Icelandic Music NetBroadcast Wednesday

Subject: Icelandic Music NetBroadcast Wednesday

Hey Alternate Tuners,

My niece, Vanessa Nowitzky, will be singing on Icelandic Radio, Channel 1,
this Wednesday. It can be heard over the internet via:

http://www.ruv.is/ras1b.ram

(The ".ram" means you need RealAudio).

She'll be on this Wednesday, 10/20/99, at 22:20 Icelandic Time, which
translates to 3:20pm US Pacific Time, 6:20pm US Eastern Time.

I mention this to the tuning list 'cuz apparently in "kvaedaskapur" (a
branch of Icelandic folk music), they do not use 12tET. My niece talks a
little about it in the forwarded (below). She also sang a little
kvaedaskapur to me over the phone today; it sounded like the notes of a
natural minor scale, with a lot of vibrato, and a possible half-flat
2nd-note-of-scale thrown in now and then (i.e., in A minor, with an
occasional B half-flat).

Also forwarded is the radio program contents. I will attempt to capture
what I can into an audio file during the broadcast (but don't count on that
working).

Hope you can give it a listen, even though most of it will be in
unintelligble Icelandic...
--Mark Nowitzky (nowitzky@alum.mit.edu, AKA tuning-owner@onelist.com)

First forwarded message:

>Date: Fri, 8 Oct 1999 10:00:46 -0700
>From: Vanessa Nowitzky <nowitzky@muse.calarts.edu>
>To: nowitzky@alum.mit.edu
>Subject: Re: Idunn radio show (fwd)
>
>...
>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>Date: Fri, 8 Oct 1999 08:12:20 -0000
>From: "[iso-8859-1] Arn��r Helgason" <arnhelg@ismennt.is>
>To: "Vanessa Nowitzky" <nowitzky>
>Subject: Re: Idunn radio show
>
>Dear Vanessa.
>
>I hope I will be able to put a link into this letter for the channel 1 at
>the Icelandic radio. If the link does not work you have anyway the website
>which is:
>
>http://www.ruv.is/ras1b.ram
>
>I would like to point out that the programme will be on the air again on the
>weddensday October 20 at 22:20 if that might fit you better.
>
>I hope you will get a little out of your programme. The contents will be as
>follows (with some minor changes as some of the interviewers have not
>decided yet whether to appear):
>
>1. An introduction with Steind�r and some others singing a stemma.
>
>2. Introductory notes from me.
>
>3. A stemma with a lyric by Einar Benediktsson.
>
>4. Steind�r's speech about the founding of I�unn.
>
>5. ��r Magn�sson's momories about old kv��amenn.
>
>6. Ormur �lafsson tells about the first days of I�unn.
>
>7. An interview with Steind�r and Sigur�ur Sigur�arson about the activities
>in I�unn.
>
>8. An interview with B�ra Gr�msd�ttir, one of our best kv��amenn and a
>composer. She sings a small stemma by herself.
>
>9. What is r�mnalaganefnd doing now (Magnea Halld�rsd�ttir)?
>
>10. The great and glorious Vanessa ends the program.
>
>My wife will read your answers in Icelandic and I will tell the audience
>that you have sent me the information by email.
>
>The following kv��amenn will appear on the programme as small interludes:
>Steind�r Andersen, Sigur�ur Sigur�arson, J�n L�russon, KJartan �lafsson
>(these two recordings are old ones9, Hj�lmar J�nsson, Magnea Halld�rsd�ttir,
>B�ra Gr�msd�ttir, Magn�s J. J�hannsson, two children, Vanessa Nowitzky.
>
>I have decided not to include those kv��amenn who are most often on the air.
>
>If you wish I can later on send you a cd with the program.
>
>Best regards
>
>Arnthor
>heard.

Second forwarded message:

>Date: Sun, 10 Oct 1999 19:40:49 -0700
>From: Vanessa Nowitzky <nowitzky@muse.calarts.edu>
>To: Mark Nowitzky <nowitzky@alum.mit.edu>
>Subject: The tuning of kvaedaskapur, one branch of Icelandic folk music
>
>On Sun, 10 Oct 1999, Mark Nowitzky wrote:
>> ... By "12tET", I was referring to "12 tone Equal Temperament"
>> (conventional tuning of modern pianos). I was wondering whether
>> you'd be using some other type of tuning instead of 12tET. If
>> so, I'm sure that the Alternate Tuning Mailing List that I moderate
>> would want to know about the "netcast".
>
>Glad you asked!
>Icelandic folk music (kvaedaskapur) is unique in that it uses CONTINUOUS
>pitch as opposed to definite pitch. So instead of 12 tones, there is a
>continuum. The singer passes through pitch AREAS. But the feature of
>kvaedaskapur that is the most subtle and oldest and is therefore not
>practiced anymore, is that from verse to verse the singer slightly
>changes, like a kaleidoscope, the repeating melody. It still sounds like
>a verse repeating, but with subtle variations with all kinds of
>quartertone and other differences. You can hear it in the oldest
>recordings, of 80 year old fisherman.
>Another fascinating thing is that when scientists measured the sound of
>the kvaeda voice on graph paper, they couldn't get a wave form that was
>like any particular pitch. The line was so squiggly it never calmed into
>a shape that pitches take. Thus the proof of continuous pitch. Except
>for the last note of the verse, which is traditionally held for a long
>time, and corresponds to the tonic.
>
>> ... Will you be singing in "Icelandic" or whatever?
>
>Yes, the entire program will be in Icelandic, so unfortunately you may not
>understand a word of it.

+------------------------------------------------------+
| Mark Nowitzky |
| email: nowitzky@alum.mit.edu AIM: Nowitzky |
| www: http://www.pacificnet.net/~nowitzky |
| "If you haven't visited Mark Nowitzky's home |
| page recently, you haven't missed much..." |
+------------------------------------------------------+
__________________________________________
NetZero - Defenders of the Free World
Get your FREE Internet Access and Email at
http://www.netzero.net/download/index.html