Folk Metal

The Circle of Influence

Liam Molloy

May 2014

Supervisor
David Stalling

External Examiner
Dr Wolfgang Marx

BA (Hons) in Applied Music

 Ceol Oirghialla Rannóg an Cheoil
Section of Music

Declaration

I certify that this dissertation which I now

submit as part fulfilment for the BA (Hons) Applied Music is entirely my own
work and no part has been taken from the work of others without being
acknowledged within the document.

This dissertation was prepared according to the rules and regulations of the Section
of Music, Dundalk Institute of Technology and has not been presented in whole or in
part for examination in any other Institute or University.

The Institute has permission to keep, to lend or to copy part or all of this
dissertation on the condition that any such use of material from this dissertation is
duly acknowledged.

Signed:

Date:
Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my supervisoror David Stalling, whose patience, support and advice

made this dissertation possible. At times when it seemed it was all falling apart, I would ask

myself ‘what would David do?’! I would also like to thank all of the tutors and lecturers who I

studied under during my time at DkIT, especially Paul McGetterick, whose help I could not

have done without. I would love to thank my fellow classmates, never have I been a part of a

group with so much talent and good nature, I am honoured.

Family, I have the best! Oceans of emotions to my first guitar teacher, my dad Charlie, where

I got the hard-working gene. My mum, Margaret, an angel in a bad disguise, keeping me well

nourished through the year, with food and with support. My sister Joanne, and brothers

Matthew and Stephen, for keeping my head out of the clouds! To know you is to know the

world. Scooby, the family dog, keeping us all in check! Finally, but by no means least, my

beautiful and one of a kind, Tara! How one person can have so much love and patience is

beyond me. Weeeeeooooooooo!!!

Abstract

The primary focus of this dissertation is to correlate the traditional folk musics from different

countries around the world, to contemporary folk metal bands, with the aim of substantiating

a link between historical cultural heritages to the progressive qualities of bands in the sub-

genre of folk metal.In doing so, I uncover a philosophy of apoliticality and a sense of tolerant

pluralism, which allows for the growth and expansion of the sub-genre, in areas both saturated

and parched, of Western popular culture. This growth and expansion is due to the streams of

cultural influence towards these bands on a local level, mixing with the global musical

influences brought to them on an international level. It will be shown that the train of

influences has come full circle in the music of folk metal bands.This research uncovers the

utilisation and dissemination of influences to the folk metal scene including: cultural and

geographical heritage, apoliticality and ideas of spirituality. With a clear global movement in

action, it is recognised here that, from the influences of ancient musical practices, through the

passing of time, folk metal music has the ability to influence itself in a way other music forms

either can or do not. Further research will prove that in the geographic locations of these

bands there is individuality, but, by their principles and operations, there is a global unity.
 Table of Contents

Table of Contents
Table of Contents ................................................................................................ i
List of Figures .................................................................................................... ii
List of Music Examples ..................................................................................... iii
Introduction ........................................................................................................ 1
Literature Review ............................................................................................... 2
History of folk-metal .......................................................................................... 9
Methodology of folk-metal............................................................................... 12
Links to the future from the present - looking to the past.................................. 15
Ireland .............................................................................................................. 15
Traditional ........................................................................................................................ 15
Folk-metal contemporaries ............................................................................................... 19
Indonesia .......................................................................................................... 23
Traditional ........................................................................................................................ 23
Folk-metal contemporary ..................................................................................................24
Russia, China/Mongolia ................................................................................... 25
Russia ............................................................................................................................... 25
China ................................................................................................................................ 26
Mongolia .......................................................................................................................... 27
Folk-metal contemporary ..................................................................................................28
Brazil ............................................................................................................... 30
Traditional ........................................................................................................................ 30
Folk-metal contemporary ..................................................................................................33
Elsewhere in the world of folk metal ................................................................ 34
Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 35
Discography ..................................................................................................... 37
Web Resources ................................................................................................. 38

i
 List of Figures

List of Figures

Fig. 1. - Heavy metal genealogy, Rolling Stone magazine. (Rolling Stone, 2007). p 9.

Fig. 5. – Indonesian Gamelan. (Voyage Fairtrade, 2013). p 24.

Fig. 8. – Cover for Cruachan’s album Tuatha Na Gael. (Cruachan, 1995, 2001& 2004). p 15

ii
 List of Music Examples

List of Music Examples

Fig. 2. - Heavy metal ‘gallop’ rhythm technique for electric guitar. (Cyberfret, 2014). p 18.

Fig. 3. – ‘Sligo Air’, traditional Irish tune. (Folktunefinder, 1999). p 19.

Fig. 4. - Flute melody, Cruachan, ‘Pagan’. p 20. (Cruachan, 2004).

Fig. 6. – Samba rhythm. p 32.

Fig. 7. – Bossa Nova rhythm. p 33.

iii
Introduction
Overview

This dissertation explores the world of folk metal and in doing so, uncovers a thin strain of

what could be called ‘modern traditional’ music, or at least, be seen as a branch of the

‘modern traditional’ tree. I will be examining folk music from around the world, comparing

the traditional music from a particular country or region, to a contemporary folk metal band or

artist from that region, in the hopes of finding that there is an instinctive need to include

elements of what makes up the heritage of local cultures and to utilise these elements with the

aim of keeping ‘in’ with the culture or sub-culture, to which they belong. This examination

will show that there is an apolitical mentality, common to those who listen to, and play heavy

metal, which allows access to every manner of influence, to further expand the genre. In

doing so, I find that some forms of traditional music have travelled well and others, not so

well. Accommodating a bleeding of influence, folk metal often taints the purity of

geographically specific musical traditions, creating a paradox of sorts where we find a

forward-moving culture looking backwards to traditional folk music for inspiration. Folk

metal creates a deeper pigeon-hole in which to be categorised, within the realm of heavy

metal, but also helps to unify a global collective through these differences, lending to the idea

that the music of folk metal, essentially, influences itself.

