Hall, Dibben, Ingólfsson & Mitchell/Sounds Icelandic, 3. Rímur: From National Heritage to Folk Music

In this chapter, I will show how the Idunn Society of Intoners and Versifiers (Kvaedamannafelagdi Idunn) influenced the old rímur tradition. Rímur are epic poems, traditionally performed by one intoner (kvaedamadur). Rímur (pl.) are regarded as part of the Icelandic literary heritage, although the melodies were transmitted orally, until the beginning of the 20th century, even if the performers often used printed books for the verses. The oldest rímur manuscript dates from 1380. Performances used to take place in the Icelandic turf houses on farms, when nearly all Icelanders lived in rural areas (90% in 1890). When the Idunn Society was founded in 1929, their main concern was to preserve the melodies known by the members, and in 1935-6 they recorded 200 rímur melodies. In their efforts to preserve the rímur tradition, the Idunn Society paradoxically caused the tradition to change in many ways.