Vikings with Amps

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Heri takes very seriously the place of heroic stories in the community, and his own role as transmitter. For although Tyr has been accused of 'ruining' the national ballad, 'Ormurin Langi' (the long serpent), Heri claims young people are now more familiar with Tyr's modernized version--popular culture is what kept the Faroese language alive for centuries. For more than 400 years, Danish was the official written language of the Faroe Islands, and Faroese was preserved mainly through songs and folktales.

But why Viking metal? Why myth in our modern age? 'Is it because it's your heritage?' I ask. Heri, who has been drinking only water, admits to liking the exaggeration, humor, and 'macho' elements of Norse myths and sagas; a character in the ballad 'Regin Smidur' 'tears up large oak trunks, he maims some to hell.'

Heri also believes that people are uncomfortable and uncertain whom to trust and that popular interest in myth and legend--like The Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter series--reflects society's desire for clear moral codes, where good and evil are distinct, where bad guys are easily identified and usually defeated. The ideal. Hope.

Back home, I sent Heri a bilingual English/Anglo-Saxon copy of Beowulf. He replied: 'I am now pondering over the likeness between the conjugation and vocabularies of Old Norse, Anglo-Saxon, and German.' A hobby etymologist, Heri is the thinking person's metalhead and reflects Shakespeare's idea that 'life is bound with all the strength and armour of the mind.' Tyr's music offers listeners mental girding through mythology's heroic values, as in the positive song 'Alive': 'Now sharpen your old axes, shine your armour and your sword of sight and sound. My warriors, let's go down together, time will tell us whether we will do or die.'

And Heri's personal slogan? 'Unite humanity. Unite metal.' Viking territory: no wimps indeed.

Reprinted from the Walrus (March 2007). Subscriptions: Canadian $39.75/yr. (10 issues) from Box 915, Station Main, Markham, ON L3P 9Z9, Canada

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