Spelman (music)

The meaning of the Swedish word spelman is very similar to that of the English "fiddler," except that it is not tied to a specific instrument.

Because of the commonality of the fiddle in Swedish folk music, the word is often translated as fiddler in any case.

Technically, the actual Swedish word for fiddler would be "fiolspelman" (fiddle spelman).

Ale Möller coined the term "folkmusiker" to refer to musicians who played Swedish folk music professionally during the folk revival, but were not necessarily grounded in the spelman tradition.

[1] Some have also considered the term spelman (literally "play-man") to be problematic given its implication that Swedish folk musicians are normatively male.