Or are we mostly guessing based on instruments we know they had at the time, and other contemporary music? I've been really interested in finding some actual music from that era, but only seem to find music that appears to be what people 'guess' it sounded like.
I also read some posts about how little actual written history there is from this time and place. Is Norwegian (or just Scandinavian) viking age music kinda lost in time, or are there specific examples of actual songs out there?
Note that I'm obviously not too well informed on the viking age or Norwegian history in general, but I'd like to explore my country's musical background.
No known music pieces, because Vikings had no musical notation. But we have plenty of archaeologically recovered instruments such as horns (literal modified animal horns as well as wooden), bone flutes, wood flutes, wooden panpipes, a metal percussion instrument called "jaw harp", a piece that could've been part of a bagpipe-type instrument, plus more conventional lyre-style instruments, drums, etc.
All these can be reconstructed by experimental archaeologists and played, so we definitely know what they sounded like.
In their own (later, Christian-era Latin) texts, lyre instruments are mentioned a lot and seem to be the most popular. And no discussion would be complete without this account from Arabic traveler Ibrahim Ibn Ahmad Al-Tartushi:
”Never before I have heard uglier songs than those of the Vikings in Slesvig (in Denmark). The growling sound coming from their throats reminds me of dogs howling, only more untamed.”
Which is fascinating when you think about the thriving death, black and folk metal scenes in Scandinavian countries and the fact that they pioneered these genres! I'd love to give the likes of Insomnium or Amon Amarth some reconstruction Viking instruments and see what kind of songs they make!
There is some folk music inside the borders of present day Norway that possibly existed in the Viking era:
Olav Bø: Utsyn over norsk fokedikting
https://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2008052104061
Henning Frederik Feilberg on Bro, Bro Brille
http://www.rimogremser.dk/brobrobrille/pdf/efterskrift.pdf
Different sources for Draumkvedet
https://www.dokpro.uio.no/ballader/lister/tsbalfa_titler/tittel_61b.html