Unlike many other European countries, Norway has an unbroken folk music tradition. Since folk music has been passed along continuously from generation to generation, there has been no need for a folk music revival. The arenas in which folk music has been presented, however, have changed over time. During the past 10 to 15 years the level of professionalism has increased, and today the Norwegian folk music community features a number of extremely accomplished emerging performers.

Norwegian folk music, both vocal and instrumental, is usually performed by soloists. Instrumental music is most commonly played on the fiddle or on the Hardanger fiddle, (hardingfele) which is considered the national instrument of Norway. The Hardanger fiddle (which originated in the eponymous southwest area of Norway) is a violin with four or five sympathetic strings. It is beautifully decorated and is constructed somewhat differently from an ordinary violin. Experts disagree on whether the Hardanger fiddle evolved from the violin or from medieval string instruments. Fiddle playing and traditional singing in Norway often demonstrates the use of non-fixed and microtonal intervals, and there is an appreciation of high, silvery frequency ranges, typified by the fiddle and the flute, or seljefløyte.

Other traditional folk music instruments used in Norway include the jew’s harp (munnharpe), various flutes, ram’s horn (bukkehorn), wooden horn (lur) and Norwegian zither (langeleik). Some of these instruments have very ancient origins. While some of the Norwegian folk music is also very old, a large portion of the repertoire stems from the 1800s. The instrumental repertoire is usually divided into the more recent types of traditional, Central-European-influenced dance music (gammeldans), such as waltzes, reinlenders and polkas, and the older types (bygdedans) such as springar, gangar and lyarslått (known internationally by their Norwegian names). The use of drone strings in the Hardanger fiddle tradition, combined with the large number of tunings used, gives the music a rich variety of tonal harmonies. This has served as an inspiration for a number of Norwegian composers, including Edvard Grieg. The accordian (trekkspel) gained considerable popularity in the 19th and early 20th century and is a central fixture of gammaldans music. To some extent the Hardanger fiddle and the accordion represent the two poles of Norwegian folk music - the former with its drone and often delicate atonality, and the latter with its brash chromaticism. Please see also Norwegian Accordion Musicians Association.

Two national competitions are arranged each year. The National Folk Dance Music Festival is a gammeldans competition, while the National Contest for Traditional Music encompasses the older bygdedans fiddling and singing tradition, folk dancing and mastery of older folk music instruments. Other major venues where folk musicians and audiences convene include the Førde International Folk Music Festival, the Telemark International Folk Music Festival in Bø and the Jørn Hilme Festival in Valdres.

Among Norway’s most prominent folk musicians are Hardanger fiddlers Knut Buen, Hallvard T. Bjørgum and Annbjørg Lien, violinist Susanne Lundeng, and vocalists Agnes Buen Garnås, Kirsten Bråten Berg, Odd Nordstoga and Øyonn Groven Myhren. Popular groups include Majorstuen, Kvarts, Tindra, Dvergmål and Utla. Leading accordion players include Kristin Skaare, Jon Faukstad, accordion and drumkit group Fliflet/Hamre Energiforsyning and Stian Carstensen of Farmers Market.

Edited from a text by the Norwegian Traditional Music and Dance Association and supplemented by reading of The Rough Guide to World Music, chapter on Norway written by Andrew Cronshaw. (London, Rough Guides Ltd., 1999).