Modern pagan music

The Latvian neopagan movement Dievturība developed a musical life in the 1930s, focused on the instruments kokles and trīdeksnis, choir music and Latvian folk music. In a 1937 article, the movement's chief ideologue Ernests Brastiņš wrote about the religion's sermons, which included music that "should create solemn and harmonious feelings".[1] This was initially handled by the organist, composer and conductor Valdemārs Ozoliņš (1896–1973). The other main contributors were Jānis Norvilis (1906–1994) and Artūrs Salaks (1891–1984). Norvilis created choral arrangements of folk songs for calendar celebrations. Salaks, a composer and folklorist, became the movement's musical leader in 1936. His own music was characterized by diatonic scale and drones, and combined archaic and new elements in what he dubbed "the Latvian style".[1] In 1938, Salaks released a collection of choral songs titled Latviešu dievestīgās dziesmas ("Latvian songs of adoration").[2]

Also in the 1930s, the Norwegian composer Geirr Tveitt (1908–1981) became affiliated with the Germanic neopaganism of the National Socialist journal Ragnarok and its publisher Hans S. Jacobsen. Jacobsen drew heavily from Jakob Wilhelm Hauer's theories and promoted the adoration of the Norse gods. This influenced Tveitt's musical compositions, notably the ballet Baldurs draumar (1938).[3] Tveitt maintains a high status as a composer in Norway, but his affiliation with this milieu is controversial.[4]

A self-identified pagan scene for popular music emerged in the United States in the 1970s. A pioneer was Gwydion Pendderwen (1946–1982), who established an emphasis on folk music and singer-songwriter material.[5] Another early contributor was Charlie Murphy (1953–2016), whose song "Burning Times" became popular in the early 1980s.[6] Their style owed much to the British folk revival of the 1960s, in particular British folk rock acts like Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span. Another important element was the chant, exemplified with Zsuzsanna Budapest's "We all come from the Goddess / And to Her we shall return / Like a drop of rain / Flowing to the ocean".[6] Chants and songs were made integral to the religious rituals of the milieu. World music gradually became a central component, partially due to concerns of inclusion. This expressed itself through drumming circles where Middle Eastern malfuf rhythms became the standard, sometimes alternated with African-based clave rhythms. Pagan recordings and performances began to feature doumbeks, tars and djembes.[6] The mythological material has predominantly been drawn from Celtic mythology.[6] Records from this pagan scene were sold in New Age stores and information about new music was spread through magazines like Circle Network News and Green Egg.[7]

Sculpture of Moondog at his grave in Münster

As a legacy from the counterculture of the 1960s, neopaganism in the United States developed a close relationship with the New Age movement. A prominent example of this is the Starwood Festival, held every summer since 1981. Starwood was formerly held in southwestern New York but has since moved to a site near Athens OH. The festival hosts musical performances, rituals and an eclectic program of workshops. [8][9]

Kay Gardner (1940–2002) was an adherent of Dianic Wicca and one of the founders of women's music, which emerged as the musical expression of second-wave feminism. Her works include the oratorio Ouroboros: Seasons of Life—Women's Passages. It portrays a woman's life cycle from birth to death using the symbols of the Triple Goddess and neopagan holidays.[10] According to the musicologist Ruth A. Solie, feminist music overall had its origin in the Goddess movement, which inspired women to express their inner lives through music.[11]

Louis Thomas Hardin (1916–1999), known as Moondog, was a blind street musician, composer and poet. He remained outside of organized pagan structures, but included pagan and mythological themes in his music, dressed in a horned helmet, said he believed in the Norse gods and built an altar to Thor at his country retreat in Candor, New York.[12]

Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson in 1991

In Iceland, Ásatrúarfélagið's first allsherjargoði Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson (1924–1993) was known as both a writer and singer of rímur, a traditional form of alliterative poetry or songs. He can be seen performing in this style in the documentary film Rokk í Reykjavík.[13] In 1982 he released an album, Eddukvæði, where he sings from the Poetic Edda.[14] Another work with ties to Ásatrúarfélagið is Odin's Raven Magic, a 2002 choral and orchestral setting of the Icelandic poem Hrafnagaldr Óðins. It was made by the allsherjargoði Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson (born 1958) in collaboration with Sigur Rós and Steindór Andersen.[15]

The folk music group Kūlgrinda was founded in 1989 by Inija (born 1951) and Jonas Trinkūnas (1939–2014), the leaders of the Lithuanian neopagan movement Romuva. The group functions as the movement's musical expression and is an integral part of its rituals. It is specialised on sutartinės, traditional polyphonic song-chants.[16] Romuva's website describes Kūlgrinda as a "ritual folklore group".[17] The Slovak singer and multi-instrumentalist Miroslav "Žiarislav" Švický (born 1967) has been influential within Slavic Native Faith in Slovakia with his songs that combine Slovak folk music and contemporary influences. He is the founder and leader of the modern pagan organisation Rodný kruh (lit. 'Native Circle').[18]

A wider popular music scene has formed in Europe around festivals like the Wave-Gotik-Treffen in Germany and Castlefest in the Netherlands. The formula of bands like Dead Can Dance has spawned what Pitz-Waters has labeled "ethno-Gothic", represented by bands like Ataraxia from Italy, Rhea's Obsession from Canada and the Australian musician Louisa John-Krol.[39] Other openly pagan or occult-oriented bands with a clear debt to Dead Can Dance include Seventh Harmonic, Atrium Animae, Daemonia Nymphe, Trobar de Morte[40] and Íon.[29]

Faun at the Feuertal Festival in Wuppertal in 2016

The German band Faun formed in 1999 and had their first mainstream success in Germany in 2013. They emerged from the neo-Medieval music scene but developed an eclectic style, which involves folk music and electronic music.[41] They dubbed this pagan folk, a term that has been picked up by other bands such as Omnia from the Netherlands. [42] Typical for the pagan folk genre are premodern instruments, medievalist costumes and imagery, as well as modern elements in order to create an idealised vision of an archaic past that is present in the contemporary world.[43]

The German Andrea Haugen's projects Aghast, Hagalaz' Runedance and Nebelhexë express a Germanic paganism focused on the cycles of nature and feminine mysteries. Haugen's musical influences include the English neofolk of Sol Invictus and Fire + Ice, the dark wave of Dead Can Dance, and Scandinavian folk music acts like Hedningarna and Mari Boine.[44] The musicians of the Norwegian group Wardruna have a background in the metal genre, and have subsequently influenced some metal bands. Wardruna have created ambient music based on the runes and their meaning. They aim to use "the oldest of Nordic instruments"; this has included harp, frame drum, mouth harp and goat horn, and the natural sounds of trees, rocks and water.[45]

Some composers of art music draw on Pagan themes. Die erste Walpurgisnacht, set to music by Felix Mendelssohn, tells of Druid rituals in the Harz mountains. Merry Mount by Howard Hanson celebrates early colonial American Neo-Paganism. Iannis Xenakis composed Persephassa in honor of the goddess Persephone. Most of the works of Bronius Kutavičius are inspired by ancient Lithuanian polytheistic belief and music.

• Ancient music
• Beltania
• Kilkim Žaibu
• New-age music
• Occulture