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Ó m​í​n flaskan fr​í​ð​a

from D​Æ​TUR by Ylja

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about

This song is a typical Icelandic two-part song, or a quint-song, sung in parallel fifths. It’s in the Lydian mode with it’s augmented fourth, often called diabolus in musica. The melody and the accompanying voice frequently change places so as one goes down the other goes above it and twice the augmented fourth – the diabolus – is the tone the voices meet on in the exchange of places.

Most of the quint-songs are regarded as deriving from hymns and singing of sacred music and this song is probably an example of that as this song has been sung to the medieval poem María meyjan skæra, or Mary the shining virgin. It was quite common to sing sacred music with new lyrics outside of church and these lyrics were called druslur, or rags. It was not considered proper to sing the hymns or sacred poetry outside of church and then the rags served their purpose. The rags were often profane and/or silly, the polar opposites of the original poetry.

The poem is called Flösku-kveðjur, or Praise to the bottle, with the subtitle “Mild and amusing satire, showing the beginning, progress and conclusion of drinking.” It’s written by Eggert Ólafsson (1726–1768) and is a comic verse about drinking, as the title implies, in 28 verses, but here three verses are sung.

lyrics

Oh, my beautiful bottle,
I’d endure most things, frost,
plague and sorrow,
rather than losing you.
Might I ask to kiss
:;your mouth?:;
When I feel your soft mouth
I’ll be mighty surprised.

Icelands mighty women
are no puny girls
but gracious Freyjas
of absolute purity.
I drink to thee
:;May they have:;
May they have, far and near,
peace and prosperity.

You showered me with kindness,
satiated me with good wine,
then I started praising,
made a verse or two
praising my bottle;
:;You are done:;
empty with a dried out mouth,
and thus I describe thee.

credits

from D​Æ​TUR, released October 12, 2018

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Ylja Reykjavik, Iceland

The folk pop band Ylja was formed in 2008 by guitarists/singers Gígja and Bjartey in Reykjavík, Iceland. With a common passion for vocal harmonies and love for the acoustic guitar, the two friends embarked on a musical journey – always trying to expand and broaden their sense for creativity.

Today Ylja performs as a duet and with various session players depending on the occasion.
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