''Hedningarna'' is the eponymous debut album by the Swedish band

Hedningarna Hedningarna (''The Heathens'') is a Swedish, and for some years partly Finnish, folk music band that mixes electronics and rock with elements from old Scandinavian folk music. Their music features yoik or juoiggus, a traditional Sami form of s ...

. It was released in 1989, when Hedningarna was still a group with three members. Unlike the other albums, the debut does not include amplified instruments and rhythm loops and is played entirely with acoustic instrumentation. Using various instruments, such as

hurdy-gurdies The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-crank-turned, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar to those of a vio ...

, moraharpas,

bagpipe Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, ...

s and fiddles, the album proves Hedningarnas' ability to mix old and new styles, and the album honors the old

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...

n musical traditions, while managing to combine these with more modern sounds. The album was later released on the

NorthSide Northside or North Side may refer to: Music * Northside (band), a musical group from Manchester, England * NorthSide, an American record label * NorthSide Festival (Denmark), a music festival in Aarhus, Denmark * "Norf Norf", a 2015 song by Vinc ...

label.

Track listing

*All song written by Anders Stake, except where noted. # Polska After Pelle Fors – 3:30 (trad.) # Förtvivlans Polska/Desperation Polska – 2:10 # Häxpolskan/The Witch Polska – 2:23 # Skavlåten/The Chafing Tune – 3:02 # Ölbackens Polska – 4:05 # Särna Gamla Brudmarsch/Old Särna Wedding March – 3:51 (trad.) # Multihalling – 2:58 # Fulinghalling/Scamphalling – 5:33 # Polska After Olof Tillman – 4:35 (trad.) # Doplåten/The Baptism Tune – 0:44 # Polska After Hins Anders – 1:44 # Lacknafta – 3:10 # Björnlåten/The Bear Tune – 3:49 (trad.)

Personnel

*Anders Stake:

Hardingfele A Hardanger fiddle ( no, hardingfele) is a traditional stringed instrument considered to be the national instrument of Norway. In modern designs, this type of fiddle is very similar to the violin, though with eight or nine strings (rather than f ...

, Three-String Keyed Fiddle, Swedish Bagpipes,

Nyckelharpa A nyckelharpa (, "keyed fiddle", or literally "key harp", plural ) is the national musical instrument of Sweden. It is a string instrument or chordophone. Its keys are attached to tangents which, when a key is depressed, serve as frets to chang ...

, Jew's Harp, Wooden Flute, Willow Pipe *Björn Tollin:

Frame Drum A frame drum is a drum that has a drumhead width greater than its depth. It is one of the most ancient musical instruments, and perhaps the first drum to be invented. It has a single drumhead that is usually made of rawhide, but man-made mate ...

Marxophone The Marxophone is a fretless zither played via a system of metal hammers. It features two octaves of double melody strings in the key of C major (middle C to C''), and four sets of chord strings (C major, G major, F major, and D7). Sounding s ...

, Three-String Keyed Fiddle *Hållbus Totte Mattsson: Lute, Acoustic Guitar,

Baroque Guitar The Baroque guitar (c. 1600–1750) is a string instrument with five courses of gut strings and moveable gut frets. The first (highest pitched) course sometimes used only a single string. History The Baroque guitar replaced the Renaissance lute ...

Hurdy Gurdy The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-crank-turned, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar to those of a vi ...

1989 debut albums Hedningarna albums {{1980s-folk-album-stub