ABSTRACT
The Faroe Islands are a small archipelago of eighteen volcanic islands that rise precipitously out of the North Sea about halfway between Iceland and Scotland, 305 kilometers northwest of the Shetland Isles. The esteem that the Faroese have always bestowed upon their ballad dancing—a collaboration of music, poetry, dance, and drama—accounts for its continuing viability. Faroese musical traditions fall into four musically related vocal types: Kvaeoi; Kempurvisur; visur; and Taettir. In the Faroes, the imposition of a prescribed body of religious songs, and the attempt to enforce an inflexible standard through the use of a printed text, had the opposite effect, and the Faroese turned the authorized Kingo tunes to their own advantage. Faroese culture has been an agent and a recipient of international influence. Most European orchestral instruments were known on the islands long before the Faroese showed an interest in them.
