Old Norse Swedish Ballad - Harmsǫngr Úlfs (Úlfr's Lament)

Details

Description

Here's a song I wrote and my wife and I performed in Old Norse. It's a story I based on one of the so-called Ingvarr runestones, specifically Sö 9 (which is the runestone pictured at the start and end of the clips), which bears a runic inscription dedicated to the son (Úlfr) commissioned by two mourning parents (Barkviðr and Helga). I built up a basic story for his life and passing, based on what is generally considered to be what happened on the disastrous expedition that Ingvarr the Far-Travelled led. There are many runestones of this kind dotted around Sweden's east coast dedicated to those who died on Ingvarr's journey to the East.

They travelled to "Serkland", which is understood broadly as Muslim-occupied lands in the East, but in this case more likely Georgia specifically, where they suffered a bad defeat at the Battle of Sasireti. There is some conjecture as to the real story, so I've made the lyrics as vague and broadly accurate as possible.

Hope you enjoy. Please like and subscribe if you did!

If you'd like to support my work, you can do so here: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/theskaldicbard (but really, no pressure!). Thank you for your kindness.