Take a Listen to the Opening Song from Disney’s ‘Frozen’ [UPDATE]

In a surprise Saturday-night upload, we were given a taste of what the score for Disney’s Frozen will sound like. A video was posted to YouTube that claims to be the opening song for Disney’s upcoming animated film Frozen.

According to the uploader Fahkon Gelmedh, the song is called “Eatnemen Vuelie” (the Earth’s yoik) and is written by Norwegian composer Frode Fjellheim. The song–and the movie itself–is inspired by the indigenous Saami and Norwegian culture. He also commented:

The song is a combination of Saami yoiking and the Danish Christmas hymn “Dejlig er jorden”/”Fairest Lord Jesus”. Composed by Frode Fjellheim. The original hymn is composed by the Danish composer B.S. Ingemann.

Take a listen:

Wowzers! Can you say heavenly? I want to listen to this song on repeat and fall asleep to it every night. I’m loving all the Nordic and Saami influences that the film’s creators are thoughtfully and prominently putting into Frozen. The filmmakers were incredibly interested in Norway’s culture and mythology during their scouting trips for the film, so it’s exciting to see that those elements didn’t end up on the cutting room floor or in the background. While Frozen is a princess story, it will definitely be a very culturally rich film. (Although, you wouldn’t be able to tell that from its current Olaf-laden promotion.)

This version isn’t the final version that is going to be in the film. Fjellheim discussed in an interview that he’s doing a studio recording with the choir Cantus. Turns out that the filmmakers discovered Fjellheim when they bought one of his albums during their Norway scouting trip . A few months later, he got a call from the studio, saying they wanted him to compose a song for the film.

If this is any indication of what the rest of the film’s score and songs are like, then count me in. Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez are writing lyrical songs for Frozen and we’ve already gotten a sneak peak of those with Elsa’s song “Let It Go.” I can’t wait to hear more from the soundtrack as November approaches.

The Frozen soundtrack will be released one day before the film on November 26. Is that enough time to learn all the songs before Frozen comes out? You better believe it!

What do you think of the song “Eatnemen Vuelie”?

 [UPDATE 9/17/13 2:38 PM PST] It turns out that only parts of “Eatnemen Vuelie” will be used in the final version of the film. This news was revealed in an audio interview by the conductor of the choir, Cantus, which are the featured singers in the song. Specifically, the hymn parts of the song will be removed, since they do not fit the context of the film. New music has been composed by Frode Fjellheim, but it will be based on the same themes.

Thanks to Isabelle for giving us the heads up on the news and translating the interview.