1
Literature Review

Throughout this literature review I will be juxtaposing the views of Eric Salzman, who gives

his insights into Twentieth century music in ‘Twentieth-Century Music – An Introduction’.

His views are both comparable to and sometimes contrast the views in other pieces of

literature, but give a grounding basis to the ideas presented; that folk-metal follows a circular

path of influence, guided by a series of imagined boundaries and a sense of politics which

renders it immune to collapse. This policy of heavy metal will be described as apolitical; the

energy required to play the politics game is reserved, here, for creating heavy metal music.

Heavy Metal and the Deafening Threat of the Apolitical. Niall Scott.

Reviewing literature dealing with the cultural and identity-creating aspects of the genres

within heavy metal, I have found that there is an apolitical approach, or sense, to the creation

and maintaining of the sub-genres like folk, power, Viking, black and symphonic metal. To

suggest that heavy metal is apolitical is true, but only in the way in which it deals with politics

of a governmental nature. The apolitical policy of heavy metal ensures that all creativity

within its boundaries is accepted or tolerated. The acceptance of the threat of different heavy

metal sub-genres’ views, is recognised and encouraged. Indeed, there are heavy metal bands

that express, quite loudly, both a left-wing/green policy and those that express ideas from the

far right. Reflectively, the emergence of heavy metal from the lower/middle classes who,

were either uninterested in politics or knew what it was about, felt any involvement in politics

was pointless. A dismissive awareness is adopted by the cultures within heavy metal,

recognising differences within itself as a whole, but spending the majority of its time and

2
energy into creativity within its own niche, instead of demonising or degrading the others,

(Scott, 2012, p225).

Heavy metal’s apolitical policy of ‘tolerant pluralism’ (Scott, 2012, p 238), and the way in

which it binds together a close-knit community of incompatible elements, enlightens us as to

the secret of its success, and possibly to the secret of its potential immortality. An apolitical

art form welcomes those who do not necessarily have a popular modus-operandi or voice and

it champions its members’ diversity over political correctness.

The policy of truth and honesty in heavy metal is inevitable in a scene which has a disdain for

governmental politics and in which, governmental policies are rejected (Scott, 2012, p 228).

In the many sub-genres of heavy metal, we encounter different viewpoints and perspectives, a

‘fluid and slippery movement engaged in internal discourse that reflects its own nature’

(Scott, 2012, p 231). There is therefore an internal apolitical system, an imagined boundary,

by which members adhere to. In the telling of historical myths and facts, memories of the

working-class heritage and construction of new myths, heavy metal (in particular

folk/fantasy/Viking metal), has avoided the label and workings of ‘repressive desublimation’

(Scott, 2012, p 234) and is seen as a more romantic endeavour, positioned to ‘resist, and even

transcend, this negative impact’, (Scott, 2012, p 234).

Repressive desublimation, a term used by Herbert Marcuse to describe a process acting

against itself, (in this case the idea that heavy metal goes against its anti-capitalist grain in the

commoditisation of its elements), is not the case here. Heavy metal’s opposition to repressive

desublimation does not disqualify it from being commoditised; it accepts the forces of the

markets but staunchly defends its autonomy and its freedom of choice for its individual

members, (Scott, 2012, p 236). The defence for this repressive desublimation is the ability, or

even, the characteristic identity of heavy metal music as being transcendent of itself; it holds

3
more meaning than what both the artists creating it and the consumers/fans/listeners of it,

could ascribe to it.

A tolerant pluralism in heavy metal lends to the fact that while engagement with politics is

possible and does sometimes happen, the auditory, spiritual and physical experience of the

music is favoured above it. Living with such a collection of paradoxes, phases not the heavy

metal fan; indeed it serves as a strengthening tool, a proud maintainer of autonomy within the

movement, a consumer of its own product, made for the people by the people, it serves as a

barometer for social change and worryingly for some, holds massive potential as a movement,

(Scott, 2012, p 236, 237). Not surprisingly, ‘metal provides a ‘liberated environment’ in

which the rejection of politics creates a space for community and art’, (Scott, 2012, p 224).

Ironically, speaking about the history of jazz and rock, in America, Eric Salzman notes that it

was ‘the influence of country music and later, the politically conscious folk song movement

gave rock greater breadth and enabled it to cross cultural, racial and social lines’. (Salzman,

1999. p 233, 234).

Heady Metal: Scholars Celebrate a Rock Genre’s Cultural Bang; ‘Metalectuals’ Make

an Academic Case for Maligned Riffs; The Bon Jovi Debate. Neil Shah.

With the rising input of information into the academic world and its coming to grips with

metal’s social and cultural aspects, conferences both national and international are seen to be

finally taking stock. The rise of the ‘metalectual’ in academic circles puts to rest many

questions surrounding the ideologies and principles of heavy metal’s ever-expanding sub-

genres. With more and more scholarly articles appearing year on year, the truth of heavy

metal’s apolitical stance and its collection of varying incompatibilities, holds fast as a scene;

inclusive of all, bar the popular culture, which is seen to be a cop-out for people who have not

found their true identities, (Shah, 2013, p1).

4
Bearing significant relevance to this paper is ‘The Construction of Heavy Metal Identity

through Heritage Narratives: A Case Study of Extreme Metal Bands in the North of England’.

In it is described how four bands draw on the heritage of an area and its narratives to construct

exclusive and masculinising metal identities (Deeks, Lucas, Spracklen, 2012, p 48). It shows:

the band’s desire to ‘tell (or construct) histories that have been forgotten in a globalizing

world’, (Deeks, Lucas, Spracklen, 2012, p 48), the ‘symbolic boundaries’, which are self

imposed and the ‘imagined communities’ within the genre, (Deeks, Lucas, Spracklen, 2012, p

49). It also shows the use of culture as capital, the idea of place as a ‘constructed reality’ and

as a ‘category of thought’, but also as a ‘physical anchor’ to the individual, with the physical

landscape being as much a part of the heritage as the intangible heritage of memories and

knowledge, passed down through generations (Deeks, Lucas, Spracklen, 2012, p 50, 51).

