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SPELMANN, THE FIDDLER OF DEVIL

There is a shadow under the bridge. The night hides his face but I know he is a spelmann (Norwegian for fiddler). Spelmann didn't make a living from playing the violin, it was a hidden vocation. The tune spelmann plays is called slått ( means to strike) and is linked to folklore and tradition. One of the most famous is Fanitullen (The Devil's Ditty), based on a legend whose origin is a true story from 1724. The idea of a pact between the fiddler and the devil is rooted in Norwegian folklore, but in this case the pact is with a nøkken or nix. This being is a skilled fiddler and offers a pact in exchange for teaching the secret to becoming a master fiddler. The aspiring fiddler must take a leg of meat to a waterfall three Thursday nights in a row. Nøkken usually mutilates his pupil's fingers, thus leaving his mark. All this folklore caused that with the passage of time, in the 19th century, fiddlers were persecuted and forced to burn their violins. But even so, a group of very important slåtter are still preserved. Rammleslåtter (the powerful melodies) that provoke in the violinist and the dancer a state of trance. Its composer seems to be Olav Faremo, but it is also said that this hypnotic and deep melody was transmitted by the nøkken or the devil. The power of this melody is so strong that they say that a spelmann can only stop playing the melody when the violin is taken away from him. Whoever dances to its rhythm becomes wild and violent, walls and floors shake.... Some relate the spelmann to a kind of shaman, others say he is just a passionate musician who lets himself go. One way or another, isn't that the mystery? Getting carried away? References: @brutenorse .


 
 
 

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