Corvus Corax is a German band known for playing
medieval music using an abundance of
authentic instruments. Their name is the scientific name for the
Common Raven. The band was formed in
1989 by Castus Rabensang, Wim (Venustus) and Meister Selbfried
("Master Selfpeace") in East Germany. The band often uses
bagpipes as the solo instrument; their live
performances attract attention with the bizarre look of the
musicians being reminiscent of ancient
Greek myths: half-naked, dressed in unusual
clothes, wearing primitive tribal decorations, often
tattooed.
Today the band consists of eight members: Ardor vom Venushügel
("Ardor from the pubic mound"), Castus Rabensang ("Castus
Ravensong"), Patrick der Kalauer ("Patrick the groaner"), Harmann
der Drescher ("Harmann the thresher"), Hatz ("hunt"), Jordon Finus,
Teufel ("devil") and Wim (Venustus). In May 2005 Meister Selbfried,
one of the Corvus Corax founders and the researcher of medieval
music, decided to cease his active musicianship and to dedicate
himself mostly to managing Corvus Corax's own label Pica Records.
His place in the line-up was taken by Jordon Finus in 2006.
The band releases its music through
Pica
Records in Europe and
Noir Records
in the USA. The Cantus Buranus projects have thus far been released
in Europe by Roadrunner Europe.
Interpretation and theory
Because medieval music theory was dominated by
ecclesiastics, it is often difficult to
determine from the extant manuscripts exactly how the secular music
of the day sounded. Corvus Corax draws on a number of sources to
try to make their music as authentic as possible: they have used
documents that "condemn profane music" as an indicator as to what
the music might have sounded like, and drawn on nineteenth century
scholarly treatises for information (although in many cases these
treatises are unreliable, as they impart more nineteenth century
interpretations of medieval music than factual information
on what the music was like).
But a number of things are known for certain. For example, the
profane music of the day was often accompanied by a droning bass
tone similar to that generated by the
bourdon stop on an organ, which is
provided in Corvus Corax's case by the drones on their bagpipes. An
inkling as to the harmonies used is found in a song by
Walter von der Vogelweide, in
which he calls for the song to be played "the old way", meaning
harmonising with
thirds. At the time, the
third was considered an awkward, ugly interval by the sacred
musician — like the
tritone, or
diabolus in musica — but it was a common
interval in
folk music.
Matters are further complicated by the fact that each
minstrel would add his personal interpretation to a
piece, and that recorded (i.e. written) versions may differ
depending on who did the transcribing, and where. It is on this
that Corvus Corax's interpretation hinges: medieval popular music
was played more from the heart than the brain, and despite making
use of scholarship to give them a grounding, Corvus Corax attempts
to maintain the spirited, free manner in which the minstrels
themselves would have played the music.
Projects
In 1996 the band released the album
Tanzwut which combined the elements of
metal music with their brand sound of
bagpipes. The CD turned out to be a
commercially successful experiment and the band decided to continue
the tradition of that album in a separate musical project called
Tanzwut, which included Castus Rabensang
(German Rabensang = ravensong), Wim, and Teufel (German Teufel =
Devil) from Corvus Corax as well as three new members.
In 2005 Corvus Corax started the ambitious project "
Cantus Buranus": a full-length opera set to
the original
Carmina Burana
manuscript lyrics. The music for the opera was fully composed by
the band and had no connection with the famous work by
Carl Orff. It was performed with symphonic
orchestra, choir and medieval ensemble, combining traditional
symphonism with medieval
minstrel-like
melodies. The project included a
CD
recording, a
DVD, as well as live performances.
A live CD and DVD recording of Cantus Buranus was released in March
2006.
2005 also marked the band's debut concerts in the USA.
The band performed
four sets on each of four different days in mid-October, not far
from Philadelphia
at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire. There
was also a "secret show" held for employees of the Faire. Footage
shot by the band members and crew was assembled into a featurette
that was included as a bonus track on the US edition of the band's
live DVD, "Gaudia Vite."
Out on August 1, 2008 via the band owned label Pica Music, the most
recent Corvus Corax album "Cantus Buranus II" was released., It is
a new orchestral recording of songs from the Medieval manuscript
"Carmina Burana". The Berlin based act created a composition for
orchestra, choir and a Medieval ensemble and recorded the CD and
DVD live in the Museum Island in front of 5000 people.
Discography
Albums
- Ante Casu Peccati (1989)
- Congregatio (1991)
- Inter Deum Et Diabolum Semper Musica Est (1993)
- Tritonus (1995)
- Live auf dem Wäscherschloß (1998)
- Viator (1998)
- Tempi Antiquii (1999, compilation of works from
1988-1992)
- Mille Anni Passi Sunt (2000 - limited edition of 2000
copies issued as 'MM')
- In Electronica Remixe (2000)
- Seikilos (2002)
- Gaudia Vite
(2003)
- Best of Corvus Corax (2005)
- Cantus Buranus
(2005)
- Cantus Buranus Live in Berlin (2006)
- Venus Vina Musica (2006)
- Kaltenberg anno MMVII (2007)
- Cantus Buranus II (released on August 1st 2008.)
- Cantus Buranus--Das Orgelwerk (released on December 5,
2008)
- Live in Berlin (released in July 2009)
EPs/Singles
- Tanzwut EP (1996)
- Corvus Corax erzählen Märchen aus alter Zeit EP
(2000)
- Hymnus Cantica CDS (2002)
DVD/Video
- Gaudia Vite Live DVD - USA Edition (2006)
- Cantus Buranus Live in Berlin DVD (2006)
- Corvus Corax Live in Berlin - Passionskirche DVD
(2009)
See also
References
External links
Wikis
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