Country: Færø Islands
Type: line dance
Formation: closed or broken circle of dancers
Steps: vikivaka (branle simple).
Sheet music:
(1) Sinklars vise.
(2) Folktunefinder.com Sinclair-visa.
A ballad with 19 verses.
Recordings:
Nósoyingar Sinklars visu, 1959;
Hamradun Sinklars visa 2015;
Folque Sinclairvise 1993;
Hrafnagaldur Sinclair's vise (2000) track 10.
| Dance progression: | ||
| All dance vikivaka steps, as long as singing/music continues. |
See YouTube video with Klaksvikar Dansifelag 2010; Dansifelagið i Havn 2013.
Provenance: Sinklars vísu was written by Edvard Storm, who from 1769 had lived in Copenhagen, in 1781 or 1782. The ballad is commemorates a historic battle between Scots and Norwegians which took place August 26th, 1612 in Gudbrandsdalen in Norway.
"The Norwegian ballad Hr. Sinklar is about the Battle of the Ring [Slaget i Kringom], in which Scottish mercenary soldiers were on their way to enlist in the Swedish army for the Kalmar War in 1612 with Sinclair as one of the commanders. At that time, Norway was part of the Danish kingdom, and Denmark and Sweden were at war. Norwegian farmers slayed down the Scottish soldiers, and none of the soldiers returned back home alive. At least this is how Edward Storm wrote ballad in late 18th century. Although the ballad is about a historical event, it is very romantic and nationalistic. In the ballad, the Scottish soldiers were barbaric and killed women and children, but they were, in fact, almost unarmed, and got captured by the Norwegians. As the Norwegians got drunk during the night, they killed the Scottish soldiers one by one against a wall." [Dansifelagið i Havn].
The version of the lyrics used at Nordlek were from Kvæði, vísur og táttar.
The tune is a variant of La folia aka Follies or folies d'Espagne.
A ballad of the same name occurs in
Norway and
Sweden.
Note: this was one of the combined dances at Nordlek 2000 in Stavanger.
Source: translated from a description in Danish prepared for Nordlek 2000.
See also:
-- Bergreen, A.P./ nr 65a-b 'Sinclars vise' in:
Norske folke-sange og melodier.
Kjöbenhavn: Den Gyldendalske Boghandling & TH. Lind, 1861. pp.78-79.
-- Geijer, Erik Gustaf; Afzelius, Arvid August/ "Malcom Sinclair". Svenska folk-visor från forntiden. Vol. 1. Stockholm: Strinnholm och Häggström, 1814. pp. 220-243.
-- Kvæði, vísur og táttar. s.l.: H.N. Jakobsens Bókahandil, 1965, 1974.
-- Semb, Klara/ "Zinklars vise" in: Norske folkedansar: songdansar. Oslo: Noregs Boklag, 1991. pp. 269-273.
-- Wikipedia Battle of Kringen
Translation: Laine Ruus, Oakville, 2021-06-05, rev. 2023-11-09.
Tillbaka till innehållsförteckningen/Back to table of contents