A correspondent, Eduard ten Houten, has been kind enough to supply some more information on Neo-Folk Music Scene Traditionalism.First, there's an article well worth reading (if you know German): Nordolf, "Der Ruf nach den alten Göttern: Zum Zusammenhang zwischen Neuheidentum, europäischem Erbe und Gothic / Avantgarde Musik" (Calling on the Old Gods: Links between Neopaganism, European Heritage, and Gothic/Avantgarde Music). Nordolf traces the interest of these bands in Evola through figures such as Ernst Jünger, Friedrich Nietzsche, Ezra Pound, Corneliu Codreanu, and Karl Maria Wiligut.
Then, even if you don't know German, the article ends with a long list of CDs that looks pretty comprehensive to me. Elsewhere, Qvirinvs provides a shorter list of purely Traditionalist[ic?] bands. Given the emphasis on Evola, it is not a great surprise that many of these are Italian:
- Ain Soph *#
- Apud Inferos
- Camerata Mediolanese *
- Extreme Spite Wing
- Hirpus
- Janus
- Mors Summa
- Thronus Abyss
- Viking
Bands with a * featured on the classic compilation CD, Cavalcare la tigre -
Julius Evola: Centenary.Bands with a # are ones whose names seem to me (very impressionalistically, provisionally, and unscientifically) to be the most notable and/or interesting.
I've given only links that I know--the absence of a link does not mean there is no website.
Next in importance as a region comes Germany/Austria
- Allerseelen * (Austria)
- Orplid * (German)
- Turbund Sturmwerk (Austria)
- Von Thronstahl *# (German)
Note: Sol Invictus # isn't on Qvirinvs's list--I'm not sure why.
Finally, here are some lyrics from Ain Soph's Kshatriya:
Source: Nordolf's article.Die Treue ist stärker als Feuer
Sich erheben, auferstehen
Eine Form und eine Ordnung schaffen
Aufrecht durch die Ruinen
Den schwersten Weg auswählen
Unseren Mut in Metall gießen
Endlich wiedergeboren durch das Blut
Stark durch unsere Ehre
Kshatriya
7 comments:
The Nordolf essay linked in the post, while not totally erroneous, gives a very biased impression of the whole thing. The author (who seems to be of a new right bend) makes it sound like Neofolk and associated genres are some kind of concerted effort by a more or less unified set of artists to promote Evolian thought and (Norse) neo-Paganism, whereas in reality, it is a very diverse set of people with very different beliefs, interests, worldviews, obsessions, artistic merits, etc. It would be an exaggeration to state that Neofolk is a Traditionalist genre/movement per se--it is not.
The degree in which Evola is considered an influence varies from band to band. You have projects like Ain Soph, A.C.T.U.S., Blood Axis (not forgetting Moynihan's TYR journal which--in its own words--is traditionalist with a small t), and Scivias which are very much influenced by his (and maybe other Traditionalists') works, then there are bands to whom he is one influence among others (e.g. Camerata Mediolanense, Ostara, Allerseelen, etc.), and there are bands (not a few, I think) who cannot be described as Evolian by any stretch of the word--ironically, this includes the founding fathers of the whole genre, Death In June (Douglas P. was never interested in Evola at all), Current 93, Sixth Comm, Coil et al. (Note: I could imagine that [David] Tibet [of Current 93], given his theological and mystical interests, might have read something by Guénon or Evola, but it doesn't show in his work and clearly wasn't something formative for him).
Then, there's the famous case of Sol Invictus whom the blog lists because of their album title Against The Modern World, but Tony Wakeford has repeatedly stated that he just liked the title and never read a whole book by Evola! Finally, there may be a few of the newer bands (and this probably applies to some fans as well) who brandish the name Evola because they think it's de rigueur in this scene.
--Lightly edited for style by Mark Sedgwick
Dear Mr. Sedgwick,
I totally agree with Andreas Diesel's thoughts about this, just some additional notes.
Evola is very much present on the AIN SOPH Album "Aurora", a picture of him is on the CD.
Then we have a LP from the italian project KINO GLAZ "Al Passo Con L'Arcangelo" (1988), which is very much inspired by Evolas View on Hermetism. The Flute player Gregorio Bardini is involved in Traditionalist circles.
Additionally MUSHROOM PATIENCE, another italian band around AIN SOPH, deserves to be mentioned. The Album "the Spirit Of The Mountain" is inspired by Evolas "Meditation On The Peaks" (but that is not mentioned in the lyrics). Another group of interest is the (again) italian band SPITE EXTREME WING (Black Metal), the album "Non Dvor, Dvco" is inspired by "Cavalcare La Tigre" and has a picture of Evola in the booklet, the musicians are also involved with the neofolk/ritual etc. projects IANVA and RUNES ORDER.
Also, the son of Claudio Mutti is making music under the moniker THULESEHNSUCHT IM ZEITALTER DER MASCHINEN and he is also inspired by the Tradition. He works with the esoterist Metal group MORBID UPHEAVAL as well as with the french very Traditionalist inspired neofolk project LONSAI MAIKOV.
The Artist ROCHARD MOULT, who is working with CURRENT 93 and SOL INVICTUS nowadays wrote music to the poems of Kathleen Raine.
I can add much more if interested...
Yes, interested!
If you email me directly (mjs@teo.au.dk) we could even discuss you doing a posting rather than a comment....
excellent band, definitely on the path of sufi traditionalism :
www.secretchiefs3.com
www.myspace.com/secretchiefs3
There's also an Italian underground metal label (black metal mostly) that's distinctly Evolian.
"All ATMF's bands share common visions standing against the modern world - a world of wretched ruins"
and then they quote Evola:
"Life is like a bow and the soul like an arrow,
the target being aimed at is the Supreme Spirit"
http://www.atmf.net/label/statement.php?page=Statement
A major correction. Der Arbeiter project is not Swiss, but Chilean.
None of this music is traditionalist in the sense of what the core traditionalis would consider to be valid/sacred art.
All of it is in fact blatantly symptomatic of anti-tradtionalism current and music of the kali yuga.
A bit like hare krishna bands like shelter whose music in traditional hindu circles could be conmsidered as nothing other than demoniac music from the lower chakras.
Why is this scene even considered traditonalist and when it is so against basic traditonal ideals of art?
The fact that Alot of is Evolian says alot about the perversions of his work.
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