The Hardanger - thank the Norwegians

This is a beautiful sounding instrument, a fiddle with movable drones, with 4 resonating strings in addition to the 4 that are directly played. The instrument is associated with the folk music of Norway, though the violin-fiddle is also very commonly played there.  The Hardanger, pronounced HAR-DONG-er is the same as the Norwegian Hardingfele,  a very ornate fiddle with extra strings, some gut strings, many thinner than the violin.  It has a low flat bridge and demands  a fast light bow speed  - it is traditionally played without vibrato.  One or two drone notes are commonly played along with the melodic notes, made possible by the low flat bridge. The drone notes move around quite a bit with the melody, unlike some drone styles that stay on one pitch. 
     The music often is drawn from a Lydian Scale ( #4) with a slightly flat 7th, which at first sounds out of tune, but the ear adjusts.  There is a strange and unique but likeable quality to the music because of this pitch oddity.   The music tends to evoke a plaintive melancholy that is often the case with traditional Scandinavian folk music, even when used as a foundation for dancing.
  Speaking of dancing, some 19th Century religious groups condemned the instrument ( along with the fiddle) as "a sinful instrument that encourages wild dances, drinking and fights".  Here's to the power of music!

On Rhapsody I highly recommend listening to Annbjorg Lien to hear top notch playing and compelling arrangements.  Here are some other hits on Rhapsody to check out, and there are a fair number of examples on YouTube if you search for "Hardanger".
   Knut Buen
   Fossegrimen
   Norway - Chant and Hardingfele
   Bill Boyd
And finally here is a fascinating talk by Andrea Een and her journey, as a violinist, into the world of the Hardanger.
http://www.stolaf.edu/multimedia/streams/playevent.cfm?eventid=173


There is also an extensive article on Wikipedia that is worth reading under "hardingfele".  
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardingfele

The Hardingfele or Hardanger

Notice the Resonating UnderStrings

Annbjorg Lien