In the middle of the 19th century, Myllarguten was the biggest rock star in Norway. The Harding fiddle player went on foot, from village to town, and everywhere he went, people gathered in droves. Namely, there was a rumor that the fiddler had made a pact with Fossegrimen, or Satan himself, to get his special abilities. He was known to go into a trance when playing; on some occasions the listeners had to tear the fiddle out of his hands to get him to stop. TRANSE PLAYER: Torgeir Augundsson aka Myllarguten came from Rauland in Telemark. Photo: Bø Museum Myllarguten died in 1872, a couple of years before the gramophone was invented, and his ecstatic performances were therefore only stored in the hearts and minds of the audience. The stories became legends, the legends became myths, and the mysterious trance game gradually disappeared from popular memory. That is to say – it never quite woke up. In a small town, far up in the inner valley, there are still players left from the old school. The legacy of Myllarguten At Rysstad in Setesdal, we meet fiddler Hallvard T. Bjørgum (67). He has lived in the valley all his life and had a classic rural upbringing with “cars, firearms and beer brewing in the anthills in the forest”. GENEALOGY: Setesdal is one of the most remote valley areas in southern Norway. Hallvard’s parents were triplets. In other words, the fiddler is his own company. Photo: Javier Auris / news But the valley is also known for being an important breeding ground for folk music, and Hallvard joins a long line of musicians in his family. His father, Torleiv H. Bjørgum, literally played until the end when he died with the fiddle in his hand during an annual meeting of the Setesdal Spelemannslag in 1990. Hallvard himself got his first Harding fiddle when he was four years old, and since then he has dedicated his life to fiddle playing. Over the years, he has also acquired Norway’s largest collection of Harding fiddles – among other things one of his great role models. – This is one of the most legendary fiddles in the whole country. It has ten strings and was owned by Myllarguten – the most legendary fiddler in the whole country, explains Hallvard. FROM A LEGEND TO ANOTHER: Hallvard T. Bjørgum has also become a living folk music legend. He has won several landscape play and fiddler prizes. In 2014, he was appointed a knight of the Order of St. Olav “for his outstanding importance for folk music”. Photo: Javier Auris / news Hallvard naturally knows the stories about Myllarguten’s ecstasy well. He also says that he himself has experienced similar experiences. With the help of ancient haystacks, he claims to be able to play in a trance. Gorrlau’s bass Hallvard T. Bjørgum tunes the strings on the harding fiddle lower than usual; he tunes the darkest string extra low – to what he calls “gorrless bass”. The voiceless tuning is used when playing “rammeslåtar”, which means strong/powerful beats. The mowing type is already mentioned in the Icelandic “Bose’s saga” from the 15th century. Since then, such melodies have been associated with trance, mysticism and Satan himself. LOVE: Find someone who looks at you the way Hallvard looks at his Hardingfela. Photo: Javier Auris / news In Setesdal, the expression “come on the frame farm” means to play with sense and concentration. In the 19th century, myths about the extraterrestrial playing led the church to view the harding fiddle as a demonic instrument. In several places in the country, the felt was burned at the stake. In some valley areas, folk music was eradicated. In other words, Hallvard is going to play for us in a powerful way. According to the fiddler, the “Nordafjells” frame castle is known for having a “trance-inducing effect”. Hallvard describes the trance as an extreme state. The experience stands out from everything else and is therefore difficult to put into words. – It is a strong well-being. But trance also creates a certain fear in me. I feel like I’m losing control and think: “What the hell is going on?” The time has come for a phone call to a well-known neuroscientist in the USA to get an answer to the big question: – What the f**k is happening with Hallvard T. Bjørgum? The perfect trance music Indre Viskontas is a professor of psychology at the University of San Francisco. She is both a neuroscientist, an opera singer and an expert on how music affects our brain. Naturally, she cannot know exactly what is going on in the head of Hallvard T. Bjørgum in Setesdal. (It is too much to ask of anyone, even a neuroscientist.) But she sees no reason to doubt his experiences. – Trance is a form of altered consciousness, she explains. According to the researcher, the condition has several similarities with sleep. She can also confirm that one can