Svenskt visarkiv

What does the Centre do?

Svenskt visarkiv – Centre for Swedish Folk Music and Jazz Research, collect, preserve, research, and publish information about musical and dance heritage in Sweden. Our work covers folk music, literary songs, older popular music (schlager), jazz, and traditional dance. We are open to anyone interested in exploring the collections.

More than just Jazz and Folk Music

At Svenskt visarkiv, you can find handwritten songbooks from various parts of Sweden, century-old recordings of Sami joik, early sheet music for popular songs, original arrangements for jazz orchestras, filmed dance documentation, and even an entire rave archive.

The collections include audio and film recordings, sheet music, lyrics, photographs, books, personal and organizational archives, and an extensive reference library.

Open to All

In our web catalogs, you can search for audio recordings and hundreds of thousands of ballads and songs. To make them accessible to everyone, we continuously work to digitize our collections.

If you have any questions or want to explore the collections further, feel free to contact our service desk. Our subject matter experts answer queries from individuals and institutions throughout the country. You are also welcome to visit us in Stockholm.

Research and Our Collections

Since the founding of Svenskt visarkiv (Centre for Swedish Folk Music and Jazz Research) in 1951, we have conducted research, often based on our own collections. We collaborate with universities, colleges, and other cultural institutions, in Sweden and internationally.

Our research is published in books, records, online presentations, and public lectures. The archive also publishes the annual peer-reviewed journal Puls – Journal for Ethnomusicology and Dance.

Read more about research at Svenskt visarkiv.

We are a part of Statens musikverk – National Collections of Music, Theatre and Dance.