Norwegian Songs of Ice and Fire

Posted by DJL on Mar 1, 2013 in Culture | 1 comment

I am a huge fan of George R. R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire series, of which A Game of Thrones is the first book. But that’s not what this is about.

No, this is about Norway. Or, rather, Norwegian culture. Though I have no Scandinavian blood that I know of, I have developed over my years of living in the Upper Midwest a tremendous admiration for Scandinavian culture. So when I saw these two different articles that capture the resilience and creativity of this Nordic culture that I appreciate so much, I thought I’d share.

The first comes from Open Culture, one of my favorite websites, and describes the work of Terje Isungset, a Norwegian musician and artist who carves his instruments out of ice. Each one is different, so, as he says, he really doesn’t know his instrument until me makes it. Horns, percussion instruments, and even an ice guitar, have emerged from Terje’s patient and creative work with, among other things, a chain saw and blocks of ice. His ice-xylophone is incredibly melodic.

You can read the article here or watch these several brief videos, the first detailing how he makes his instruments, the second a piece of music on the xylophone, and the third a description of what he does accompanied by portions of an ice-instrument concert.

Perhaps the flip side to ice instruments is a passion for fire or, in this case, firewood. The New York Times reported recently that a television program about splitting, stacking, and burning firewood recently captured 1 million viewers, or about 20% of the population. Not only that, but it stirred quite a controversy. As the Times reports:

“We received about 60 text messages from people complaining about the stacking in the program,” said Lars Mytting, whose best-selling book “Solid Wood: All About Chopping, Drying and Stacking Wood — and the Soul of Wood-Burning” inspired the broadcast. “Fifty percent complained that the bark was facing up, and the rest complained that the bark was facing down.”
He explained, “One thing that really divides Norway is bark.”

Divided about which side to face the bark, Norwegians remain united in loving to discuss it and burn it. The eight hour television program, which featured various parka-clad Norwegian experts discussion firewood and then simply showed the ongoing progress of a wood fire burning – with a hand occasionally seen adding firewood of just the right amount in just the right place at just the right time – was a huge hit.

So much so that comedian Stephen Colbert featured it on his Colbert Report, satirically broadcasting that it beat out other Norwegian specials “So You Think You Can Watch Paint Dry” and “The Amazing Glacial Race.” You can read the whole delightful NY Times piece here or catch Colbert’s riff below. Regardless, I still find both the Norwegians fascination with ice and fire absolutely delightful…and sensible, given their climate. Here we say, “If life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” But I suspect in Norway it’s more like, “when life gives you ice, make an instrument…or a fire.”

Have a great – and hopefully warm – weekend!

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