Medieval folk rock, medieval rock or medieval folk is a musical subgenre that emerged in the early 1970s in England and Germany which combined elements of early music with rock music. It grew out of the British folk rock and progressive folk movements of the late 1960s.M. McLatchey, A Guide to Progressive Rock Genres , retrieved 29 January 2009. Despite the name, the term was used indiscriminately to categorise performers who incorporated elements of medieval, renaissance and baroque music into their work and sometimes to describe groups who used few, or no, electric instruments. This subgenre reached its height towards the middle of the 1970s when it achieved some mainstream success in Britain, but within a few years most groups had either disbanded, or were absorbed into the wider movements of progressive folk and progressive rock. Nevertheless, the genre had a considerable impact within progressive rock where early music, and medievalism in general, was a major influence and through that in the development of heavy metal. More recently medieval folk rock has revived in popularity along with other forms of medieval inspired music such as Dark Wave orientated neo-Medieval music and medieval metal.
Characteristics Medieval folk rock is characterised by three major elements used in various combinations. First, the playing of extant early music involving rock instrumentation. Second, the creation of original music that incorporates compositional features of early music, such as use of musical modes beyond those now considered major and minor keys. Third, the incorporation of the sounds of early music into rock songs, through vocal techniques, the use of additional instruments that characterise early music, or the simulation of early music sounds on rock instruments (for example, the use of a drone sound on an electric guitar).E. Macan, Rocking the Classics: English Progressive Rock and the Counterculture (Oxford University Press, 1997), pp. 30, 73, and 135. A final element that does not affect the nature of the music, but often accompanies it, is the adoption of perceived elements of 'medievalism' in lyrics, actions, dress or artwork.J. E. Perone, Music of the Counterculture Era (Greenwood, 2004), p. 27.
History
Origins (1960s)
Musicologists have noted an attempt to fuse popular music with elements of early classical music from the mid-1960s in Britain and America, which they refer to as baroque rock or baroque pop.B. Gendron, Between Montmartre and the Mudd Club: Popular Music and the Avant-garde (University of Chicago Press, 2002), p. 172. An interest in fusing the sounds of medieval and renaissance music with more popular forms was first evident in the British progressive folk movement of the late 1960s. This was particularly clear in the important work of The Incredible String Band from their 1967 album The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion (1967), which introduced both medieval and world music elements into their music. These continued in the highly influential The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter (1968).E. Macan, Rocking the Classics: English Progressive Rock and the Counterculture (Oxford University Press, 1997), p 73.
Also part of the progressive folk movement was guitarist John Renbourn, whose 1968 album Sir John Alot of Merry Englandes Musyk Thynge and ye Grene Knyghte began to display his interest in the medieval, containing a number of versions of early music songs, which would be dominant on The Lady and the Unicorn (1970). From 1967 Renbourn was a member of the folk group Pentangle, and he took his interest in early music into the mix of influences (including blues, jazz, bluegrass, world music and traditional folk song) in the band.B. Sweers, Electric Folk: The Changing Face of English Traditional Music (Oxford University Press, 2005), p. 200. Coming from the more traditional end of the folk spectrum were Shirley and Dolly Collins. They were the first artists to produce a complete album, Anthems in Eden (1969), that combined traditional folk songs with early music instruments, utilizing David Munrow's Early Music Consort, and early music remained a major preoccupation of their careers.B. Sweers, Electric Folk: The Changing Face of English Traditional Music (Oxford University Press, 2005), p. 199. Also from 1969 Third Ear Band made use of medieval instruments alongside classical and eastern influences.
What laid the foundation for the transformation of these trends into a form of rock music was the release in 1969 of the London-based folk rock band Fairport Convention's album Liege and Lief, which saw the clear inception of British folk rock as fusion between electric rock music and traditional folk songs and styles.B. Sweers, Electric Folk: The Changing Face of English Traditional Music (Oxford University Press, 2005), p. 4. Fairport Convention occasionally incorporated elements of early music into their repertoire. However, their fusion of English folk music with rock instrumentation was mostly focused on early modern and nineteenth-century ballads and dance music. In contrast, the band formed by former Fairport member Ashley Hutchings as Steeleye Span in 1969, tended to explore a wider range of period music ranging back into the Middle Ages. They also utilized more diverse instruments, including mandolins, recorders and oboes, besides electric guitars, bass and later, drums. This was exemplified by their 1972 album Below the Salt, which contained several early music songs and from which they released the a cappella single of the sixteenth-century carol "Gaudete", which reached number fourteen in the UK singles chart, arguably the greatest mainstream success for medieval folk rock, as the band were occasionally described."Steeleye Span info page", retrieved 29 January 2009.
Heyday: 1970-75
The process of 'electrification' set off by Fairport in the folk world, by which existing groups adopted a model of rock instrumentation, meant that several progressive folk performers of early music now joined a growing number of medieval folk rock bands. These included Pentangle, who electrified in 1970 for the album Cruel Sister, Third Ear Band, who from 1972 introduced electric guitars, basses and drums and, from 1976, with the release of Amaranth, Dolly Collins produced an early music album for her sister Shirley that used both electric and traditional instruments.
