Hardingfeleverkstaden på Sandland - ei lokal næringsverksemd

Abstract

On the farm Bratt-Sandland (Steep-Sandland) in the municipality of Kviteseid in Telemark, Norway, there were two generations of fiddle makers: Aasmund Sandland (1854-1932) and his brother Endre Endresson Sandland jr.(1877-1926), and the latter's son Endre Endresson Sandland, called "Big -Endre" (1899-1974). Spanning approximately 1875 to 1970, they ran a workshop producing over 900 Hardanger fiddles plus bows and cases, which they mostly sold by mail order. They also repaired and rigged Hardanger fiddles and violins. Production, sales and repairs are documented in their notebooks. The Sandland family has also kept the entire workshop, with some finished and unfinished instruments, orders and other correspondence, certificates of merit, medals and diplomas. Fiddle building, repairing and rigging was for many years the main source of income for the family, who lived on a small farm where the agricultural livelihood often could be meagre. A fiddle maker's workshop can thus provide information about a local cultural-based industry, the people behind it and the society surrounding it.