bone, Wood and Metal: How to Understand Construction, Classification and Chronology
R. Eichmann, J. Fang and L.-C. Koch (eds.) Studien zur Musikarchäologie X. Leidorf, Rahden/Westf.: 63–73 (2016)
In the classification of musical instruments, the place of the jew’s harp has for a long time been disputed. This is a complex, diverse and anomalous musical instrument, technologically and culturally. The variety of shapes and materials within its original distribution area, Eurasia, raises questions about the nature and early history of the jew’s harp. How can we understand the connection between the various forms, and their chronological significance? How do earlier theories match modern archaeological research? These questions concern both organology and archaeology.
Musikk i fjern fortid
Aftenposten historie 5: 96–103
Popular article in history magazine (Norwegian)
Hardingfeledekoren. Norsk folkemusikklags seminar på Rauland 2013
Bjørn Aksdal, Gjermund Kolltveit, Sveinung Søyland Moen and Per Åsmund Omholt (eds.). Novus forlag, Oslo (2015)
The rich decoration and ornamentation traditions in the Norwegian hardanger fiddle was the topic at the seminar of the Norsk folkemusikklag (Norwegian branch of International Council for Traditional Music, ICTM) in 2013. It took place in Rauland in cooperation with the Department of Norwegian Folk Culture at the University College of Southeast Norway. This publication (Norwegian language) is based on the papers at the seminar, and consists of contributions by Bjørn Aksdal, Agnete Sivertsen, Ottar Kåsa, Asbjørn Storesund, Oddrun Hegge, and Mikkel B. Tin.
122 pages, Norwegian text.
Jordas skjulte toner – musikk og instrumenter fra steinalder til vikingtid
Book about ancient music, music archaeology and musical instruments.
Back cover text: Når begynte menneskene å lage musikk? Kan arkeologene finne spor etter musisering allerede fra steinalderen? Hvordan var musikkhistorien før den vanlige musikkhistorien starter? I denne boka kan du se hvilke instrumenter folk i steinalderen, bronsealder- en og jernalderen spilte. Og du kan bli med å utforske hvordan vi i det hele tatt kan si noe om musikken og sangen for så lenge siden. Du vil også møte flygende sjamaner, flintmusikk, krigerlyrer, kule instrumenter fra antikken, alligatortrommer, neandertalsang og mye, mye mer. Bokas forfatter, Gjermund KolltveIt, er musiker, musikkforsker – og Norges eneste musikkarkeolog.
87 pages, Norwegian text.