Salzman recognises that the idea of heritage, as an influence to non-western currents and new

age music, is one which while being local or regional, has a common ground on the

international folk music scene. He sees the need for artists to engage with the history of their

ancestors in the forwarding of their movements, a result of which sees composers writing for

themselves more than for the small, international market of the avant-garde; ‘Paradoxically, it

[the market for the avant-garde] also is fuelled by the same technology that has projected local

musical traditions onto the world stage’, (Salzman, 1999, p 238).

It would seem that the influence of music on itself has come full circle. Salzman points out

that,

‘the influence of ‘exotic’ music in the West goes back at least to the Elizabethan
period when Celtic music from Ireland, Wales and Scotland became popular in
England and even influenced continental music, particularly through dances like the
gig and the hornpipe’, (Salzman, 1999, p 238).

5
Essentially, going by Salzman’s reasoning, what folk metal is, is the embodiment of this

circle of influence returning to itself for inspiration and influence. Similarly, with all of its

connections to different types of folk music, folk metal has the ability to influence itself and

can therefore sustain itself indefinitely. Closing the circle of influence, folk metal is the result

of a train of influences; beginning with the one influence that makes folk metal what it is.

‘Original’ folk music influenced European salon music, which alongside the blues helped

create jazz, which helped create electronic and experimental music. This, which alongside the

evolution of the blues into rock and roll, helped create progressive or ‘prog’ rock, which

inspired hard rock and then heavy metal. Further to this, heavy metal created the space in

which black metal, Viking metal, neo-classical/symphonic metal, thrash metal, death metal

and eventually folk metal, can survive and evolve. This heavy metal family tree (Fig. 1.), is

close in its approximations but completely ignores the ever-expanding and globally uniting

element of the folk-metal movement.

Ever the apolitical movement, heavy metal continues in its paradoxical demeanour in the way

it uses and abuses the ideas of controvertiality and counterculture. Titus Hjelm, Keith Kahn-

Harris and Mark Levine, in ‘Heavy metal as controversy and counterculture’, discuss how,

while some bands use this idea as a capital utility, others simply let the controversies die

away, as it is usually a failed moral panic attempt. Because of the deep connections to

controvertiality, heavy metal will always have that aura about it. (Hjelm, Kahn-Harris,

LeVine, 2011).

The culture of folk-metal can therefore be seen as a romantic movement, looking to the past

as a resource to help practitioners in the present understand and deal with the current state of

affairs. Its anti-religious/pagan attitudes resembles romantic period composers in the way

most bands from the genre identify with the earth and nature, giving it a higher status than the

popular culture of today can afford to it. Although the music of folk-metal is founded on that

6
of black-metal, the lyrics, often difficult to decipher anyway, are based specifically on the lost

or forgotten ways, a time when honour, pride and respect were paramount and where a

symbiotic relationship with the earth was in the best interests of the people of the time.

An apolitical movement also, folk metal engages with politics, but only on an internal level -

with its own members, as keeping the peace is paramount to a small, but ever-growing global

community of, sometimes incompatible elements. Folk metal looks to its heritage, both

geographically and musically; juxtaposing these influences with the hypocrisies in the

present, we can see that there is little in the way of an appropriate figure or institution to

influence the modern folk metal musician. Also, not to pass up the chance of free publicity,

heavy metal utilizes the ideas of being a source of both controversy and counterculture, to

forge a state of immortality, ruled by the imagined boundaries which are dictated by the

cultures’ apoliticality.

7
 Chapter 2

Fig. 1. (Rolling Stone, 2007).

8
 Chapter 2

History of folk-metal

In this section I explore the history of folk metal, looking at the beginning of heavy metal, its

successive sub-genres and the influences from traditional and folk music and how it seduced

the heavy metal genre. From the beginning, heavy metal was destined to be the controversial

element of the music industry, a misunderstood collective of humanity on the margins of

mass-culture, a living breathing entity, a reflection of its own views and a micro-cosm of

apolitical debate. Ideas of the ‘other’, which I will identify here as simply, the marginalized,

or, that which is not part of popular culture, were central to this new movement in music and

so, the distorted guitar was immediately and almost exclusively utilised. In a symbolic

fashion, the loud, distorted, or, heavy sounding guitar represents a contrast to the clean, safe

sounding guitars used in pop music.

Religious imagery and lyrics sent a shock-wave through offendable critics, and heavy metal

scored high in its bid to celebrate the ‘other’, later on, bands would eventually use ideas and

imagery of Satanism to further repel the masses of popular culture, whether it was actual

Satanism or not. Images of violence and gore went well with the scene, as a component of the

overall movement, that which shocked, offended or offered alternative views to question the

status-quo, was used with aplomb and used to symbolise the movement’s anger,

dissatisfaction and frustration with the traps of living in a capitalist, consumer-culture. For

some bands, predominantly of the black metal scene, the ‘moral panic’, (Hjelm, Kahn-Harris,

LeVine, 2011, p 5), of acts of violence associated with some extreme metal bands blended

well with their ideologies and created a small but relevant sub-section to the realisation of

what ‘moral panic’ actually was.

Although it can be said that no one band defines a genre, or is responsible for its creation,

Black Sabbath, one of the main culprits for helping create the music we know as heavy metal

9
 Chapter 2

in 1968, went against the song-writing traditions of the time and helped encourage new bands

to engage in celebrating the ‘other’. As such, it would take the collective effort of a few bands

and a few albums to solidify the moods and emotions being brought forward by the ideas of

heavy metal, to create a new genre in music. They possessed both the heritage and the

political motivation, to embark on their voyage into the darker side of rock music.

