✨“Vindarna Sucka Uti Skogarna” - a traditional Swedish folksong☁️🌙 In the intense nocturnal hush of this song, a shepherd/ess herds her sheep far out in the plains of Mora, under the starry sky, under the bright moonlight, all alone. The winds sigh, the river rushes, the waters of the lake lap on the shore, the Northern Lights dance in the firmament… ✨In addition to the absolutely beautiful night-language in this folksong, I love the place-specificness of the text. In a collection of Swedish folk songs published in 1929 (”Sånger för folkskolan”), we are told that this song is a “Folkmelodie från Dalarna” - a folksong from Dalarna, which is a country in central Sweden. I’ve read that it’s a place replete with natural beauty, and the song itself mentions quite a few geographical features, including lake Siljan, and the mountains and plains of Mora. I imagine that the plains would have been a perfect place for grazing sheep. ☁️There is a beautiful sheep called the Rya, which is native to Sweden and from what I’ve read, have been herded primarily in Dalarna. They have gorgeous, long, shining curling wool that has been used in traditional handicrafts, especially carpet-making and in traditional garments. 🌙 Knowing that, when I imagine the shepherd/ess who first sang this song, I like to imagine the moonlight reflecting off the shining wool of her sheep as she wraps herself in a beautiful rya rug made from their wool, keeping warm and singing through the cold northern night. ☁️I learned this song first from the beautiful playing and singing of my friend Emmett Kelly and the artist Emily Sundblad on their mesmerizing album “Secrets and Waves.” If you can get your hands on a copy of that album - released by Hacienda Books- I highly recommend it. It’s a bit haunted, in all the right ways- listening to it feels like opening a secret door into someone’s private memory. Playing my @harpsicleharps ✨☁️🌙
#swedishmusic #sweden #scandinavia #folkmusic #folk #traditionalmusic #harp #night #shepherdess