Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Näverlur

Sorry no AAR yet... But some more Swedish Leidang soldiers for my Baltic Crusade project.

I painted the Trumpet as a traditional Swedish "Näverlur" or in english Birch Trumpet.

The birch trumpet (Swedish: näverlur) is a type of natural trumpet made of spruce covered with birch bark, native to Sweden. The oldest recovered näverlur in Sweden dates back to the 10th century, and resembles earlier bronze trumpets.


Even cruder and less durable versions were made of plain birch bark. They are associated with the early European Chalet culture, where it was presumably used to intimidate predators, frighten supernatural enemies, and convene council meetings. 


The näverlur, as a natural horn, thus has no fingerholes or valves. Normally, a player can play 10 tones from the natural harmonic scale on the instrument. In the modern era, the näverlur is primarily a cultural curiosity, used for the occasional fanfare.


Here a short clip so you can here the sound of it.


Want one for your self ? go to the Lurmakaren and place a order:)

9 comments:

  1. Very interesting. Sounded better than I thought it would.

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  2. Nice minis as usual. And thanks for all these interesting informations about scandinavian culture ! :)

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  3. Okay, now I'm curious. Does the bark act like some kind of resonating membrane?

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    1. I´m not sure but I don´t thinks so, the birch bark just keep the inner spruce parts together. I think it work like a Vuvuzela? but made of natural materials.

      at this link you can see some pictures and read some more about the Näverlur and even order one for your self:)

      http://www.lurmakaren.se/lurmakaren_eng/

      Best regards Michael

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  4. Splendid Leidang there. Interesting about the lur. I really enjoyed reading it and listening to the sound.
    I enjoyed seeing the bronze lur horns in the national museum of Denmark in all their bronze age splendour when on holiday and I have seen pictures of Napoleoni Norwegians using an instrument very like your naverlur but I can't think where.

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  5. Haha! Wonderful stuff Michael. How do you come up with these things? ;)

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  6. Well done and an interesting horn!

    Christopher

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  7. Very nice miniatures!!

    I play medieval bagpipes and such kind of instruments, thank for the link.

    cheers.

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