‘Birmingham was in a good position to receive influences’..., in the 1960s. ‘The bleak

working-class realities, industrial landscapes and the anxieties of the poor youths living in the

area arguably mixed well to produce hard-hitting and distorted music’, (Karki, 2012, p 184).

Concerns from religiously minded people endowed Black Sabbath with much publicity and

earned them a following; fans of the music and the reputation as religiously questionable band

paved the way for the introduction of black-metal. This European movement of black metal

centred around all things evil, would exploit what Black Sabbath were being portrayed as, but

incidentally, wanted not a whole lot to do with. ‘In the infamous title track ‘Black Sabbath’,

singer Ozzy Osborne cries to God to help him and there’s a warning to ‘turn round quick and

start to run’ after coming face to face with an infernal figure’, (Karki, 2012, p 184). The bands

that took influences from other sources were bands like Skyclad, Bathory and Celtic Frost.

Later, when heavy metal had developed into a major force on the music scene and had split

into sub-genres like death metal, thrash metal, stoner metal etc. in the eighties, English band

Skyclad, as the name suggests, dealt with a pagan, ‘mother-Earth’ approach, (Skyclad, 2009).

After signing with German record label ‘Noise International’, they released their first album

(The Wayward Sons of Mother Earth) in 1991. Twenty-eight years later, Skyclad had amassed

twelve albums to their name, beginning with a pagan-metal ideology and evolving into a folk

metal band by the year 2000’s album ‘Folkemon’. (Skyclad, 2009). Firmly separated from the

Satanism and the social red tape around black metal, the music still retained the intensity and

rebellious streak found in it. It could be argued, however, that the ideologies of Skyclad were

10
 Chapter 2

still anti-religion, promoting a more ancient theme of paganism. Referring more and more to

their heritage for influence, tonalities and sounds resembling their ancestors’ music was

beginning to creep into Skyclad’s music.

When Sweden’s Bathory first began in 1983, the band played in the black-metal style with a

raspiness and low production values, representative of the style, with lyrics centred on

Satanism and that which would offend the Catholic Church. ‘It was quite simply a way to get

at Christianity, to provoke, to irritate and to annoy those above-all know-all Christians, the

church itself and the dictatorial Christian faith on a whole’. (Bathory, 2008). This acceptance

that if the band were to be truly against Christianity, they would have to be against Satanism

also, for it too was a product of the Catholic Church. Turning to their heritage, Sweden’s

Bathory, began writing and recording albums based on the imagined histories of their

homeland, still in a position to attack the Christian idiom and creating the first Viking-metal

album in 1990, ‘Hammerheart’. (Bathory, 2008).

Taking the influences from the black-metal scene in Sweden from Bathory and Switzerland’s

Celtic Frost, Ireland’s Primordial set about cultivating their own version of folk-metal, as

Horslips and Thin Lizzy had done in rock, so they too would do in metal. So too would

Cruachan, the band more likely deserved of the title of the ‘Fathers of Irish folk-metal’. It

could be argued that the reason for the founding member of Cruachan (Keith Fay) decided to

go this way, was a patriotic thing to do, after listening to Skyclad’s debut album and realising

there was a chance to utilise his own heritage to further expand the heavy-metal scene.

(Cruachan, 2014).

While the chain of influence for Irish folk-metal can be traced back to Black Sabbath, through

Venom, Bathory, Celtic Frost and the folk heritage of the country, examining folk-metal

scenes around the world will uncover a more un-conventional chain of influence.

11
 Chapter 3

Methodology of folk-metal

Representing a style of living and of thinking, heavy metal is a style of music with significant

cultural substance. The idea of something being ‘metal’, outside the confines of music, could

relate then, to the idea that it conforms to the ideology of metal as a space with imagined

boundaries. In the sense of metal being a wider culture, it incorporates not only music, but

visual and apolitical ideologies, ecological ideologies and religious ideologies, all wrapped up

with a dark sense of humour and varying degrees of artistic and aesthetic senses.

As an example of the sense of humour inherent in heavy metal, we can look to Dethklok, a

fictional, animated death metal band, who, in their adventures, typify the essence of living and

being metal. With Guest musicians such as George ‘Corpsegrinder’ Fisher – Cannibal Corpse,

Kirk Hammett and James Hetfield - Metallica and Gene Hoglan – Death / Strapping Young

Lad, Dethklok can be seen as an example of the workings of an apolitical movement in the

real world. In the real world however, bands such as Strapping Young Lad, Mr. Bungle and

Gwar, home in on heavy metals dark humour, extracting from it lyrics like:

‘Come on little kiddies, have I got a treat for you. At first it tastes all yummy,
then you start to turn blue. I’ll be back again next week, bring your friends we’ll
have an ice cream treat.

Mom don’t like it but he don’t give a fuck, kids come running for Satans ice
cream truck.

Come on and ask your mommy, your pennies are in hand, if you need more than
your tummy, you can get inside my van’.

(Strapping Young Lad, 1995).

12
 Chapter 3

Subject matter

Generally speaking, the primary subject matter of folk metal is one which highlights the

importance of a symbiotic relationship with the earth and nature. Secondarily, it deals with the

destruction of this symbiosis over time, with the evolution of mankind and our ever growing

greed for the things we do not need. In dealing with this destruction, folk metal can create

imagined histories of people and places, battles and celebrations, love and hate and life, death

and a sense of spirituality. The highlighting of the hypocrisies of the Catholic Church and the

blaming of it for the destruction of a true spiritual connection to the earth and nature are also

dealt with. In other parts of the world like Indonesia and China, where ancient spirituality is

not affected by Western popular culture, perhaps encouraged by the area’s spiritual practices,

folk metal addresses the local state of spirituality and the connections to the past.

