Sound recordings: In Old Norse and Icelandic.
Comprises a group of field materials documenting Sigurd Bardarson performing unaccompanied Icelandic songs and rimur on April 28 and 29, 1940, at times with his son, Leo Bardarson, collected by Sidney Robertson Cowell in Carmel, California.Recordings:
"[Rimur are] verses of varying length and form often with extremely intricate rhyme schemes. Certain of the most difficult types of rima make sense recited either forward or backward, syllable by syllable. In the 'Golden Age,' says Mr. Bardarson, men spoke to one another in verse and these verse forms are still used in improvisation among contemporary Icelanders. Rimur do not require the effort of singing nor the monotony of chanting--that man is best at kvetha [singing, reciting] who performs most effortlessly. Mr. Bardarson has great reputation as a kvithamathur [singer of rimur]. Usually the group accompanies the leader softly and holds the tone of each stanza for him so he can get his breath and rest an instant. Each singer has his favorite tune for a given form of rima, though he may know many others and will changes tunes in the middle of a single story to correspond with the spirit of each part of the narrative: romance, battle, contemplation, triumph, despair. Some of the rimur are translations into Icelandic of novels from France and Italy of a period 600 (?!!) years ago, according to Leo Bardarson."