Sunday, December 27, 2015

The Song of Roland - Viking version


The Song of Roland is a very well-known medieval epic poem based on the Battle of Roncevaux in 778.  It inspired many subsequent writers, poets and musicians.

While browsing through YouTube this morning, I was intrigued to come across a Norwegian ballad, dating from about the 12th century, retelling the saga of Roland from a quasi-Viking perspective.  It's in Norwegian, of course, but a translation has been provided as it plays.  It's illustrated with medieval- and Renaissance-era portrayals of the battle.  It's a rousing battle tune, well suited to the Vikings who would have sung it.





Now there's an interesting historical twist . . . a Viking interpretation of a medieval Christian fable!  It's sung by the Trio Mediaeval as part of an entire album of Norwegian medieval folk songs.  I think I'm going to have to buy it - it's cheap enough to be affordable, and if this song is anything to go by, it'll be interesting listening.

Peter

5 comments:

  1. I liked that - thanks for announcing it, Peter. I'm getting a CD for me and one for my baby brother, who is a fanatic SCAer.

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  2. This is bad ass. I have a new appreciation for the Song of Roland.

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  3. OK, that CD is a must-have. Just ordered one while the orderin's good.
    ...By the time I heard of Stary Olsa, their CDs had disappeared....

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  4. @Eric Wilner: All Stary Olsa's CD's are available on Amazon as MP3 downloads.

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  5. @Peter: Ah. So they are! And I guess I can burn a CD for the car from MP3 files... but that doesn't come with the artwork, unless I print my own labels and covers.
    (Which is something I used to do, back when I was converting out-of-print cassettes to one-off CDs.)
    I must be getting old; I remember when music came on CDs, and the publishers were outraged that users were format-shifting to MP3. And I still have several feet of vinyl to convert, When I Get Around To It.

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