Inevitably, the passing of time has allowed for melding of external influences both to and fro;

that being the case, the amount of sub-genres which constitute the heavy metal collective, are

as many as they are diverse. Religious and spiritual themes in metal were there from the

beginning with Black Sabbath, but so too were social issues, mythology and finally, the

historic/folk element seemed to be reborn in the late 1980s. Bathory offered up the ‘Viking

metal’ genre, where the imagery and ideology of Vikings would be considered metal enough

not to go against the overall aesthetics of the heavy metal culture. This seemed to follow with

an exploration of all things which might be considered ‘metal’, including historical folk

themes.

In the instance of Irish folk metal band Cruachan, one main influence on the band was

Horslips. Their use of traditional jigs and reels, lays and ballads to influence and structure

their songs, providing traditional rhythms and sounds from traditional instruments to the

13
 Chapter 3

music, did not go un-noticed by Cruachan. The other main influences were a combination of

Skyclad and Venom; the extreme black metal musicality, a link to the dark and often

emotional lyrics.

Instruments used in folk-metal bands would consist of the core of a rock band set-up: electric

guitars and bass guitars with a drum-kit and one or more singers and depending on the band,

an electric keyboard, all with the openness to have their sound altered by means of

digital/analogue effects. The inclusion of ethnic instruments would vary according to country

and even regions of the respective countries, sometimes replacing one or more of the core

instruments.

Fig. 8. (Cruachan, 1995, 2001& 2004).

14
Links to the future from the present - looking to the past.

From here on, I will be exploring traditional/folk music from around the world and

introducing the folk metal bands which employ their characteristics as a tool of creativity and

expressions of apoliticality, heritage and culture. I will go as far as saying that, the hard work,

tenacity, creativity and passion displayed by the following bands, is commendable to the point

that I would encourage everyone, especially those involved in governmental politics, to adopt

the principles displayed. It is my belief that if this were to happen, actual and meaningful

peace in the world would no longer be a dream.

In this chapter I will explore the folk music traditions of Ireland, Indonesia,

China/Mongolia/Russia and Brazil. I will examine what makes each location’s folk or

traditional music unique, while looking at commercially successful metal/folk-metal bands

and those who are just exploring the music for the fun of it. With more emphasis on the Irish

folk metal scene, comparitives can be made in juxtaposition with the other regions, in that the

adoption of folk instruments and folklore into the metal scene is uniform.

Ireland
Traditional

Within the traditional repertoire of Ireland’s folk music, systems of rhythms and pulses are

named as: Jigs in 6/8 time, Reels in 2/2 or 4/4, Polkas in 2/4, Hornpipes in 4/4 and Slip-jigs

which follow a 9/8 time signature. The vocal elements of Irish traditional folk song are

represented in the slow airs, lays, ballads and sean-nos singing styles. Along with these

different types of song formats, and more which I will deal with later in this chapter, there is

the overall need to tell stories of historical natures, whether they be lamenting or praising

people of the past.

15
Traditional harp music in Ireland can be traced back as early as the 11th century, with images

of old style harps carved on high crosses. Travelling harp players and dance masters toured

the country and taught children and adults alike, in the 17th and 18th centuries, the tunes and

dance types of their locality, in return for food and shelter. Singing traditions, such as:

Keening, the lamentful singing of a grieving woman/women at funerals (spiritual in nature),

and sean-nos singing, the highly ornamented (yet understated) story or tale sung without

accompaniment; are well documented. Historical ‘lays’, epic/heroic/work songs, were sung as

forms of joyous entertainment, recounting tales of battles, harvests and hunts, often including

cheeky, yet respectful, comments or remarks and over-emphasised mythological reference;

this tradition is unfortunately extinct. (Vallely, 1999, p212).

Regarding the tonality of these old Irish folk songs, there were modes, or, scales, linked to the

harp. The traditional Irish harp (the Trinity College style), was diatonically tuned and until

the concert harp arrived in the early 1900s, there was no facility to tune by a half-step, by way

of levers attached to the strings, (the McFall style harp). The modes used were mainly the

equivalent of today’s Ionian, Mixolydian, Dorian and Aeolian, the fourth and seventh degrees

of the scale being rarely used. (Vallely, 1999, p 169 – 182).

To examine an example of a stereotypical Irish traditional song, one would observe the use of

subject matter, traditional instruments, and ornamentation in the style of the geographic

location, rhythm and tonality. The subject matter, often lamentful, is, more often than not, a

story - as the song tradition in Ireland was a way of keeping a record of events, as an oral

practice, before written records. (Vallely, 1999, p 352 – 376).

Traditional instruments include: Uileann pipes, mandolin, bouzouki, button/piano accordion,

tin-whistle, fiddle, bodhran, woodblock, spoons, flute and increasingly, the steel-stringed

acoustic guitar. The celebrated, often gratuitous, guitar solos in the songs of heavy metal,

16
extend the melismatic ideas used in traditional Irish folk music. Ornamentation techniques

used in traditional Irish fiddle playing can be interpreted as being used exclusively in metal of

all sub-genres. Examining the fast bowed triplet of the traditional fiddle style, this technique

could be compared to the ‘gallop’, (Fig. 2), the strumming rhythm technique of the electric

guitar, widespread throughout metal music, a display of the closing of the circle of influences

in folk metal.

Heavy metal ‘gallop’ technique for electric guitar.

- Down stroke

- Upstroke

Fig. 2. (Cyberfret, 2014).

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Other techniques used in fiddle playing transfer quite organically to heavy-metal guitar, such

as, the use of: slides, vibrato, rolls (a quick succession of two notes, one above, then one

below, the main note), cuts (ornaments incorporating the quick playing of the note above the

target note), trebles (fast-bowed triplets), mordents (the interruption of a note with a quickly

played note, a tone above the original) and grace-notes (quickly played notes in chromatic

succession to the target note), (Fig. 3.)

