Kveding av setesdalsstev og irsk/skotsk "sean-nós singing"

Abstract

The point of departure for this article has been personal experiences and feedback from Irish and Scottish researchers and traditional musicians that the Norwegian traditional singing, kveding, resembles sean-nós singing. I have met traditional musicians, singers and researchers in Ireland and Scotland who compare selected melodies from Setesdal, Norway to the “old style” of singing in these countries. The research questions have become: How do the informants respond to performances of a selection of setesdalstev, and how do they describe these experiences? What eventual similarities between kveding of stev from Setesdal and sean-nós singing are identified by the informants? The research is based on empirical material consisting of videotaped interviews with Irish and Scottish researchers, traditional singers and musicians. Audio material from archives, commercial recordings, transcriptions and literature on the subject also form part of the material. The methodological approach has been a presentation of stev from Setesdal via live performance and sound recordings. Participant responses to stev melodies form the basis for a comparison and analysis of different stylistic traits. The respons refer to special traits of kveding of setesdalsstev which are also found in Irish and Scottish sean-nós song.