What Norse Music of the Viking Age Sounded Like - feat. Ibn Fadlan

This is a very basic, general and introductory overview of what little we do know of the music of Scandinavia during the Viking Age.

Here is the link to the Ensemble Mare Balticum's recordings which I mention in the video, in which you will hear historically and archeologically informed reconstructions of what Norse music may likely have sounded like using scientific methodology (it's mostly the first ten minutes that deals with the Viking age, as the rest is centred on post-Christianisation Scandinavian music, I especially recommend starting at the 7th minute as the first parts are only demonstrations of war horns and military calls using lurs):
   • Drømde mik en drøm i nat, real ancien...  

Here is also my humble attempts in which I illustrate all the historical elements talked about in this video, from the instrumentation to the heterophonic, and heptatonic-diatonic melodic framework with pentatonic tendencies:

Lyre improvisation:
   • Lyre - Norse Music  

Thrymskvida Song:
   • Þrymskviða - Old Norse Song  

This is my previous video on the subject of overtone throat singing in Norse culture:
   • Did “Vikings” Have Overtone Throat Si...  

Sources:
"What did they sound like? Reconstructing the music of the Viking Age by Chihiro Larissa Tsukamoto"
https://www.academia.edu/31493503/Wha...

"People and Their Soundscape in Viking-Age Scandinavia Critical Reflections in a Music-Archaeological Perspective" by Cajsa S. Lund
https://www.academia.edu/31773185/Caj...

00:00 Intro
01:58 The “Viking” genre isn’t historical
04:45 What we do know: the instruments
10:20 The Norse were not culturally separate from the rest of Northern Europe
14:46 Heptatonic and diatonic music
16:44 Pentatonic music
18:18 Heterophony
22:06 Conclusion