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Scania is the southernmost
part of Sweden, it has been Swedish since the 1658 occupation;
before that it was East Denmark. The southern part of the Baltic
Sea area has traditionally served as the centre for the cultures
in the north of Europe. Prior to the 20th Century, water was the
means of communication. Since Scania is surrounded on three sides
by water, clearly the Baltic Sea has effected Scania in one way
or another. Nature is unrivaled in Scania. There are no extremes.
There is a little of everything, and that "little" is
just enough.
The music
A single answer to
that is not possible, but being in the heart of a large geographical
area, the surrounding cultures necessarily experience profound
influences and exiting exchanges - with a typcal Scanian accent.
Several of today's
musicians have discovered many old tunes, beautiful polska and
hot polkas. Some of the tunes have been around since the 17th
Century, and were made popular because they were played by famous
musicians in the region.
Clearly the music contains
influences from all the surrounding countries as is reflected
in many of the dance titles; polska, from Poland; Schottis, from
Scotland; Engelska or Anglais, from England; Reinländer,
from Germany. In the music there is also waltz, qadrilj and polka.
The instruments that
is most frequently used nowadays is violin, but in the past, all
kinds of instruments was used like clarinet, dulcimer, flutes
and pipes.
Because of its crucial
location in the center of the South Baltic Sea area, Scania has
witnessed many scenes of war. Naturally, all that military activity
affected not only the music but also the instruments. In the 17th
and 18th centuries, many private citizens were employed by the
army as musicians. Besides thoose musicians there were "Stadsinstrumentalister";
musicians employed by the town councils to serve the citizens
with music in their everyday life. Those categories of musicians
formed and developed the repertoire that we call folk music today.
Later in the 19th century
the folk music was played by semi professionals, who combined
music with hand craft or farming. Nowadays this music is played
by enthusiasts that try to keep the tradition alive. If you click
here you will come to a tunebook with some
examples of Scanian folk tunes.
The biggest organization
for Scanian folk music is Skånes
Spelmansförbund, here you can get information about festivals
and workshops.
If you understand Swedish,
there is a link to a discription of the music in a Scanian region
called Linderödsåsen with some note examples.
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