Staying in Munich (München) for the time being we are looking at a few bands representing a popular style of music in Germany inspired by Medieval music. The most famous of those bands is Faun, who describe their genre as pagan folk or Neo-Medieval. They were formed in 1998, sing in a variety of languages including German (incl. Middle High German and Low German), English, Latin, Greek, Scandinavian languages (such as Finnish and old Norse) and their instrumentation consists of Celtic harp, nyckelharpa, hurdy-gurdy, bagpipes, citterns, flutes plus others. Here's a song called Walpurgisnacht, which is a rite performed on the eve of Mayday, where witches meet on The Brocken mountain to hold revels with the devil, from their 2014 album Luna:
From the same genre, but with more folk rock we have Schandmaul, who started at the same time in Munich, combining elctric guitar and bass with the likes of hurdy-gurdy, bagpipes and shawm. Here's a song called Der Teufel Hat den Schnapps Gemacht (The devil made the booze) from their 2014 album Unendlich:
Closer to their Medieval roots remain the ensemble Estampie, which were founded in 1985 on the basis of playing Medieval music from a variety of European cultures, including Nordic or in their guise of The Al Andaluz Project Islamic and Jewish influences from Iberia. Here's the opening track of their 2013 album Secrets of the North called Linden So Grön (Lime trees so green):
Jazz quartet Cuadro Nuevo was formed in 1996 in Gstadt on the Chiemsee lake and combines various global styles, in particular Tango, Musette, Flamenco and what they describe as a lovely dedusted film music and an almost faded Italy. Here's a tune from their 2020 album Mare called Ragazzo Samba:
On the final leg of our journey around Bavaria we are heading to Oberstaufen, where jazz fusion band Kerberbrothers Alpenfusion come from. Formed around 3 brothers who grew up in a folk music family they combine traditional Bavarian sounds of alphorn, zithers and hammered dulcimer interspersed with some yodelling together with some jazz rhythms and improvisations. Weird combination, but it kind of works, although the jazz elements generally dominate. Here is a song called Jodler Blues from their 2012 album Rising Alps:
That's it from Bavaria for now, next we are heading into the south-western state of Baden-Würtemberg. As usual you can follow my virtual ramblings on my tripline map.
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