INTRODUCTION IN ENGLISH:

Nina, nina, nái

"Skjaldur" texts and commentaries in English translation.

INTRODUCTION IN ENGLISH:

“Nina, nina, nái” is a collection of skjaldur - Faroese ethnic songs, rhymes and counting games traditionally used either for or by children and young people. It is our intention that any interested person be able to learn and use the songs. A part of our oldest song tradition, these skjaldur, evoking images that may be humorous, comforting or mystical and fantastic, continue to entertain and enthrall Faroese people in the twenty-first century.

This release presents a broad picture of how skjaldur have sounded and still sound in different parts of the country. In addition, these CD's include counting rhymes, cumulative songs (referred to in Faroese as “at telja jólini” lit. “to count Christmas”), “Øskudólgur og Sópingarkona” (the song about “Ash-raker and Mucker-out”), a verse from the singing game (niðrispæl) “Reisa hjørt” and the sounds from traditional Faroese “instruments”: two kinds of pipes, one made from the stem of a marsh marigold and the other from a goose's feather, a “fjaðurlás” (lit. “feather lock”), a whizzor and blades of grass.

In 1997, Tutl released “Flúgvandi biðil” (SHD 25), a collection of recordings of Faroese ballads. As a direct continuation of our work on that CD, I began preparation of yet another anthology of ethnic Faroese music, this time a selection of traditional music connected with children. As was the case with “Flúgvandi biðil”, most of the material on “Nina, nina, nái” has been obtained from the Faroese Language Department at the University of the Faroe Islands, Fróðskaparsetur Føroya. The recordings of the Á Trøð brothers from Skálavík were borrowed from Wilhelmina Larsen; recordings of William Kornus Jóanesarson from Funningur were borrowed from Brynolv Lamhauge; and some recordings I myself have made especially for this anthology. The recordings on “Nina, nina, nái” were made in Fugloy, Borðoy, Eysturoy, Streymoy, Nólsoy, Sandoy and Suðuroy.

As on the CD cover of “Flúgvandi biðil”, this booklet is illustrated with photographs and drawings of traditional Faroese woodcarvings. Pictures of some of the singers on this release are also reproduced here, with the permission of their descendants, whom we thank for providing us with the photographs.

The Uses of Skjaldur

In a 1985 interview, Wilhelmina Larsen (b. 1935) from Skálavík explains to Helgi Jacobsen of the Faroese University how skjaldur were used in the Faroes in earlier days:

“If something was wrong, if we cried, were sad, then a skjaldur would be chosen, perhaps the one about the man who stood by the wall, leaning on a golden staff, so we forgot what originally bothered us. Or it was in the evenings, especially the winter evenings, that we would sit and listen. Father liked very much to sing and chant ballads (Wilhelmina's parents were Jógvan á Trøð from Skálavík and Elsebeth Malena Samuelsen from Haldarsvík), and those ballad chants and songs were my first memories. I don't remember when I first learnt skjaldur, but the ballads, I remember well that we set out to learn them when we were able to read, but the skjaldur, I can't say when. However, when my youngest brother was born, I was nine years old, so I remember how it was for him. While he was lying in the cradle in the kitchen, we were all there, knitting and carding wool, which was the natural way of life then. The cradle was on rockers and so while mother sat at her work, her feet were on the rockers rocking the baby and at the same time she sang a skjaldur, so that he would go to sleep or be peaceful. The skjaldur were part of life and a part of education, a training in themselves, because in the rhymes, things often occur that in reality you don't know what they are, but if you ponder them more closely, they inform you about something or other in the environment. Take, for example, my father. He was a sheep farmer and he was very close to nature. He told us we had to take care of and respect nature. That always came first: the sheep that were cold in the winter, and the birds. Father was mainly the one who sang the skjaldur, but mother also sang occasionally. I don't remember either of my grandparents from Skálavík, but I have the impression that the grandparents were the ones who sang to their grandchildren. Father was quite old when he married so there were no grandparents and he had to take on this role. As the three of us were around the same age, we didn't sing skjaldur much to each other, but when the youngest one came along, we sang for him, particularly me.
I don't have the impression that grandfather made up any skjaldur himself, nor father, because I hear them again in different places in various versions... I don't remember that certain skjaldur were used for any one particular purpose - for example, rocking babies to sleep - and another for something else...the voice was gentle and friendly, when the skjaldur were sung. The ballads were more narrative while the skjaldur were for soothing.”

Lullabies: a Cultural Universal

Lullabies - songs sung to soothe young children - are found in basically every culture, most texts containing several common elements: Don't cry little one; father is doing this; mother is doing that; soon you'll be fed and sleep sweetly. Likewise, similar rhythms and sounds are used to comfort babies all over the world, perhaps stemming from man's ancient common cultural heritage. In Faroese culture, as Wilhelmina Larsen explains above, skjaldur often have the same function as lullabies. Thus, it is not surprising that such skjaldur share these international lullaby characteristics. These songs clearly belong to our oldest musical heritage.

Acknowledgments

The following recordings made by Hakon Grüner-Nielsen, Thorkild Knudsen and Ólavur Hátún were made for Dansk Folkemindesamling (Danish Folklore Archives): CD 1: nos. 1-12, 13-15, 20-24, 33, 34-42, 55-59, 65.
CD 2: nos. 1-9, 52-54, 60, 61-62 og 66-70
These recordings are used with the permission of Dansk Folkemindesamling.

My thanks to all the singers who recorded; to their descendants for permission to use the recordings; to Rannveig Winther and Eivind Weyhe at the Faroese Language Department of Fróðskaparsetur Føroya; to Svend Nielsen at the Danish Folklore Archives; to Birgit Bergholt and Marianne Borker at the Danish Broadcasting Corporation; to Wilhelmina Larsen and Brynolf Lamhauge for lending us recordings that they had in safekeeping; to Árni Dahl for proof-reading the Faroese text; to Sue Philbrow, Nicolina Dahl, Jacqueline FitzGibbon and Sharon Weiss for translating it into English; to Jónheðin Tróndheim for mastering; to Ólavur Hátún for encouragement; to the Faroese Government's Cultural Foundation, Runavík Town Council, Tórshavn Town Council, Norðoya Sparikassi, Føroya Pedagogfelag, Sláið Ring, the Danish-Faroese Cultural Foundation, Tryggingarfelagið Føroyar and the Faroese Ministry of Cultural Affairs for financial support; and to everyone else who helped and supported in various ways.

Organization of Data

Information about each recording on this release is arranged as follows:

Name of singer (year of birth - year of death), residence at time of recording,
track number, title of skjaldur/song/rhyme (duration), name of field worker who made recording and location, date of recording.

If no field-worker, location or date of recording is noted, it means that these are the same as in the previous track.

- Kári Sverrisson
Translation by Sharon Weiss and Jacqueline FitzGibbon