Marita Rhedin
About Marita Rhedin
Research
Influenced by ethnomusicological thinking, and trained as a singer and vocal teacher, my research projects often concern various techniques, functions and meanings of singing – the music, lyrics, voice and artistic expression related to social issues.
I am currently leading the research project Suffrage vocalized: The Role of Music in the Women's Suffrage Movement 1902–1921, funded by the Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (RJ). The project explores the role of music in the struggle for women's suffrage in the early 20th century, with a particular focus on how music, lyrics, and the act of singing were used as tools for mobilization, political influence, and the formation of collective identity.
Previously, I conducted a research project on the songs of Barbro Hörberg, which resulted in both a scholarly publication and a recording with the trio Sonika (vocals, guitar, violin). My doctoral dissertation examines the Swedish visa — a form of poetic, and sometimes socially engaged song tradition—and its performers on stage. Drawing on archival recordings, I trace the development of visa performance as a stage art, from early 20th-century lute singers and rural comedians, through the renaissance of the troubadour tradition in the 1930s and 1940s, to its revival in the 1960s with artists such as Fred Åkerström and Cornelis Vreeswijk. Particular attention is given to performance practice—that is, the prevailing ways of presenting visor in public—and how these conventions have shifted over time.
I am a member of the Research Group for Song lyrics at the University of Agder.
Teaching
At the Department of Cultural Sciences, I teach musicology at both undergraduate and advanced levels and serve as the subject coordinator.
Collaborations and external activities
In the project Songs of the Swedish Suffrage Movement accessibility and performative interpretation are central perspectives, and I therefore engage in active dialogue with various collaborators to foster cooperation and knowledge exchange.
The Swedish Song Book is a long-term collaborative project between Jonsered Manor, researchers from the University of Gothenburg, representatives of Folkuniversitetet and the Swedish Visa Academy.
In addition to my academic studies, I have a practical background as a vocal pedagogue, with training from Ingesund Folk High School’s music programme, the Malmö Academy of Music, and the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. Alongside my research and teaching, I also work as a freelance singer.