Lyrical/Musical Piece

Skáld is according to their website a band that is entirely inspired by the old Norse mythology. Their name derived from the skalds of Scandinavia. The skalds were, just as the bards were for the Celts, storytellers, musicians and poets. They sang many praises of their bloodlines and narrated many epic feats of heroes or the exploits of their Gods ( SKÁLD - Vikings - Official website. (n.d.). A skald (Webster, M. (n.d) is an ancient Scandinavian Poet.

Why did I choose this text?
Any music from Skáld could have been chosen for this one, to be honest. I ultimately choose this particular song since it was the first one I came across and this song has dragged me further into their music. When listening to the song, I could find myself being dragged into a story which I can't even understand. However, the song has something magical to it. When I researched the song, I came to notice how the title is called Runes. The first writing systems developed and used by the Norse and other Germanic people were the Runic Alphabet (Runes. (2018, July 4). Runes, as we know them today, are photographic symbols that hold some cosmological principle or power. Runes were almost always carved onto stone, wood, bone, metal, or some similarly hard surface rather than drawn with ink and pen on paper or parchment. This explains their sharp and angular form.

Fehu, Uruz, Þurisaz, Ansuz, Raido and Kena were the first six runes. It's made in almost the same way as the alphabet is formed. The alphabet as we know them is derived from the first two Semitic letters (Aleph, Beth), the Runic alphabet works the same. The runic alphabet is called 'Futharks'. 

'' There are three principal futharks: the 24-character Elder Futhark, the first fully-formed runic alphabet, whose development had begun by the first century CE and had been completed before the year 400; the 16-character Younger Futhark, which began to diverge from the Elder Futhark around the beginning of the Viking Age (c. 750 CE) and eventually replaced that older alphabet in Scandinavia; and the 33-character Anglo-Saxon Futhorc, which gradually altered and added to the Elder Futhark in England.'' - Norse-Mythology.orc 

How did I come up with this text?
I found this song when I was roaming on youtube, finding a suitable song for this section. I just typed in Viking songs in the search tab, but nothing special came up. Sure, there were a lot of songs related to the theme but nothing that pleased my ears. I was actually busy with something and about to close youtube for the day when it switched to this song. I saw that they had a website and decided to check it out and found some information about skalds, which I didn't even know existed.

How does the text link to the Theme or any other Themes discussed?
The texts actually link to more than one theme. First of all; The song is inspired by Norse Mythology and based of skalds who existed in Scandinavia. Skáld tells stories of the Vikings and their gods and therefor it links to the Theme. It also links to one of our previous themes; family and friends. The skalds sang about their bloodlines and did honour to their families. It also links up to the theme War. As already explained, they also narrated the feats of their heroes. 

Personal response.
I think I already included my personal response in the first two questions. The song is captivating and pure. It sounds quite magical to my ears even though I didn't understand the meaning. I've learned a lot from this single song only. I have learned about the runic alphabet and how that system is created. The first six runes are named in the song which is interesting. I learned who the skalds were and what they did; it's also still a question if the skalds were heir to sorcerers, shamans, etc since there isn't much known about these skalds. Overall, this is a song that I can add to my playlist and enjoy. Normally, I don't do research on songs but it was very interesting for this one to do so.