Dansk Folkemindesamling blev oprettet i 1904. Takket være folkemusik- og folkemindeforskerne Axel Olrik og Hjalmar Thuren fik folkemindesamlingen tre år senere et lydarkiv, da der i 1907 blev oprettet en samling af valser.
Udstyret med en fonograf rejste Thurens medhjælper, cand. mag. H. Grüner-Nielsen, i 1907 sammen med folkemindesamleren Evald Tang Kristensen rundt i den vestlige del af Jylland til Tang Kristensens tidligere såkaldte meddelere – kontaktpersoner, der gerne ville fortælle eventyr, vandrehistorier, sagn, synge folkeviser og andre viser samt meget mere foran fonograftragten.
I 1909 besøgte Grüner-Nielsen atter en række Tang Kristensen-meddelere suppleret med nye kontaktpersoner og lavede flere optagelser.
Lydoptagelserne fra 1907 og 1909 dannede grundstammen i Folkemindesamlingens lydarkivet. Helt frem til 1947 fortsatte lydindsamlingen med fonograf, derefter tog man andet udstyr i brug.
Optagelserne i den foreliggende valse-samling er hovedsagelig fra årene 1907 til 1933. Fra 1934-1947 er der kun optaget på valse i få tilfælde. Indholdet er først og fremmest gamle mundtligt overleverede sange hos landbefolkningen (normalt er kun et par vers af hver sang optaget), men der findes desuden en mindre del instrumentalmusik og folkelig religiøs sang. Desuden skal nævnes optagelser af sang fra Thomas Kingos Salmebog samt optagelser af komponisten Percy Graingers værker.
Størstedelen af lydoptagelserne blev lavet i Jylland, men der er også optagelser fra Falster, Samsø og Fanø. Digitaliseringen af valserne er foretaget af Dansk Folkemindesamling. Samlingen omfatter ca. 400 lydoptagelser.
Cylinders from the Danish Folklore Archive
In 1904 the Danish Folklore Archive was founded. Thanks to the efforts of folk musicologists and folk music researchers Axel Olrik and Halmar Thuren, a sound archive was established in 1907 with a collection of phonograph cylinders.
In 1907 Thuren’s assistant, MA H. Grüner-Nielsen and folklore collector/author Evald Tang Kristensen travelled through the moorland tract of Jutland with a phonograph and visited Tang Kristensen’s informants – people who willingly told fairy tales, urban folklore and legends, as well as sang folk songs and ballads into the funnel of the phonograph.
In 1909 Grüner-Nielsen re-visited some of Tang Kristensen’s informants, but he was also in contact with new ones. His visits resulted in new recordings.
The recordings from 1907 and 1909 form the basis for the sound archive. Until 1947 the sound recordings were made by phonograph, after which more modern equipment was used.
The recordings in this collection are mostly from the years 1904-1933. During the time period 1934-1947 only very few recordings were made on cylinders. The contents are mostly songs from oral tradition among people in the countryside (and often with only one or two verses of each song recorded), but there are also a few instrumental pieces of music and religious songs. Worth mentioning are song recordings from the hymn book of Thomas Kingo and recordings of the works of composer Percy Grainger.
Most of the recordings were made in Jutland, but you can also find recordings from the islands of Falster, Samsø and Fanø.
The cylinders have been digitised by the Danish Folklore Archive, and the collection holds approximately 400 sound recordings.