Fig. 3. (Folktunefinder, 1999).

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Folk-metal contemporaries

In Dublin, Ireland, Thin Lizzy, the group who formed in 1969, went almost immediately

towards the folk side of song-writing, getting heavier as they progressed but still retaining the

folk element. Horslips formed a year after Thin Lizzy but had a more traditional angle on the

folk-rock scene as it was back then, influenced however, by contemporary guitar players like

Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix and Rory Gallagher, (Burger, 1975). The works of people like

Sean O’Riada were also inspiring elements to the band, using traditional instruments to add

the folk character to the music. (Burger, 1975). Thin Lizzy and Horslips heavily influenced

Irelands’ folk-metal scene and were a crucial point, from which future generations of folk-

inspired, heavy metal musicians could further the scope of their heritage.

Cruachan

The song ‘Pagan’, from the 2004 album of the same name, in a ¾ or 12/8 time signature,

begins with a Gregorian chant (in 4/4), divulging issues with Christianity/religion, a strong

disagreement with the Church and its hypocrisy. The band used a c.d. of Christian, Slavic

chant, found at the recording studio, to add an element of context to the song. Fig. 4 shows the

tonality and rhythm of the flute melody, from bar 120 to bar 127, common in traditional Irish

tunes, using repetitive phrases and a simplistic melody line. Traditional instruments are

introduced at 2:43, with flutes, harpsichord, uileann pipes and drums, setting the folk metal

element in place, (Cruachan, 2004).

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(Fig. 4.)

‘Cuchulainn’ from the 2006 album ‘The Morrigan’s Call’, is played in 4/4 time. Traditional

instruments used include the flute, fiddle, harp and bouzouki. With a swing rhythm, akin to a

sea shanty, a staple in the Irish folk-song tradition, Cruachan refer to their cultural heritage,

recounting the tales surrounding the legendary folklore figure of Cuchlainn and his epic

battles, (Cruachan, 2006).

Cruachan’s tenacity at focusing on the traditional and mythological elements of the music of

Irelands past, along with keeping in form with the bands heavy-metal principles, lends to their

reputation of being a true folk-metal act, complete with stage costumes and paraphernalia,

merging past and present. Influenced directly by Skyclad, (English folk-influenced heavy-

metal band) and Horslips, Ireland’s folk-rock band from the 1970s, Cruachan observed an

opening emerging, taking a different path to that of the black-metal direction. ‘Shelob’, the

first track from the album ‘The Morrigan’s Call’ in 2006, as an example, affords the band to

deal with ‘metal’ subjects, such as demons and monsters without going into the whole

religious theme, as is the way of the black metal tradition. Featured in ‘The Lord of the Rings’

movies, the ‘shelob’ is a mythical spider-beast and the song runs along the lines of the ‘lay’

tradition, recounting and celebrating tales of bravery and adversity, perhaps bringing back this

long-lost method of story-telling.

‘The beast attacked with all its might. The traveller ran from its sight. He pierced the
creature, a painful strike, then ran from the cave in fright.’ (Cruachan, 2006).

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The bands success encourages, to this day, new acts to explore the field of folk-metal,

wherever they are. Using the core of the heavy-metal bands instrumentation (distorted guitars,

screamed/shouted vocals, double-bass drumming), other folk-inspired bands now have as a

starting point from which to expand.

Primordial

Primordial, a band from Skerries, Co. Dublin, formed in 1987 and took influence mainly,

from the successful thrash metal bands like Slayer, Metallica and Megadeth, in the early days,

playing covers of their songs, along with songs from bands like Suicidal Tendencies and Dead

Kennedys. The band continued, with influences coming more from the thrash metal scene,

playing covers of Sepultura and Death songs and moving to influences to the rawer sounding

speed metal of Morbid Angel, Obituary, and Pestilence. Only in the year 1992 did the band

settle on the name Primordial, after many changes in singers and a circle of influence that

now hovered over extreme black metal and the Satanic/occult references that came with it,

this would start the band on their journey down the folk metal path, (Primordial, 2014).

In 1995, Primordial released ‘Imrama’, their first studio album. It contains the

song ‘Beneath a Bronze Sky’, opening with a bodhran, followed by a steel-string acoustic

guitar and tin-whistle, softly spoken lyrics complete the timbre of the song and it flows to its

end without much celebration, taking obvious influence from the instrumentation,

ornamentation and mood, of most Irish traditional songs. This however, was only one of a few

songs borrowing from the folk tradition musically; the lyrics in the rest of the songs being

more in-line with the traditions of Irish song, while the music retains its black metal

idiosyncrasies, (Primordial, 2014).

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 Chapter 4

‘Solitary Mourner’, from the 1998 album ‘A Journeys End’, harks back to the mourning

keening done in traditional Ireland; a mournful lament, with a single low-note accompanying.

The final track on this album, ‘An Aistear Deirneach’, is an instrumental piece merging the

mystical/spiritual element of ancient Irish music with the sad mood/tonality of the music,

(Primordial, 1998). Another track to note is ‘The Coffin Ships’, from the album ‘The

Gathering Wilderness’, dealing with the mass immigration of the Irish during the Famine, it

begins with a lengthy intro, setting a scene of crashing waves and settling into the harsh

reality of life aboard these ships as the waves die down. The inclusion of a line from a

memorial to the dead at a mass grave at Skibereen, Co. Cork, (‘Oh God, that bread should be

so dear, and human flesh so cheap’), and the intensity of the lyrics being sung, shows how

emotional the subject still is, (Primordial, 2005).

Primordial gained their success through the careful balance of black metal music and

traditional Irish song themes and continue succeeding, their last album ‘Redemption at the

Puritan’s Hand’ (2011) considered the ‘death (metal) album,’ moves away from the folk-

metal genre and continues with the black-metal ideology, interestingly looking at it, rather

than through it.

