Icelandic folk music

Iceland is such a dramatic, yet peaceful, land. When we looked at Scandinavia for a couple of weeks this year I think I began to hear the Viking voices and smell the bracing air, smacking of salt on the rocky coasts. I felt a little pagan and very Northern.

Music (meaning primarily, of course, folk music) is such a connected, human way to taste the history and the land of a place. We listened to these mostly very brief selections while watching slideshows and looking at maps.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJqZ2O9S2OI (about 2 minutes. peaceful, with strings and winds.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AlXbWjYKr4 (2 minutes. high energy, with male vocal leads. wanna go on a viking adventure? come along! :) )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=pf8Drp9JntM&NR=1 (3 1/2 minutes. manly, call and response, maybe they are sitting around the long hall with their frothy mugs, being led in song and stamping their feet in time.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=mSCOQour_fg (about 2 minutes. slow and dramatic. low winds with high chimes. a warrior returning from his travels?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-_lQ1UQoyU (about 3 minutes. energetic, like travelling the high hills on a bright day, with some background chorals)