By Gul Musavi

Vikings is a historical fiction television series produced by the History network. The first episode aired in 2013 and the show is currently in its fifth season. In the first season, viewers learn a lot about Viking culture and how it differed from English culture in the same period. Musical pieces play an important part in creating the right atmosphere, especially the piece at the end of the eighth episode, “Sacrifice,” which aired on 21 April 2013. The musical piece was a combination of samples from two songs, “Ár var alda” by Wardruna and “Sacrifice” by Sharon Lyons.

Several musical elements from “Ár var alda” are combined with the vocals of “Sacrifice.” This blended song plays when Athelstan, a kidnapped English priest, first sees how Vikings carry out their sacrifices.

The music starts with an eerie vibe created by rhythmic drumming and traditional Norse instruments. The bass line builds anticipation for the sacrifice that’s about to occur. After the bass line, Sharon Lyon’s vocals, which sound Celtic-like, play while the background music is lowered. The vocals, which sound similar to Gregorian chant, are combined with audio sounds from animals who are about to be sacrificed. The effect of this creates a haunting sound reflecting what Athelstan feels in the scene as he witnesses a human sacrifice. Athelstan represents the English-Christian culture of the early medieval period and is in shock when he sees customs he considers barbaric and pagan. There is also a change in Athelstan that occurs during the scene, in which he begins to understand why someone would willingly sacrifice himself for his god. Before he was terrified of the ways of the Vikings and took comfort in praying to Christ. The singing, sense of community, and the determination of the supplicant made Athelstan curious. The scene and, by extension, the music represents his moving away from the close-mindedness of the “English” Christian world.

The song reflects the mood of the scene, which shows the Norsemen and women as a community rather than the medievalist Viking trope that dictates a violent and barbaric society that is foreign to Christian values. The Celtic vocals are sung with a slight accent similar to the slight accents of the actors in the series, likely as way to code the song as being early medieval (Haines, 71). The music group Wardruna uses traditional instruments and thematic cues drawing inspiration from modern Celtic music. The Norwegian band uses instruments like flutes, kraviklyr, tagelharpe, mouth harp, lur, deer-hide frame drums and goat horns. They also incorporate sounds of water and wind to make the music sound more naturalistic.

To conclude, music is an expressive language (Kruetziger-Herr, 84) that entertains but also able to transport us to a medieval past.

Bibliography

Haines, John. Music in Films on the Middle Ages: Authenticity vs. Fantasy. London: Routledge, 2013.

Kruetziger-Herr, Annette. “Imagining Medieval Music: A Short History.” Studies in Medievalism 14 (2005): 81-109.