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Ekkillinn frá Álfahamri / The widower from Álfahamar (Elf Crag)

from Fl​ú​r by FUNI

/

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Comes in a 3 fold digipak with a 32 page illustrated booklet containing notes about all the songs and full song lyrics in both Icelandic and English, all beautifully designed by Inga Elsa Bergþórsdóttir.

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about

Text: Davíð Stefánsson (1895 - 1964). Tunes: trad. & Bára Grímsdóttir, arr. Bára Grímsdóttir & Chris Foster.

This song is a favourite in our school singing sessions. The text, about a widower who apparently moves into the rocky home of an elf woman, is usually sung to a different tune. We learnt this tune from Þór Sigurðsson from Akureyri and Bára added the second melody.

lyrics

English translation

Once a widower lived at Álfahamar,
who, whether asleep or awake, was always singing
thIs verse, with the same tune.

“Up in the high crag lives an elf woman.
No Icelander knows, other than me,
how well she sings.”

Then, the widower from Álfahamar disappeared.
It was not entirely without suspicion.
As some people did believe it was suspicious.

He was looked for by the river and up by the crags,
but everyone had other things to do
and the widower was nowhere to be found.

Long after, a shepherd said
he had heard clearly, in a silent waking state,
this song sung in the crag:

“Up in the high crag lives an elf woman.
No Icelander knows, other than me,
how well she sings.”

credits

from Fl​ú​r, track released April 2, 2013
Vocal and Kantele, Bára Grímsdóttir
Guitar and vocal, Chris Foster
Clarinet, Lárus Halldór Grímsson

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tags

about

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FUNI Reykjavik, Iceland

FUNI, an old Icelandic word meaning flame or fire, are Bára Grímsdóttir & Chris Foster. Since 2001, they have been breathing new life into great songs that have been hidden away in old recordings, old books and manuscripts for too long. They also add new songs to the tradition. Bára and Chris tour widely in Europe, as well as Iceland and Britain. They have also played in China and the USA. ... more

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