Scandinavian ballad tradition

The Swedish ballads can be performed to a big orchestra but are often sung to fairly simple accompaniment on guitar, or other instruments such as piano or accordion.

In the 19th century, poetic songwriting fell into decline in favour of academic student choirs, until it was revived in the 1890s by Sven Scholander.

Ferlin melancholic but with a stinging irony,[2] and very rhythmical which made them easy for friends and colleagues to put music to.

Other well-known singer-songwriters in the Swedish ballad tradition after Evert Taube were Olle Adolphson (1934–2004) and Cornelis Vreeswijk (1937–1987).

Some of its prominent representatives are Ole Paus, Lillebjørn Nilsen and Finn Kalvik; Alf Prøysen was also called a visesanger, and influenced but in many ways preceded the Norwegian "ballad wave."