Hurv KRCD-30: Psalmsång i tradition från Gammalsvenskby

There have been Swedish settlers on the north-west coast of Estonia - mainland and islands - since the Middle Ages, and ever since 1470, the Swedes on the island had had privileges which released them from part of the bondage of serfdom. But the Russians conquered Dagö in 1710, and in 1781 a proclamation from the imperial court in St. Petersburg declared that the Swedes were to be deported to a region in Lower Dnjepr in Ukraine which had recently been taken from Turkey and called "New Russia", and where settlers were needed.

When they arrived on the steppes by the river Dnjepr in May 1782 there were only some 500 of the original 1200 islanders left. There on the river bank a village was founded, that which was later called Gammalsvenskby, 'Old Swedish village'. After the deportation from Dagö, the village had no further contact with Estonian-Swedish culture. Some 500 Swedes were left on Dagö, but by the turn of the century 1900 the Swedish culture on the island was practically extinct.

During the whole of the 19th century, the population in Gammalsvenskby increased. In spite of periods of crop failures, famine and illness the village experienced comparative well-being in material terms.

The villagers had struggled to retain their Swedish identity, their language, their history and their traditions, under the difficult conditions in which they lived, fighting against Czarist repression, the repression of a modern totalitarian state, plundering, starvation, war, and simply to survive in conditions which Swedes today can hardly imagine. But their arrival was controversial in Sweden, and there was reason for some of the villagers to feel unwelcome. Some stayed in Sweden under new names, others moved on to relatives in Canada, some even moved back to the Ukraine.

Yet the value of their treasure is incalculable - a Swedish culture which had lived largely in isolation for 150 years and yet preserved intact its traditions and customs, language and music. Tracks 1-35 here were recorded in 1937 by Manne Eriksson, Folke Hedblom and Nils Stålberg from the Dialect Archive in Uppsala. Tracks 36-39 here were recorded in 1954 by Sven Tollefors in Roma church, Gotland. The booklet is an extraordinary document containing 18 pages each in English and Swedish, with wealth of illustrative detail, biography, anecdote and even photos.

Psalmtexter