Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Gjallarhorn
Gjallarhorn features world music that is firmly rooted in the Swedish folk music of Finland, as well as the Norwegian and the Swedish traditions. Its talented performers offer the listener a personal, punchy, and yet nuanced, sound-world which rings to the echoes of the ancient Scandinavian folk traditions.
What a great band, I frequently have their music rolling for some ambient sounds while I'm writing, which is quite often. One of things I really admire about Gjallarhorn aside from their great sound, is the stories they tell in their songs. Hymn, as the story goes was a preserved form of church song, exported by a group of Swedish speaking peoples that lived on some islands near Estonia in the 1780's. For whatever political reasons, they were deported by the queen of Sweden to the Ukraine. The entire population forced to walk for one year with half of them dying in the process. Their fate really sort of reminded me in a way, of the Trail Of Tears, as we know to be one of the well documented cases of forced relocations of the Native Americans by the U.S. government in the 1800's. It's really quite amazing that these people managed to save some of their traditions and have their story retold and performed today by Jenny Wilhelms and Gjallarhorn.
Monday, December 26, 2011
Ark Of The Witch
It's like "There and back again", having started up this blogspot a couple years ago and then practically forgetting about it all together. So, a lot has happened since the last time I was here contemplating something to blog about.
It's certainly been quite a journey thus far, and I'm pleased to say that I've nearly completed the counterpart to the film, which is the novel, and that I intend to e-publish in the very near future, Kindle, iBooks etc.. Let me back up for just a moment, since it's likely 99.99% of the people that may come across this blog have absolutely no idea of what I'm talking about.
I have been for the better part of the last 15 years, pretty much consumed with Finnish mythology and her national epic, The Kalevala. Being of Finnish ancestry myself I thought it really opened up a treasure trove into the identity of the Finns and their pre-Christian beliefs and stories.
From my perspective, The Kalevala and her myths were in a sense my myths as well, as well as anyone else of Finnish ancestry. Understanding this was key to connecting my families migration from Finland to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and Minnesota.
When I wrote the first outline and draft for Ark Of The Witch , it was like weaving together an elaborate textile of ancient Finnish myth within the Finnish Christian mindset of the 19th century, and their migrations to America, with a contemporary theme(s) of our modern era. An era where many of us Americans have forgotten, or simply don't care to know, of the migratory paths nor the plight our ancestors endured to get here. An era where sacrifice for ones family and fellow man, and doing the right thing, is often lost in our pursuit of the status quo, excess, and lines of extended credit.
Anyway, this post is becoming another novel in itself, or novella perhaps. To anyone interested, thank you for reading, and I'll keep you posted on the publish date for Ark Of The Witch, which I believe will be in the latter part of January or early February.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)