EVERY GENRE PROJECT - December 20 - Neo-Medieval Folk

Genre of the Day - Neo-Medieval Folk

Album of the Day - The Shape of Medieval Music to Come by Vox Vulgaris (2003)

Being back home has finally allowed me time to read for leisure, allowing me to round out Candide (an embarrassingly short book that should’ve taken me a couple of days with some more discipline) by Voltaire, a classic I picked up in a Little Free Library over Thanksgiving. When the beleaguered Candide and the scholar Martin encounter the ever-dissatisfied count Pococurante, I found his 18th-century complaints about music quite reminiscent of modern detractors’ views. He calls his era’s opera, today seemingly the pinnacle of musical refinement, “a monstrosity that utterly disgusts me,” and expounds more widely on “music to-day [as] nothing more than the art of performing difficult pieces.” Throughout human civilizations’ history, there are those who believe their current musical moment doesn’t measure up to those of the past, and also those who make it their life’s mission to glorify the sounds of the past once more. Today’s genre falls in the latter camp.

Neo-medieval folk’s story begins in the same place as Candide’s, in almost unified-once-more Germany in the 1980s. The folk music that emerged in the mid-20th century was always a return to roots, but few musicians endeavored to go back more than a couple centuries or so. To time travel back before the Age of Enlightenment, the Renaissance, and even before the worst epidemics of the bubonic plague was a bold feat. Pinpointing the reasons behind the reemergence of interest in the Middle Ages after the 1960s is difficult; perhaps people were growing tired of modernity, and a romantic view of medieval craftsmanship and nobility inspired many.

Neo-medieval folk acts went all-in in utilizing traditional European folk instruments that had long fallen to the wayside. The hurdy-gurdy, intricate ‘key-fiddle’ nyckelharpa, the davul drum, the lengthy tromba marina fiddle, and the shawm flute are among those who make reappearances in the genre, alongside familiar friends like flutes, tambourines, harps, lutes, and bagpipes. Songs often reinforce a romantic view of the Middle Ages at their celebratory best, with festive, energetic arrangements, though others aim to capture the mystique of bygone centuries or noble gravity. Some reference the many medieval compositions that have stood the test of time such as the troubadour anthem “L'autrier m'iere levaz” or religious works, whereas other compositions are original. Though not folk per se, neo-medieval music has found favor in the online sphere in the form of ‘bardcore’ remixes of popular songs, vocals typically replaced by flutes and pipes and jouncy percussion replicating rhythms. I’m fond of this insane Summertime Sadness Bardcore Gone Wrong remix.

I love genres like today’s because the groups who spearhead them demonstrate the creative instrumental dedication it takes to imaginatively reconstruct centuries-old tunes. Swedish Vox Vulgaris met in prison in Stockholm, a place seemingly unlikely to produce a neo-medieval troupe, but I suppose you’d get a lot of time to ponder medieval history over your stint. Their songs seem to leap from the pages of illuminated manuscripts, vivid without having to use studio maneuvering to augment the sense of drama and historical weight. Each instrument blooms, such as in the pipe harmonies of the long-form “Stella Splendens,” an appropriate place to start as one of the oldest surviving musical manuscripts of the era. Joyful and festive romps like “Saltatello 3” mostly characterize the set, though some move with a regal pomp (“La Suite Meurtriere”). The contemporary-sounding folk stomp of “Rókatánc” is actually a traditional Hungarian dance, and the free-jazz-esque horn flows of “Cantiga 213” actually date from the 13th century. All this dedication to archive-digging, complimented by the irreverent album cover. Though I can’t fully respect Pococurante’s opinion, Vox Vulgaris proves that he makes a good point that it is wise to look to music of the past for inspiration and revelations.