Bell Hammer Song

The North Atlantic Graveyard

A Song Cycle of the Dragon Ship Voyages to North America

Viking ships and legendary explorers are the subject of Big Hand's second song cycle. About one thousand years ago, Leif Erikson, Erik the Red's son, led a small fleet of seafarers across the stormy North Atlantic to Greenland and Newfoundland, where they built the first European settlement in North America at L'Anse aux Meadows.

Of related interest are Norse myths of Siegfried, the dragon-slayer, Odin, the one-eyed god who took up the runes and inspired the "berserkers" of war, as well as land burials of Viking long ships and the surprise attack at Lindisfarne in Scotland, which launched the Viking Age. All are woven into a colorful tapestry of the Norsemen, producing an intense experience of the Scandanavian culture.

Songs:

Gone a'Viking

The North Atlantic Graveyard

In Old Norse Tongue

The Evergreen Tree

Of Standing Stones

By the Midnight Sun

Cooking the Heart

Greybeard

Bear-Pelted, Wolf-Coated  (Berserkir, Ulfhednar)

Lindisfarne

Resources:

 Artist's Commentary

References

The North Atlantic Graveyard is dedicated to Lead Belly and J.R.R. Tolkien.

Lead Belly
(Songster)

J.J.R. Tolkien
(Imaginative Writer)

"The North Atlantic Graveyard"
by Big Hand

Odin, the Grey God