By Rasmus Skov Borring
Historically, communal singing has always been an essential part of the folk high school tradition in Denmark, and today folk high schools – alongside other forms of school life and the Church – play a crucial role in keeping the tradition alive. But the Folk High School Songbook has also moved beyond its traditional circles, and new initiatives centred around song are constantly springing up in meetings of societies and associations, in the urban landscape and in the workplace. This appears to indicate that many people have a sense that the togetherness that arises from singing with others opens up for something very special for the individual.
Communal singing unites people – we cannot sing communally alone. There is a mutual dependency here to which everyone has to contribute. It is part of human nature to be constantly in the process of creating an understanding of where we come from and where we belong – and even though there are many threads woven into such a discussion, people often point up how important a people or a community singing together is for the individual’s sense of belonging. What is new is that individual thoughts are given more space. Being together also enables a personal space for reflection. Singing together is not about belonging to a flock, in which everyone thinks and feels the same way.
Communal singing unites people – we cannot sing communally alone.
Rasmus Skov Borring
In theories of art, people have long discussed when we can say that a work has been completed. If we transpose that discussion onto our culture of communal singing, we could ask whether what a song ‘means’ is determined by – and therefore terminates with – the author and composer, or whether the singer plays a part in giving the song meaning. Most people who are familiar with the culture of communal singing would probably say that our own life experience plays its part in colouring our encounter with a song. The meaning of a song is, therefore, also created through the interpretation of those taking part in the singing. This means in principle that any particular group can agree that what they are singing means something specific, but it also makes it possible for singers to be able to think and feel many different things while they are singing together – and that the same song can mean different things depending on who is singing it and in what context. This means that the culture is alive and allows different people from different generations to meet in a communal song.
In my view, this open approach to communal singing as a phenomenon is a requirement if we are to continue in the future to maintain a vibrant national treasury of song, which can represent those who here and now are numbered among our people. I also think that this is one of the reasons why communal singing is flourishing in so many contexts. While society has for a number of years been marked by continued individualisation, we are now far more intent on also looking for activities that centre around the community. But we have to be in the song as those that we are and bring our own narrative and individual feelings in with us. In communal singing, you can receive something and be given something while continuing to be yourself. Many people, young and old, find that songs possess a core narrative while at the same time are something as a result of what the individual contributes.
Since the Folk High School Songbook first appeared in 1894, it has been the association’s intention that it should reflect the world of which it is part. As the world has changed, so have the songs that have been added. Today, the book includes a multiplicity of songs, which represent the poetic and compositional expression of a variety of different epochs. It is important to communicate this change, especially to coming generations, who have to be invited to join this song culture. It is important to feel in your own body that you yourself are part of the process of creating meaning.
Since the Folk High School Songbook first appeared in 1894, it has been the association’s intention that it should reflect the world of which it is part. As the world has changed, so have the songs that have been added.
Rasmus Skov Borring
The good host
Many of such reflections are familiar to those who are a part of the folk high school tradition. Our tradition of song is linked to particular assumptions, but those who do not know them can feel excluded from communal singing, eventhough communal singing as a phenomenon boasts that it breaks down barriers. As an institution devoted to the enlightenment of the people, folk high schools have the task of demonstrating what it means to play host to communal singing both at folk high schools and in many other contexts. It is clear that taking part in a national culture involves many layers – sometimes it can be fine to sing just for the sake of singing, but if we are aware of our duties as host and communicator, we often find that those who sing feel a greater sense of relevance, as more personal existential factors are brought into play.
One of the qualities of taking a course at a folk high school is that it allows time for a process in which young people feel that spontaneous joy of song but also get to know the codes written into the song culture. When people meet in other contexts and for shorter periods, for example at an association meeting or a cultural event, there is far less time to undertake a similar framing of a presentation of communal singing. Often, it is a great help that many people are already familiar with the premises, because song-lovers turn up when there is communal singing. But this is an area I devote considerable attention to as a presenter. If the culture is to become more widely accessible, I have to communicate in a way that also brings in those who do not already know the tradition. This aspect is not only about the songs themselves but also about rhetoric, context and hosting.
And here is where communal singing becomes enlightenment of the people and we start to see how they play a part in edification.