fall into a trance both from playing and listening to music. At least a certain type of music. Certain musical properties lend themselves better than others as trance triggers. She mentions the overt music genre “trance” as a good example, but it also turns out that the frame beats tick off several points on the list of what constitutes good trance music: Rhythm Few things affect our brains more strongly than rhythm. It is almost impossible for a person to listen to rhythmic music without moving. In this area, we as a race are unique: No other animal reacts in the same way. Within several cultures, rhythm and trance are closely linked, for example shamans who drum themselves into ecstatic experiences. SHAMAN: Recent research on shamans who drum shows that their brain activity changes considerably during trance. Photo: Аркадий Зарубин / Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 The frame mowers are also strongly rhythmic. While Hallvard plays the fiddle, he stomps a suggestive 6/8 beat with his feet. Repetition – One of the main ingredients in trance music is a lot of repetition, says Indre Viskontas. She further explains that trance occurs in a network in the brain called the default mode network. This system is activated when we are not concentrating or focusing on something. Through repetition, we get the music under our skin. The game is played automatically, without the musician needing to use mental powers. – A jazz musician who improvises over a recurring theme has an active “default mode network”, says the neuroscientist. JAZZ: Whether jazz pianist Keith Jarrett played in a trance is unknown. But something or other went through his head anyway. Photo: Ramseier / Keystone Hallvard T. Bjørgum can confirm that repetition has been an important factor during his trance experiences. – Before, I could play for many hours without stopping. At weddings in the old days, the fiddlers could play for several days, but then they needed liquor, says Hallvard. – Is intoxication necessary to get into a trance? – It is never the launch pad, but it can help to maintain, and to some extent reinforce, a state of mind. Bass Some of the hottest research into music and the brain in the last ten years has taken place at the American university MIT. There they discovered that deep, constant bass tones have a very special effect on the brain. These sound waves can precisely synchronize with the brain waves, so that they oscillate at the same frequency. This is how dark tones can quite concretely change a person’s state of mind. Inspired by the research project, the composer Tod Machover has composed a melody in which a deep bass tone of 40 Hz is constant and lasts throughout the entire melody. Listen and feel if the awareness changes: Loading SoundCloud content The Rammeslåtane are known for their extra deep bass tones. On these strums, it is also common for the darkest string to be used to create a deep tone under the melody. The lower strings in the harding fiddle also help to create a sea of undertones and overtones. This gives the instrument a very rich sound with both lighter and darker tones than what the fiddler actually plays. 1 OR 25 TONES?: What in a graphic presentation may look like a sea of different tones, is just one note on the fiddle. Giving up Over several hundred years, Norwegian fiddlers have been accused of being possessed by underground forces. Participatory experiences have also been strongly linked to trance in other cultures. – Some get a religious experience, but I am neither threatening nor spiritual, says Hallvard T. Bjørgum. He nevertheless admits that he gets a strong feeling of giving himself up to something (or someone?) else. So what is this something? EXTREME SPORTS PERFORMER: – This is my extreme sport, says Hallvard and shows off the fiddle. He knows several people who have been injured by playing too hard and for too long, for example the fiddler Tarkjell Aslakson Austad, who suffered a big bruise on his back. Photo: Javier Auris / news In a way, science can confirm that the fiddlers have indeed been possessed – but not necessarily by Satan or the Fossegrimen. The fiddlers have been obsessed with music. (And a little booze.) Watch news’s new documentary series about Norwegian folk music here: Harmonica player Kenneth Lien hunts for the mysterious in folk music, but is there still mystery in 2023? Hi! Do you have any thoughts on this matter or tips for other stories we should look at? I will be very happy for all input! Do you want to know more about how music affects the brain? Read Professor Indre Viskonta’s thoughts on Matoma’s tears:
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Hallvard T. Bjørgum plays in a trance with the help of frame mowers – Culture
