The Varangians - Epic Byzantine Norse Music

An original composition by Farya Faraji. Please note that this isn’t reconstructed music from the Medieval Norse or Eastern Roman cultures; it’s modern music with a historical theme. The artwork featuring the human figure is by J.F Oliveras, check out his wonderful historical recreations: The Varangians were the Vikings (Scandinavian traders and raiders) who specifically operated in Eastern Europe, and would become a foundational turning point in the history of nations such as Russia and Ukraine in their early days. They would make their way to Constantinople where they would become the Varangian Guard, which was an an elite section of the Eastern Roman Emperor’s forces, serving as its bodyguards. They were originally Rus, then mostly Scandinavian Norsemen who effectively fought as mercenaries and later as the Emperor’s personal bodyguards—trusted both for their lack of local political ambitions due to their remote origins, and their strong sense of oath-based loyalty typical of Norse and Anglo-Saxon cultures. The Varangians would later also be comprised of other ethnicities like the Anglo-Saxons, but for a good part of its history, the institution was almost exclusively Norse. The music utilises elements of both Scandinavian and Greek music; both Medieval and modern. The Scandinavian part uses a modern fiddle, a nyckelharpa which appeared in the 14th century, and a jaw-harp, which was utilised by the Viking-age Norse. The Greek part uses a lauto, byzantine lyra and an oud; the latter two did exist during the Byzantine era, at least from the 800’s onwards. The lyrics are in Old Norse and in Greek. The Old Norse lyrics are extracted from the second stanza of the Voluspa, an Old Norse era poem written down soon after the Christianisation of Scandinavia. I used reconstructed Old Norse pronunciation instead of the more typically used Icelandic one, which is similar but not the same; see Jackson Crawford’s excellent channel for more info on Norse language, culture and myths: Lyrics in Old Norse and Greek: Ek man jötna ár um borna, þá er forðum mik fœdda höfðu; níu man ek heima, níu íviði, mjötvið mœran fyr mold neðan. Χαίρε, αδελφέ, Βορέα, Χειμόνα, Έρχεται χειμώνας στην Ρωμανία, Χαίρε, Βάραγγε! English translation: I remember yet the giants of yore, Who gave me bread in the days gone by; Nine worlds I knew, the nine in the tree With mighty roots beneath the mold. Hail, Brother, Ye Boreas, ye Winter, Winter has come upon the land of Rome, Hail, Varangian!