Rasmus Skov Borring
A specific example might be when I go out to a company, which wants to introduce communal singing. In this situation, I cannot simply assume that songs like “Er lyset for de lærde blot” (Does light shine only out of books) or “Hvad solskin er for det sorte muld” (What sunlight is for the darkened earth) in themselves set a mass of thoughts going in those individuals. For what do the words that Grundtvig has written mean? And how is this relevant to my life? The moment people are given an explanation of how our culture of the folk has come about, how Grundtvig’s songs are about human existence and a view of life, and how his reflections can, for example, be used in current educational policy, it will make much more sense for most people to sing along. And many will also find that what they are singing suddenly starts being about their own life even though the narrative was written long ago. And here is where communal singing becomes enlightenment of the people and we start to see how they play a part in edification. The process makes demands on the goodwill of those singing along, and depends on the presenter of the song setting up a framework in which everyone can feel themselves included, even though they are new to the community of singing.
The general and the particular
For many years I have toured with the poet of the marshlands, Jens Rosendal, who is, as I write, the living writer who has most songs in the Folk High School Songbook. I have written music to many of his most recent poems. A fixed item on our song lecture was his song of falling in love, “Du kom med alt det, der var dig” (You came with all you have and are), followed by the poem’s follow-up, which came 20 years later, a song of love and loss, “Som solskin over mark og hav” (Like sunlight over land and sea)
His song of falling in love with a man has become one of Denmark’s most frequent used communal songs – and it exemplifies what the culture of the people often manages to ensure, namely the ability to present a minority’s case through a writer’s personal story and at the same time to make its content available in such a way that people with different life circumstances and experiences can identify with the content of the song.
Du kom med alt det der var digog sprængte hver en spærret vejog hvilket forår blev det!Det år, da alt blev stærkt og klartog vildt og fyldt med tøbrudsfartog alting råbte: lev det!
(You came with all you have and are,And broke each barrier and bar –And spring was all for giving!The world grew round and strong that year,And melted ice roared wild and clear, And life cried out for living.)
This is the first verse of Jens Rosendal’s love song. Love, according to Rosendal himself, is universal. Rosendal wrote this poem in 1981, when he fell desperately in love with a man. It was a turbulent period in his life, for he was living a normal family life with his wife and their three children. But there was no way around it. As Rosendal himself has put it, he felt here for the first time that he could truly love and that as a result he was a real human being – that he had been given the greatest gift God can give us: Love.
In writing his poem, Rosendal wanted to demonstrate that God’s love applies to everyone, no matter whom you fall in love with. But the song is also sung by many people who do not necessarily have a strong relation to the divine. Rosendal’s own love is for a man, but the song is sung by many people who are in very different loving relationships. We have, therefore, a unique opportunity in this example to bring the nature of a national culture out into the light, because our experience of this song clearly indicates that meaningfulness is often created through personal experiences for the individual even though the song is sung in a group.
The relevance of the song
Jens Rosendal lost his partner 20 years after he had met him. He then wrote “Som solskin over mark og skov” (As sunlight over land and sea), which tries to put that death into words and the unbearable pain that came with loss. There are several versions of songs in which love and sorrow go hand in hand, where the one reinforces the other. This is a fundamental condition of human life. The two songs in this example contain the same message: “Livet, det er livet værd” (Life is worth the being born) – even though love comes at a price. We are faced here with a cultural narrative, which is a revolt against the time and its norms. It is a voice that speaks aloud about something we cannot always talk about.
The Folk High School Songbook is often spoken of as an important part of Danish cultural heritage and, if it is to continue to be that heritage, there have to be people to inherit it.
Rasmus Skov Borring
The crucial thing is the relevance created in the encounter with the songs. The songs in the Folk High School Songbook express a wide variety of moods and approaches to life, where some songs suit some occasions and others are relevant in other situations. But they are songs that are sung. Even though we often talk about the texts, we should not underestimate the music, which creates the mood that is often the decisive factor in choosing a particular song for a certain occasion. There are many texts that would never have been passed on from one generation to another if it had not been through a song. And if coming generations are to continue to sing, then songs also need to say something to those who live here and now.
The Folk High School Songbook is often spoken of as an important part of Danish cultural heritage and, if it is to continue to be that heritage, there have to be people to inherit it. It is, therefore, not enough to be interested in the history behind our treasury of song. We also have to ask, How does it speak to the present day? It is, of course, fine to learn about history through the songs, but this has to be combined with a sense of relevance and a content that can be converted into something. Even though we have the book in our hands, the culture it holds is immaterial in the sense that unless it is used it does not exist. This means that we have constantly to be asking ourselves what we can do to keep our tradition for communal singing alive – as regards the individual, the community of togetherness around us and the society in which we are now living.
