The paper addresses the issue of legal and symbolic ownership in contemporary Nordic folk music. More precisely, it discusses the use of traditional musical materials and styles of performance among contemporary musicians seeking economic compensation and artistic credibility for their work.
The discussion is framed by a more general issue concerning the relationship between collective and individual agencies. In this regard, Nordic folk music is an interesting case by evolving in a field of tension between seemingly opposing positions. Its foundation is a remotely originating compilation of musical materials residing within what is captured by the general notion of tradition, that is, a set of anonymous contributions accumulated and canonized as the melodic inventory of the genre. Preserving and cultivating this shared heritage clearly is central to the collective self-reflexivity that constitutes Nordic folk music as a field of cultural production. At the same time, there is an ongoing quest for artistic freedom among contemporary musicians, who aim to be artists rather than ambassadors of the tradition. Accordingly, questions of agency and authorship are inevitable.
