A wave of Nordic migration to the USA in the mid-19th century means many of the instruments are still found and played across the pond.Īrchaeologists first found these curious cast-iron horn instruments at the end of the eighteenth century, and many more have been found since, principally in Denmark but also elsewhere in Scandinavia most remarkably of all, despite being over 3000 years old, some of them can still be played. Traditionally the Hardanger fiddle is made from local materials like cowhorn, spruce, maple and applewood, with decorative patterns like rose designs painted onto the body, and mother of pearl used to adorn its edges. That – combined with a flat bridge enabling two strings to be bowed at once – makes it easy for even the solo player to be heard over the sound of festivities and clomping feet. Even more confusingly, the extra strings on the Hardanger fiddle – named after a region of western Norway – are not touched by the player’s bow, but sit below, “sympathetically” resonating when they hear a sound they like. Norwegians are well known for wanting to do things differently! For them, the traditional four-stringed violin just wasn’t good enough to do justice to traditional dances like the gangar, halling or springar – so they had to add four or five more.
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