Facts: Fulvisor
Fulvisa is a collective name for songs with erotic and humorous elements. However, it is not a genre of its own, but several of the visual genres contain such elements. These are joke songs, song games, sup songs, jealous songs and travesties on other songs. However, they are not love songs, as such rarely contain depictions of erotic love.
What is known today about the erotic dance tradition of older times is mainly based on the warnings and prohibitions issued by priests, when the songs have just been banned or censored. Incidentally, priests are the professional group that is criticized the most in the so-called fulvisos.
Examples of erotic song tradition before the 18th century are few and also in the printed collections of folk songs from the 19th century, much has been deleted. In shilling printing, however, a lot of fulvisors were printed during both the 18th and 19th centuries.
The fulvisos were mainly sung in closed male groups such as soldiers’ barracks, on ships, in peasant huts and in loggers’ barracks. However, older married women could afford to sing this without it being seen that their decency could be compromised.
In folk music circles, fulvisors are still sung today.
Source: “Fula visboken” (1986) by B Anderberg, B af Klintberg, C Mattsson.
Nina Grigorjeva and Sandra Berggren met at the Academy of Music in Stockholm and have been playing together for a few years. As the duo Våtmark, they have released an EP and this summer expect gigs at a number of venues around Sweden.
It will be folk music. But not just any.
— The playfulness found in ugly and dingy scenes is about being in the present. The text is in focus, not how beautifully one sings or plays – which is otherwise often the case, says Nina Grigorjeva, who plays the herjedal pipe, the offerdal pipe, the ridge pipe and the claret flute.
But one does not have to exclude the other. It can be both dirty words and vocals, and the duo says that the most common response they get is surprise that ugly songs can sound as beautiful as they play them.
— I have encountered these songs since I was a child. They are quirky texts and often very fun, says violinist Sandra Berggren, who is the national fiddler on songs from Västerbotten.
Yes, ugly and sleazy shows – as Våtmark chooses to call the genre – are not exactly new. They are older than both Miss Snusk and Eddie Meduza. For example, medieval ballads can contain a lot of rough words.
“Bang on beetroot”
The tradition is folk and the songs were sung in lodges and shacks – by sailors and sailors. The chants have not always been preserved and there is reason to believe that the roughest chants were not recorded for the chant record and that they were also excluded from the books.
What is known about the tradition of ancient times is mainly based on the warnings and prohibitions issued by priests.
— Erotic art has always existed. What characterizes the folk is that there is a lot of bang on the beetroot after you have had a sup, says Nina Grigorjeva.
However, dirt is not enough for Våtmark to choose to interpret a song. It should also be troll-friendly and have relatable content. They want the texts to be inclusive.
— It must be body positive, with humor and inclusiveness. We want to create community with our music, not push anyone away, says Sandra Berggren.
As an example, they take up a song with the text line “The girl begins to grope between the boy’s legs” which shows that you are not good at everything the first time you do it – not even having sex.
— Even if it’s a heteronormative text, says Sandra Berggren.
Replace words
For that reason, they may exchange words, like pronouns, sometimes. They also rewrite texts to make them easier to understand. For example, they have replaced the word “thread” with “fuck” which more people understand.
But the goal is not for everyone to love the music. Not even artists like Fröken Snusk, who have been criticized in some quarters for sexist lyrics, think Våtmark is particularly problematic – with the caveat that they haven’t heard all of Fröken Snusk’s songs.
— We must care about free speech and that you can express things. I think it’s fun with art that provokes a little, because it probably needs a lot of people, says Nina Grigorjeva.
TT: What do you say to those who think you sing sexist lyrics?
— It’s very little about men having big cocks and women being some household object in the songs we sing. It’s more fun. Sexism is when it is toxic and bad, replies Nina Grigorjeva, adding that the duo are neither sexologists nor debaters – but musicians.
“We sing and play songs about sex and masturbation and things you don’t usually talk about,” says Sandra Berggren (right). She and Nina Grigorjeva make up the folk music duo Våtmark.