KVR Audio

IncarnateX · Post by **IncarnateX** » Mon Aug 10, 2015 10:01 pm

In 1995 the band "Sorten Muld" (Black Soil) was born in Denmark. The genre was a mixture of electronica combined with Scandinavian folk music, including some original instruments from the middle age. The simple melodies were based on old folk songs often filled with dark themes from middle age mythology about man, gods, love, friendship, sex, seduction, murder, betrayal, in short: life and dead in all glory. It contained fables, stories of elves, trolls and other creations of middle age fantasies that brought you a thousand years back in time and kept you there until the music was over. I was immediately blown away by the beauty of it and is still a fan today though they only released two albums. I do not know about any band that comes near it apart from maybe the Scandinavian group "Valravn", which is build upon a similar concept.

My question is whether you know about any groups from your own countries and cultures that combine middle age music or songs with electronica [Edit: Or other modern genres], may it be Anglo Saxon, Russian, Japanese or wherever you are from. Please post some names and, if possible, examples if you do. I am very interested.

Here is a taste of the moods from the Scandinavian culture, though it will be hard to really grasp the soul of it if you do not understand Danish of course. But even so, I still think the music could speak for itself:

liv · Post by **liv** » Mon Aug 10, 2015 10:56 pm

Do you know Hedningarna?
It's not really electronica and folk but rather electric and folk.
The second song "Min skog" blowed my mind when it was released. The complete album is magic.

Also, Mari Boine should not be overlooked. She has made several great albums and a fantastic voice.

k-tronix · Post by **k-tronix** » Mon Aug 10, 2015 11:27 pm

May I put forth The Bard by Wisp?

IncarnateX · Post by **IncarnateX** » Tue Aug 11, 2015 2:12 pm

Hey thanks for the contributions, they do indeed ooze some middle age magic. Did not know "The Bard" but it is a moody track and yes I have heard a few tunes by Hedningerne and they are great. Thanks Again. To make room for such genres I have changed the thread title and edited the OP.

I continue with some examples by "Valravn".

Hope to hear more contributions

2ZrgE · Post by **2ZrgE** » Tue Aug 11, 2015 2:41 pm

Qntal:

Helium Vola:

Numanoid · Post by **Numanoid** » Wed Aug 12, 2015 4:45 pm

Hal Berg (AKA Halgrim Berg), Member of the Norwegian parliament (Conservatives), decided to lend his Norwegian Jew's harp playing to a couple of mid 90's eurotrance "anthems"

http://www.discogs.com/artist/1388469-Hal-Berg

Numanoid · Post by **Numanoid** » Wed Aug 12, 2015 4:48 pm

A couple of members of De Press (Norways answer to Joy Division), decided to go native in the mid 80's playing old folk tones with computers, drum machines and samplers.

Must have been fun at the time, sound totally awful now

http://www.discogs.com/artist/389026-Langsomt-Mot-Nord

Langsomt Mot Nord = Slowly Towards the North

IncarnateX · Post by **IncarnateX** » Thu Aug 13, 2015 1:03 pm

Hey. Once again thanks for the contributions. Great Qntal track. I really like the staccato machine rhythm as base for the medieval vocal.

I also found this little lighthearted piece of Celtic inspired music. Not bad.

And then I found a tune with Langsomt-Mot-Nord (De Press) from 1985 with wonderful cheese computer sounds. Thanks for this Numanoid. Had myself one helluva laugh.

GIMME MORE!

bsork · Post by **bsork** » Thu Aug 13, 2015 2:07 pm

Another version of the song Venelite (the first video in the OP), this time by Norway's Jan Garbarek and Agnes Buen Garnås.

Numanoid · Post by **Numanoid** » Thu Aug 13, 2015 2:16 pm

IncarnateX wrote:GIMME MORE!

This one perhaps?

Erik Wøllo + Kouame Sereba

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/bako- ... d389097791

IncarnateX · Post by **IncarnateX** » Thu Aug 13, 2015 2:30 pm

bsork wrote:Another version of the song Venelite (the first video in the OP), this time by Norway's Jan Garbarek and Agnes Buen Garnås

Hypnotic! Very interesting timing between vocals and percussion.

IncarnateX · Post by **IncarnateX** » Thu Aug 13, 2015 4:31 pm

Numanoid wrote: This one perhaps?

Erik Wøllo + Kouame Sereba

Interesting. Not sure whether it is medieval rhythms or sooner or later we are hearing. However, they are similar in some respects as if they shared common roots.

Numanoid · Post by **Numanoid** » Thu Aug 13, 2015 4:41 pm

IncarnateX wrote:Interesting. Not sure whether it is medieval rhythms or sooner or later we are hearing. However, they are similar in some respects as if they shared common roots.

Erik Wøllo is Norway's most underrated artist IMO, his latest albums on Projekt are awesome. Few manage to conjure images of Nordic landscapes better than him in music. Coupled with traditional African instrumentation, it makes an interesting mix.

Armadillo · Post by **Armadillo** » Thu Aug 13, 2015 8:33 pm

Man, I miss Sorten Muld. They were in a class of their own.
Such a shame they didn't release any more stuff. My favorites were 'Harald kongen' and 'Tor af havsgård'.

Hedningarne are actually not bad - thanks for the link. I do miss some electronic beats and synths though.

My contribution is Niyaz. They mix old farsi poetry with indian and middle eastern instrumentation + synth and beats.

IncarnateX · Post by **IncarnateX** » Thu Aug 13, 2015 9:55 pm

Thanks for some Persian flavor to the topic. It sounds great.

Sorten Muld were reunited in 2011, but for touring only. However I have just read on the blog of a music magazine that they are ready to make some new material

Seeking Middle Ages inspired modern music