This week, I thought I’d tell you about a very cool sound sculpture in our homebase in Drammen, Norway. Let’s explore river music.
The large pedestrian bridge Ypsilon is a Drammen landmark. Next to Ypsilon is the River Harp, a sound sculpture comprising two large silver balls, one on either side of the river. The sculpture creates river music through variations in water flow and bridge oscillations.
That’s the scientific explanation at least. The folkloric version is more dramatic. You see, the River Harp is playing to appease Nøkken, a shape-shifting water spirit. To women, Nøkken appears as a beautiful young man with a violin, enchanting them with sweet river music, drawing them ever closer until they fall in and drown.
If you walk along the attractive riverbank promenade, stop and have a listen on one side of the river, then cross Ypsilon and see if the music is different on the opposite bank.
Here’s the River Harp playing for Nøkken:
Any landmarks or interesting features of your hometown? Do share in the comments below!
For more on water, check out Magnificent Monday
If you enjoyed this article, you may want to subscribe to Sophie’s World. It’s completely free 🙂
Beautiful story and mesmerizing photos of autumn leaves and sunset.
Amazing photos 🙂
Love those reflection shots!
I’ve never heard of a river harp before and love the story behind it.
Neat story behind the bridge! I love European folklore. I’m also quite taken with the pink skies in the last photo … very pretty!
oooohhh, the last picture is just stunning
I love playing with reflections in pictures. These are gorgeous!
I especially LOVE your last photo and what a great story. I bet you’d have to have a good ear to pick up any differences in sound.
Still discovering Calgary; it seems to have a lot more public art than meets the eye – think buffalo and western themed sculpture. One quiet day I’ll go out with my camera & wander the streets on a mission of discovery.
Wonderful shots Sophie and I love the folk lore.
Love these pictures, both the fall foliage and the sunset. The sound is kind of magical. On a different note, never thought of Scotland and Norway as neighbors – but I suppose you are just right across the North Sea from each other.
@Robert – spitting distance 😉
Nifty. I’ve never seen a Y-shaped pedestrian bridge before but it looks super cool.
Absolutely beautiful! I love the photos (I’m missing the autumn here in Singapore) and the story is lovely.
Love the photos – particularly the last one. We spent one day in Oslo two summers ago and loved it – can’t wait to go back and explore more of Norway.
That last shot is especially cool.
Beautiful photos! I love the reflection in the artwork–especially the sunset shot.
I love that bottom photo with all the pinks and purples. And Norway is one of my favorite countries in the world–but I haven’t been to Drammen!
@Kristin – Not many people have 🙂
The photos are amazing!! It is really beautiful. I did not know that before. Thank you:)
Fascinating story! Reminds me of the legend of the Lorelei on the Rhine River in Germany.
@ Sonja – It does have similarities, doesn’t it. Only, the genders are reversed.
Sophie, love the photos and story about the River Harp. Thanks for linking to the YouTube video, too. Very cool.
Errrm, no, no stories as enchanting as this about my home town – but then my home town was a coal mining and cotton spinning area. Love your river story and the sunset photo.
Julia
@Julia – Many former industrial towns in the UK – like Ironbridge Gorge, and cotton spinning areas like New Lanark – are so interesting and pretty. I’m curious about your hometown now 🙂
This is really, really cool. I’m a big fan of public art pieces, but ones that play music? Waaay better. =)
Gorgeous photos. The reflections you captured remind me of visiting the Cloud Gate sculpture in Chicago’s Millennium Park. Very differently shaped sculpture, but same sort of effect in the photos.
Looks beautiful! The setting is so pretty, loved the soft hues of the evening pic…
About where I live, Mumbai, there are so many things that stand out here…
The Gateway of India, Sea Link, street food, fashion, the crowd!!
Have a fabulous sunday:)
@Arti – So true! Mumbai – and most of India, really – is a veritable feast – in colours, scents, tastes, sounds…
Wow! The pictures are really fantastic!
Wow – very nice photos – interesting angle! Congratulations and have fun in any place – home or elsewhere!
WOW those colors are stunning!! We don’t get the fall colors in Vegas, so I’m so envious. And those pinks in that sunset wow. I love the idea of a river harp. 🙂
Why even leave Norway when it has so many intersting and magical things like this one? I am equally as fascinated by this stroy as I am of the lovely fall photos. I wonder if it does produce a different sound on the different sides.
So interesting – beautiful photos!
Great photos! And I like the fact that you shared the same shot at two different times of day.
Beautiful pictures!
Beautiful bridge. Story is interesting, but the pics are fantastic Sophoe.
Enjoy Scotland.
Hi Sofie,
What a joy to see our work on your site.
The images are beautiful.
All the best,
Living Lenses
My pleasure. Your work is such a gorgeous addition to our city!
[…] Alongside Drammen’s Ypsilon bridge stands a tribute to the Nøkken: Two round River Harp sound sculptures tempt you toward the […]
[…] Alongside Drammen’s Ypsilon bridge stands a tribute to the Nøkken: Two round River Harp sound sculptures tempt you toward the […]
[…] Alongside Drammen’s Ypsilon bridge stands a tribute to the Nøkken: Two round River Harp sound sculptures tempt you toward the […]
[…] En el folklore de la zona, Nokken es un “cambia-formas” que atrae a sus presas a una muerte acuosa con una música hermosa. Junto el puente Ypsilon de Drammen se erige un homenaje a Nokken: dos esculturas redondas te tientan hacia el agua del río Harp. […]
Thanks Sophie. We were sitting in the library cafe, looking out the window at these two extraordinary huge shiny balls. Google brought up your description. Now we’ll go outside to see what we hear, so to speak.
Oh, how cool!
Hope you’re enjoying your stay in town. 🙂 🙂