" There isn't exactly a whole concept but many of the themes deal with mortality,
how we deal with it. The spiritual structures we place around us to make sense of it.
Sex, death, procreation and god. As we get older our relationship to our lives
changes, the realization you will not live forever, the grand plan you hoped to
uncover never materializes, food for worms and nothing more.."
(Nemtheanga, 2011).

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 Chapter 4

Indonesia
Traditional

The traditional folk music of Indonesia is centred off the gamelan, (Fig. 5) with a variety of

metal percussion, plucked strings, drums and gongs, bamboo flutes, bowed strings and vocal

elements playing a role.

Fig. 5. (Voyage Fairtrade, 2013).

The tonality of this traditional music is geographically specific in that there are different

scales used in different parts of Indonesia. The slendro scale uses five notes, evenly spaced

within the octave and closely resembles the phrygian mode in western music; (E, F, G, B, and

C, in the key of C Major). The pelog scale uses seven notes evenly spaced between the

octaves, with uneven intervals, in five note subsets of the seven tones. The degung,

synonymous with Sunda in West Java and the madenda scale, a not-too-distant cousin of the

natural minor scale are the two other scales used by Indonesian folk musicians. In a gamelan

‘orchestra’, instruments from most or all of the different tuning areas are represented. Some

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instruments may be in pairs and will be slightly out of tune with each other, creating

‘interference’ beats or pulses and are essential in the creation of an atmospheric effect. The

rhythm of the gamelan is determined by the Irama, the controlling factor in expressing tempo

and density, with density being the most important element, (Clark, Heaton, Steptoe, 2009, p

599).

A highly spiritualised area of the world, folk music here has close connections with prayer

and meditation and as such, reflects its intentions. The sound of a gamelan in Bali, could be

described as shimmering, lending to an atmosphere conducive to meditation, evolving into a

pulsed, rhythmical, meditative guide. (Heaton, Steptoe, 2000, p 127).

Folk-metal contemporary

Specifically using the gamelan as was intended, then adding heavy metal around it is the piece

‘Gamelan Melody (DarkMetal)’, the work of independent artist, Ben VickreeD, an Indonesian

metal-head who has a few recordings online. The paired, slightly out of tune, solo, distorted

guitars, plays in the slendro scale, in a seemingly free meander around the fret board. The

melody’s flow may be free but the effect of the gamelan style endorses it, bringing a state of

calm to the high gain sound of the guitar, as fuzzy as the gamelan is shimmering. The

composer even goes as far to say in the description, to wear headphones to get the best sound

experience, as the bass frequencies have a magical effect, (Ben VickreeD, 2011). Like the

traditional style, this recording follows Irama, in the tempo and density and begins as a busy,

shimmering construct, leading to the meditative rhythms used in meditation. Aside from the

distorted guitar, this piece bears no influence from Black Sabbath; rather, he sees his music as

an evolution of the traditional folk-music of Indonesia and borrows the heavy metal

instrumentation and its particular intensity, timbre and tone, (Ben VickreeD, 2011).

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 Chapter 4

Another Indonesian, promoting his and his bands particular brand of folk-metal is Dede

Aldrian. Similar to Ben VickreeD, Dede and his bands Pyramid and Dedevai, explore the

world of heavy metal using gamelan techniques and tonalities. (Dedealdrianvandenber, 2013).

Russia, China/Mongolia
Russia
Like Indonesia, Russia, China or Mongolia hasn’t had the necessity to re-introduce itself to its

own ancestral heritage like Ireland or England; instead, its vastness saved itself from the

cultural clampdowns of various revolutions and political restrictions. The religious and

spiritual practices of China/Mongolia have survived through the ages and with them, the

music and dances that went alongside. In Russia, the tradition of the choral in rural areas has

stayed fast in its position of authenticity, ‘all Russians will tell you that the countryside is the

real Russia – and find babushkas singing regional songs at village parties or local folk

groups, much as they did a century ago’, (Didenko, Kan and Ukhov, 2009, p338). Depending

on location, choral singing ranges from the lamentful, to the light-hearted, for all occasions,

chastushki being the Russian equivalent to the limerick, a ‘humorous and satirical’ song.

(Didenko, Kan and Ukhov, 2009, p338).

Backed by accordions or three-stringed triangular guitars called balalaika, these chorals would

have voices that tended ‘to move together in the north and divide into solo and chorus in the

south’, (Didenko, Kan and Ukhov, 2009, p338). Owing to the close link that Russian

composers had with the land and the natural surroundings and heritage, themes of old folk-

songs can still be found. ‘Many of the works by Glinka and the Mighty Five were based on

Russian history, folk tales and literature, and are regarded as masterpieces of romantic

nationalism in music’, (Russmus, 2011). As the rural customs in areas of Russia avoided the

domination of political control, there were places where traditions lived in isolation like the

southern ‘(...districts of Belgorod, Voronezh and Kursk), the north around Archangelsk, the

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 Chapter 4

central Volga region and Siberia, where extraordinary shamanic rites and musical styles

persist. There is also a strong and distinct musical tradition in the autonomous republic of

Tuva’, (Didenko, Kan and Ukhov, 2009, p338).

China

‘Despite massive urban migration since the 1980s, the rural population of China still

outnumbers city dwellers by two to one’, (Jones, 2009, p 495). Vocal music and percussion

are the major folk music traditions, with melodies generally coming from a pentatonic

stylisation and percussive instruments like the gong, cymbals and drums having roles to play,

not only in ceremonial capacities but in ‘narrative- singing, ritual music, dance and political

campaigns’, (Jones, 2009, p496). In the setting of an instrumental ensemble, a heterophonic,

(musicians playing different versions of the same melodic line) structure, is the usual practice,

(Jones, 2000, p 496). During the Song Dynasty (960 – 1279), instruments like the pipa (lute),

the flute and the zither (an upright bowed fiddle with two or more strings), were developed,

(Travelchinaguide, 2014).

