Under the microscope: Vegårsheiingen
By Ånon Egeland
Translated by Lucy Moffatt
Under the microscope: Close readings of Jew’s harp tunes
Sometime around 1980 I learned a nameless ‘reilennæ’ from Sigurd Fjeldstad (1903–1984) of Tvedestrand. The tune is also known in Åseral, Gjerstad og Drangedal, often as a ‘polka,’ the old name for reinlenders in the eastern areas of Agder, as well as Drangedal and Numedal.
Singer Anne Sandnes of Åmli had some lyrics for the melody that went like this:
Adam uti Paradis,
Adam uti Paradis
slakta og åt opp ein halvråten gris.
Kjøtet det åt han opp,
pylsone gav han bort,
føtene blei ikkje ti nåke stort.
(Adam in Paradise,
Adam in Paradise
Butchered and ate up a half-rotten pig.
All the meat he ate up,
The sausages he gave away,
The trotters weren’t much good.)
So when I recorded my fiddle version on the album Ånon, I decided I to call it ‘Adam uti Paradis.’ (Incidentally, in addition to my fiddle and Mikael Marin’s viola, this version also includes some Jew’s harp, which is audible way back in the mix.)
However, when I recorded this as a solo Jew’s harp tune 23 years later, I opted to use the name the Hardanger fiddler Aage Hjellen (1914–1987) of Gjerstad used: “Vegårsheiingen” – which can mean either The Tune or The Person from Vegårshei. A change is as good as a rest – and a rose by any name smells as sweet.
Sigurd Fjeldstad played his version on regular fiddle with A-bass tuning (a-d’-a’-e’) and in A major, as with so many of the older tunes in his repertoire. Well, not strictly major, because the seventh was generally variable – never as high as in a major scale and rarely as much as a whole tone beneath the tonic.
Perhaps it was this deviation from equal-tempered tuning that set a bell ringing in the back of my head and made me think of the Jew’s harp.
Another striking aspect of Sigurd Fjeldstad’s playing style was the accentuated strokes that linked unstressed notes to stressed notes, which made me think of Aani Rysstad (1894–1965) and the way he played reinlenders. The underlying musical aesthetic is the same in both cases. Rysstad strikes at the same point where Sigurd Fjeldstad changes bow direction.
The Jew’s harp version may pose certain challenges, especially when it comes to rhythm. The compass is also wide: the deepest note, the starting note of the tune, is overtone 6, which can be a bit difficult to hit – at least on a low-pitched harp. So when I recorded the tune, I chose to use an A Jew’s harp.
The first part also contains a note that I have never heard used in traditional Jew’s harp playing before: overtone 14. Played with an open epiglottis, it is a shade below an equal-tempered minor seventh – 31 cents below to be precise. I think it works perfectly in this context.
Below are links to several different versions of “Vegårsheiingen”/“Adam uti Paradis”:
Ånon Egeland:
Ragnhild Furholt:
Gunnar Austegard (1883–1973):
