Music Areas

Svenskt visarkiv’s music collections encompass traditional music, jazz and older popular music. The collections include the texts and tunes of traditional ballads and other songs as well as instrumental traditional music, ranging from hand-written fiddler (spelman) books from the 18th century to the colourful pop booklets of the 1900s. The audio collection consists of both unique jazz recordings and children’s schoolyard folklore, together with a comprehensive documentation of traditional music in different parts of the country.

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Traditional Folk Music

Sweden's largest collection of traditional folk music - hundreds of thousands of examples of sheet music, hand-written song and folk music books, numerous chapbooks, and extensive sound recordings from the 1940s to the present day, as well as several archives donated by Swedish musicians and singers.

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Jazz

From smoky clubs to concert house stages. The collection provides a unique insight into the history and development of jazz in Sweden. It features unique music recordings, interviews with jazz musicians, photographs, films, posters, records, scrapbooks and much more.

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Literary songs (Litterär visa)

Evert Taube, Barbro Hörberg, Git Magnusson and Peder Swan are examples of some key figures in the literary song (litterär visa) movement in Sweden. The collection contains material relating to these individuals, as well as other musicians, including sheet music, lyrics, collections of clippings and archives.

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Schlager

An extensive collection of lighter pop music from the first half of the 20th century. Sheet music, text booklets and books reflecting the contemporary explosion of modern, catchy songs and popular music. Sweet, simple melodies and sentimental songs intermingled with material from the contemporary popular revue scene.

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Accordion

The accordion has played an important and varied role in Swedish cultural history throughout the 20th century. A large collection of recordings, sheet music and documentation reflect this diverse and widely played instrument.