Folk Music

The Kravik lyre is a famous old lyre from Kravik. The Lyre is an instrument which originates from Mesopotamia and is over 5000 years old. In the years between 400-500 the lyre was a very popular instrument in Europe, right up until the 1100-1200s. The Kravik lyre was rediscovered in 1848. At first it was thought that it dated from the 1200-1300s, but then radioactive carbon was discovered in the woodwork. Which could tell us how old the wood was. After this discovery it turned out that the Lyre was actually from the 17th century. The Lyre went from being the oldest stringed instrument in Norway to being the youngest Lyre in Europe. Torsten Odden from Nore, was one of the players in what has been discovered to be Norway’s oldest Hardanger fiddle recording. It was recorded on wax cylinder in 1902 and the recording is on UNESCO’s document heritage list. A local historian recounted that in 1905 there was a dance at a barn in Kravik Fjord. There was so many people there that the floor collapsed. Everyone fell down and the fiddle player’s fiddle was crushed. Afterwards, there was a collection towards a new fiddle, and this tells us a little of how important the fiddler and music were to the community.