Svenskt visarkiv, Musikverket (Centre for Swedish Folk Music and Jazz Research)

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Contact

Email: visarkivet@musikverket.se
Tel: +46 (0)8-5195 54 88
Postal address: Box 16326, 103 26 Stockholm, Sweden
Visiting address: Tegeluddsvägen 100, Stockholm

A national archive tasked to preserve, collect, research and publish material concerning folk music, folk songs, older popular music, Swedish jazz, folk dance, Swedish fiddle music as well as immigrant music traditions.

Svenskt visarkiv was founded in 1951 as a private foundation by, among others, song researcher and composer, Ulf Peder Olrog. Today, the archive is a state-funded cultural heritage institution that operates under the umbrella agency Musikverket. Svenskt visarkiv collects, preserves and pubslishes materials in the fields of traditional folk, older popular music, Swedish jazz, traditional and social dance, and emerging new traditions. The service desk can be reached by email, telephone or an in-person visit three days a week (Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays with exceptions for holidays). Appointments may also be booked outside the opening hours.

Web Resources

A number of catalogues are published on the website, both in databases and as scanned catalogue cards:
https://musikverket.se/svensktvisarkiv/sok-i-samlingarna/
Folkmusikkommissionen's (The Folk Music Commission) material (musical notations and texts) has been scanned and a selection of Svenkst visarkiv's recordings have been published for streaming on the website.

Vis- och låtregistret. The song and tune register has about 200,000 entries including songs and tunes from printed publications ranging from the songbooks of 16th century nobility to contemporary songs and pop tunes.

Folkmusikkommissionens notsamling och Musikmuseets spelmansböcker. 
Folkmusikkommissionen's collection includes 45,000 pages of tunes and songs as they were collected and transcribed in their original form a hundred years ago. 

Register över Sveriges Medeltida Ballader
An index to the publication Sveriges Medeltida Ballader (Sweden's Medieval Ballads), vol. 1-5, published between 1983 and 2001. You can search the entire ballad material using a number of different access points such as singers/tradition bearers, a first line, a final refrain and more. The SMB numbers include all ballad variants known at the time of publication that have been perceived to belong to the same ballad type (all SMB books are now available as PDFs on the page with online publications, see below).

Inspelningar i Svenskt visarkiv
Here you can search the catalogue entries of Svenskt visarkiv's extensive collections of non-commercially published recordings. The catalogue contains information of both Svenskt visarkiv's original recordings and recordings donated by other institutions and private individuals. You can also listen to many recordings that are more than 50 years old, or those where we have received special permission from the copyright holders.

Karl Tiréns fonografinspelningar av jojkning
In this catalogue of Karl Tirén's phonograph recordings of joik/yoik, you can search in free text for information about phonographic recordings of Sami joik/yoik between 1913–1915.
Scanned older card catalogues of songs.

"Fördjupa dig i arkiven" [Immerse yourself in the archives] is the title of a number of resource pages with informative texts, images and recordings within various areas.

Handskrivna visböcker.
A selection of handwritten songbooks that show the role they could have played in the everyday lives of people from Gotland from 1820 onwards.

Medeltida ballader
The Svenskt visarkiv has been documenting, publishing and researching ballads since the 1950s. Here you can listen to recordings and find some of the lyrics and melodies. You can also read about the the history of the ballads as well as content, form and much more.

Genres

Instrumental Folk Music
Materials for Specific Instruments
Vocal Folk Music
Folk Dance
Other

Geographic Provenances

Götaland
Blekinge
Bohuslän
Dalsland
Halland
Skåne
Småland
Västergötland
Östergötland
Gotland
Öland
Svealand
Dalarna
Närke
Södermanland
Uppland
Värmland
Västmanland
Southern Norrland
Gästrikland
Hälsingland
Härjedalen
Jämtland
Medelpad
Ångermanland
Northern Norrland
Västerbotten
Norrbotten
Lappland
Nordic Countries (other than Sweden)
Europe (other than Nordic countries)
World (other than Europe)

Types of Archival Material

Audio Recordings
Moving Image Recordings
Manuscripts
Printed Sheet Music
Printed Texts
Other