Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1987, Page 24

28
SANDOY ARBÓK
that all but one of Clemensen’s best in-
formants came from this group: Hans Jo-
hannessen (the singer of thirteen ballads),
a first cousin of the royal tenant at Mið-
stova í Trøðum and raised on his cousin’s
farm; Johan Michael Hentze (ten ballads),
the son of the minister and the royal tenant
of Uttastastova í Trøðum; J. Michael
Widerøe Mikkelsen (six ballads), the
younger brother of the royal tenant at und-
ir Skarði; Hans Eriksen (five ballads), the
royal tenant living at Grúkhelli undir Reyn-
um; Simon Danielsen (five ballads), the
nephew of the royal tenant at Miðstova í
Trøðum and raised in his household; Jens
Jensen (there ballads), the cousin of the
royal tenant at undir Skarði and raised on
his stepfather’s royal leasehold at á
Klettum; and Joen Mortensen (two
ballads), the royal tenant at Miðstova í
Trøðum. The only freeholder in Sandur
able to match the repertoires of any of
these is Clemensen’s older brother Ole
(eight ballads); but, to be sure, neither Ole
nor Johannes were ordinary freeholders -
their father had once served as county
sheriff, and from 1807 to 1814 Ole himself
had held the lease to one of the larger royal
farms in town. The other freeholders and
crofters from Sand who contributed to
»Sandoyarbók« - Joen Joensen of á
Heyggi, Joen Jakobsen of á Skeljalaðnum,
and Jakob Joensen of uttan fyri Á - are re-
presented there by only one ballad apiece.
It is perhaps not surprising to find the
most prominent members of the communi-
ty dominating not only village economic
life but the communal dance ring as well.
After all, for the duration of the perform-
ance of the ballad dance it is the foresinger
who holds absolute sway over his fellow
villagers; and royal tenants might well feel
uncomfortable in the village ring dancing
to the tune of a crofter or servant. But the
relatively richer repertoires of the royal
tenants in Sandur bear witness to more
than a desire to exercise power and auth-
ority - they reflect as well the fact that
wealthy households within the village tend-
ed to act like magnets attracting all sorts of
oral traditions to themselves. These house-
holds were genarally larger and more com-
plex than those of freeholders or crofters
because they often included servants im-
ported not only from poorer homes in the
village, but from other villages as well.10
Accordingly, the entertainment of their
kvøldseta tended to be more diverse: in
these homes, people were exposed to more
than the traditions of just their own fami-
lies. It was an ideal environment in which
to assemble a repertoire.
However, a closer look at Clemensen’s
male informants from royal tenant house-
holds reveals a very interesting pattern
within this group - it was usually not the
royal tenant himself who provided the col-
lector with numerous ballad texts, but rath-
er the royal tenant’s younger brother or his
paternal uncle, cousin, or nephew. On the
farm Miðstova í Trøðum, it was not the
royal leaseholder who was the family
kvæðakempa (ballad champion), but rath-
er his cousin Hans Johannessen and his
nephew Simon Danielsen; and at undir
Skarði it was the royal tenant’s younger
brother J. Michael Widerøe and the ten-
ant’s cousin Jens Jensen who asserted
themselves in the village dance. Thus, it
would appear that all of Clemensen’s best
informants were men who had been raised
in distinguished households, but who had