A gånglåt is a category of
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
traditional folk music; a fiddle-tune in an easy, or march meter. The name in
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
means "walking tune", and the traditional tempo is that of a stately walk. Not to be referred to/or confused with a ''march'' when this is spoken of in Swedish in the traditional genre. A gånglåt resembles a slow Irish
reel
A reel is an object around which a length of another material (usually long and flexible) is wound for storage (usually hose are wound around a reel). Generally a reel has a cylindrical core (known as a '' spool'') with flanges around the ends ...
in structure, with two (or, more rarely, three) 16-bar strains, each repeated twice, in the form AABB. Often the second A and B differs slightly in the end compared to the first instance.
The Swedish folk fiddle repertoire contains hundreds of traditional tunes in this form. They are often performed by several fiddlers (see: ''
spelmanslag'') in multiple-part harmony. Two of the most well known gånglåts are Gärdebylåten and Äppelbo gånglåt.
Swedish folk music
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