In contrast to Pentangle, Amazing Blondel, formed in 1969 and who composed their own music in a renaissance style, did not electrify. Nevertheless, because of their approach and use of original compositions, they are often described as medieval rock. Very similar in tone were bands like Forest, who from 1969 recorded their own compositions with modern acoustic and medieval instruments.Prog rock archives, retrieved 29 January 2009.
At the same time in Germany there were similar developments. Because of the association of folk music with Nazism, Ougenweide, originally formed in 1970 as an acoustic folk group, although inspired by Fairport Convention and Pentangle, opted to draw exclusively on High German medieval music when they electrified, setting the agenda for future German folk rock.S. Winick, Dirty Linen, 128 (February/March 2007). Several bands followed suit, including Parzival from 1971."Parzival at prog rock archives", retrieved 29 January 2009.
The growth of interest in early music in the academic and classical worlds was significant for the expansion of medieval folk rock. Gryphon, arguably the archetypal British band in the genre, was formed in 1971 by Richard Harvey and Brian Gulland, both graduates of the Royal Academy of Music. Gryphon were originally an acoustic ensemble performing folk and medieval tunes. However, with the addition of guitarist Graeme Taylor and drummer Dave Oberlé, by the time of their first eponymously titled album in 1973 they had become a folk rock band that incorporated bassoons and krumhorns into their sound and were being marketed as 'medieval rock'.C. Snider, The Strawberry Bricks Guide to Progressive Rock (Lulu.com, 2008), p. 183-4. (Transatlantic Records booklet, 1974); New Spotlight - Ireland's National Music Entertainment Weekly , 7 (10) (30 August 1973), retrieved 29/01/09. The same year saw other experiments that combined early music with rock instruments, including the one-off project Giles Farnaby's Dream Band.P. Stump, Gentle Giant: Acquiring the Taste (SAF Publishing Ltd, 2005), p. 78.
Often classified with Gryphon were Gentle Giant whose multi-instrumental members added clavichord, harpsichord, violin and recorder to the mix from their second album Acquiring the Taste (1971), but this was all combined with classical and jazz elements and can be already considered as progressive rock.W. Martin, Listening to the Future: The Time of Progressive Rock, 1968-1978 (Open Court Publishing, 1998), p. 220. In 1971, the year that Gryphon and Gentle Giant were founded, medieval music was one of the prevailing fashions in rock music, as evidenced by probably the most successful band of the moment Led Zeppelin in their amalgamation of blues-based rock with recorders and mandolins together with medieval themes on Led Zeppelin IV, most notably on 'Stairway to Heaven'.R. Yorke, Led Zeppelin, From Early Days to Page and Plant (Virgin, London, 1974, 2nd edn., 2000), p. 149.
Decline and diffusion 1976-80
The first half of the 1970s was a short-lived peak in popularity for medieval folk rock. Gryphon enjoyed some mainstream success when they played the National theatre and Old Vic and supported Yes on tour. However, with line-up changes from about 1975 they began to drop their distinctive medieval sound and became increasingly a mainstream progressive rock band, before they dissolved in 1977. Similarly despite retaining elements of medieval music, bands like Gentle Giant rapidly moved off into further experimentation and were soon being classified under the more general category of progressive rock.
The only places where medieval folk rock was growing in the late 1970s were France and the Netherlands. In France, particularly from Brittany, there were bands like Ripaille, formed for a highly regarded eponymous album in 1977, and Saga de Ragnar Lodbrock in 1979. In the same period the most enduring French folk rock band Tri Yann also moved into medieval territory. There were also a handful of bands in other European countries, including Thomas Flinter from the Netherlands from 1978 to 1980.D. E. Asbjørnsen, Scented Gardens Of The Mind retrieved 29 January 2009. However, although starting later most of these groups had disbanded or moved on at the start of the 1980s.
If surviving medieval folk rock bands shifted towards more mainstream progressive rock, progressive rock bands often included early music among their influences. Despite emerging from the British blues boom, the vocal style of Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull was often compared with a medieval troubadour's, while the signature sound of his flute, later combined with the keyboard and stringed instrumental skills of the band, lent itself to a medieval element of the music. This emerged most clearly with the album Minstrel in the Gallery (1975) and later in the folk inspired Songs from the Wood (1977). Medieval images and sounds are so prominent in the band's career that they have occasionally been classified as 'medieval progressive rock'.P. Dodd, Book of Rock: From 1950s to Today (Pavilion, 2005), p. 230. Yes took occasional flights into medievalism, perhaps because of their highly talented keyboard player Rick Wakeman, who in 1975 produced the rock opera album The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.W. Martin, Music of Yes: Structure and Vision in Progressive Rock (Open Court, 1996), p. 78; E. Sherr Sklar, D. L. Hoffman, and A. Lupack, King Arthur in Popular Culture (McFarland, 2002), p. 151.