Spælimenninir (FO)

HAVNAR JAZZFELAG & TUTL 50 YEAR CELEBRATION Free admission ------- Spælimenninir Erling Olsen (violin) Sharon Weiss (recorder) Ívar Bærentsen (mandolin) Kristian Blak (piano) ------- In August, 1974, music teacher Kristian Blak started a folk band in the secondary school in Hoydalar, just north of Tórshavn. Soon dubbed “Spælimenninir í Hoydølum” (Eng: “the folk musicians from Hoydalar”), the band included teachers and students from the school, as well as other interested musicians in the area. Kristian, Hans Ole Larsen and Magnus Pauli (Maggi) Poulsen played in the group from the beginning. Other early band members included Thorkild Rose, Asbjørn Strøm and Keld Lund and Kolbein Simonsen. Alistair Cochrane, visiting scholar from Scotland, joined the band in the summer of 1976; Janne Danielsson and Christina (Lindén) Eketorp, fiddlers from Sweden, and Jógvan Dahl, Faroese guitarist and singer, joined shortly afterwards.

Spælimenninir í Hoydølum always welcomed and included visiting folk musicians from other countries and cultures. The band’s repertoire reflected the ethnic mix of the musicians, including tunes band members brought from various parts of Scandinavia and Britain. And the “all-are -welcome-Spælimenninir í Hoydølum group”, as in the early days? Yes, that is still exists, though not as often. Each summer, younger and older musicians, including many young Faroese studying abroad, join together in the Faroes to play tunes from the Spælimenninir repertoire. This “folk big band”, sometimes including more than 20 musicians, plays at festivals like Fólkatónleikastevnan and G!- festival. Spælimenninir has also inspired others to form Faroese instrumental folk music groups and been essential in organizing Fólkatónleikarafelagið (Folk Musicians' Association), local concerts and workshops for young musicians, as well as Fólkatónleikastevnan (Folk Music Festival).

Over the years, Spælimenninir’s repertoire has grown from the strictly traditional Scandinavian, British and North American tunes played in the ‘70’s to include tunes composed by active Faroese folk musicians. Now, in 2025, there is a specifically Faroese instrumental repertoire of folk music tunes for listening and dancing.