Original archive

Svenskt visarkiv (SVA)

The Centre for Swedish Folk Music and Jazz Research

Svenskt visarkiv
Box 16326
SE-10326 Stockholm
Sweden

Visitor's entrance:
Torsgatan 19

phone:
+46 8 5195 5488
eMail:
info@visarkiv.se
web:
www.visarkiv.se

Open to the public
Tuesday to Friday: From noon to 4 p.m.

Contacts
Dan Lundberg
Director

Lena Forsgren
DISMARC project manager

Jörgen Adolfsson
Archive assistant

Mathias Boström
Archivist

Svenskt visarkiv

Svenskt visarkiv was established as a foundation in 1951 by a society of enthusiasts interested in collecting and structuring traditional Swedish song material from various parts of the country. With increased interest in the work of Svenskt visarkiv, the field of activities at the archive was gradually broadened. In 1968 Svenskt visarkiv started to make field recordings, including traditional instrumental music and in 1970 became a government body. Nowadays Svenskt visarkiv is part of The Swedish National Collections of Music.

In 1981 a department focusing on Swedish jazz was added. In 2005 Svenskt visarkiv became responsible for the immigrant music collections at The Swedish National Collections of Music, and an archivist specialising in music and cultural diversity was employed in 2006. Svenskt visarkiv employs 15 people.

The collections consist of a variety of materials from many different musical fields:

• traditional folk songs and other older vocal genres
• early popular music
• traditional instrumental folk music
• Swedish jazz
• multicultural music of Swedish origin
• modern Swedish folk/world music

In the collections there are all sorts of recordings on all kinds of media, from phonographic cylinders to MiniDiscs. There are also music manuscripts and original, handwritten song books. Svenskt visarkiv have also collected large amounts of printed music and lyrics, including traditional, jazz and early popular music. In addition, the archive holds large collections of photographs.

The main objective is to serve the Swedish music society in different ways. The main target groups are:

• musicians and singers: assistance in acquisition of original material
• music researchers: assistance in research, either on an individual basis or in cooperation with colleagues at Svenskt visarkiv
• music pedagogues: assistance in finding material and inspiration
• journalists, producers and other media: assistance in acquisition of music and information about music and its context
• music students: Svenskt visarkiv produces student literature, gives lectures and holds seminars

Svenskt visarkiv is constantly refining growing databases and indexes to make material more accessible to the public. The archive itself publishes books, journals and CDs, and cooperates with other publishers and record labels to disseminate and enrich the Swedish musicscape.

Besides actively collecting music, Svenskt visarkiv often receives donations from the general public. The archive is part of many national and international networks focusing on research and music collecting.