Traditional musical styles of the Han Chinese (the majority of China’s population), are mainly

pentatonic in tonality and like Irish traditional music, single lines of melody would be

decorated in ornaments. This heterophonic style relies heavily on percussion as

accompaniment (Jones, 2000, p 33). Music from China’s golden age of music in the Tang

Dynasty, (618 – 907 AD) influences modern folk music played today on instruments of the

time. Although, since 1911, when the Qing Dynasty was overthrown, western music has

seeped into large towns, offering, perhaps, more of a threat to local cultures and heritage than

the cultural revolution in China, from 1966 – 1976. It is in the rural areas however, that

authentic traditional tunes still survive, (Jones, 2000, p 33).

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 Chapter 4

Mongolia

In Mongolia and further north to the Tuva region, the morin-huur or, horse head fiddle is

popular still and serves as a reminder as to where some of the influence for European string

music came from. With an accompanying legend, the morin-huur is a double stringed, bowed,

upright instrument, with strings and bow made from horsehair. The two strings of the morin-

huur are considered male and female and according to the legend, the first one was

constructed entirely out of the remains of a beautiful white horse that was killed as an act of

jealousy and created a wonderfully rich, clear and vivid tone. With the folk music being

created, the shaman of nomad tribes of horse-herdsmen used the morin-huur to evoke images

and sounds of nature and of life around them, showing respect and giving thanks to the gods,

(ZED, 2006/2007). The songs in the repertoire of the nomad shamans, those based on the

horses of the land and played on a morin-huur, would remind any fan of heavy metal of the

very popular ‘gallop’ guitar technique, (Fig. 2.). It is therefore, not so surprising that there

may be an influence drawn from this folk music, either directly or indirectly, by metal bands

all over the world.

With the shaman’s music directed at the gods and spirits and not at an audience, different

sounds are created for different ritual purposes. Bells ,chimes and different metallic objects

hanging from inside and out of the shaman’s cloak, create a continuously moving area of

sound, heard as one single complex sound, connects the inner to the outer self. A part of

Russia, but with Mongolian ancestry, the tradition of throat singing survived the political

restrictions which affected Russian classical music during the twentieth century. These

auditory sensations, of the connection of the inner and outer body, are created by featuring

sounds reflecting the environment and nature; for example: horses, birds, rivers, grasslands,

the wind, using vocal sounds, the morin-huur and the shaman’s drum. This music catalyses an

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 Chapter 4

imaginary inner-environment, referred to as ‘space-time’ and is created as a place to travel to,

to connect with spirits. (ZED, 2006/2007).

Folk-metal contemporary
Fferyllt (Russia)

In Russia, the influence of Scandinavian folk-metal and symphonic-metal took hold of

Krasnodar band Fferyllt and since 2006, composing lyrics in both Russian and English

language, hi-jack, to some extent, the heritage of Viking-metal bands in Scandinavia. This

would be another example of the apolitical stance of heavy metal as a genre which fathered

folk-metal. It could also be an example of what some may call repressive desublimation, the

capitalisation of ideas and trends, contrary to the external image of the band; however, due to

its apolitical stance, it avoids this stigma. In the song ‘The Symphony of Ice and Flames’, a

verse proclaims, ‘Fear not the death, Ye sons of mighty Odin, Your fate awaits, the Asgard’s

horn is calling....’ (Metal-archives, 2009). Here, an obvious bleeding of influence, where a

band can disregard its own heritage, to compose in the style of someone else’s, highlights

also, the celebration of the ‘other’ and the unity of the genre through individuality.

Another Russian folk-metal band, Arkona, rely a little more heavily on Russian

and Slavic subject matters, making them a more authentic Russian folk-metal band,

employing ethnic wind instruments, played by Vlademir ‘Volk’, (Arkona, 2014). Cited as a

pagan/folk-metal band, Arkona recall the noble warriors fighting to save their land from their

enemies, praying to their many gods for deliverance and strength. From their album ‘Revival’,

released in 2004, the song ‘By House Svaroga’, opens with the lyrics, ‘Under the swords of

the mighty Family Pali Vorogov, Slaven fell to the ground. Hundreds of years ago, the

ancestors – the Slavs Driven by land Alien tribe!’ (Metal-archives, 2004).

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‘Mongolian over-tone singers have yet to make a breakthrough on the World Music
circuit but there is a vibrant scene in Ulaan Baatar, including pop-mop, the various
kinds of popular music, as well as soft and hard rock. At the hard rock end of the
spectrum are bands such as Haranga (meaning a gong used in Buddhist ritual), who
have been playing together for about ten years’.
(Broughton, Ellington, 2000, p 195).

Indonesian, Russian, Chinese and Mongolian folk-metal bands build on, rather than re-

imagine the history, of its cultural heritage for influence and inspiration. During the late

1980s, the political restrictions in Russia/China/Mongolia eased and a cultural enlightening

took place, allowing the shaman to openly practice in Siberian native cultures. Musicians

formed bands and took the opportunity to experiment with Western music culture. Late 1980s

bands in Tuva, incorporating the folk heritage included K-Space, a British/Tuvan

improvisoratory, electronic group who combined Tuvan shamanic music with recording and

montage techniques. One of the more popular bands in the late 1980s were Yat-Kha, a funky,

folk rock band who made use of the Tuvan tradition of throat singing, (Broughton, Ellington,

2000, p 195).

Tengger Cavalry (China/Mongolia).

Gaining popularity in the Chinese/Mongolian music scene is Tengger Cavalry, a band rooted

in its folk traditions’ heritage of nomad horse-herders and shamanistic traditions. Taking

influence from late 1980s band Tang Dynasty (often cited as the first heavy metal band in

China), Mongolian shamanism and its music, Buddhist music, Chinese folk and black metal,

Tengger Cavalry combine throat singing, pentatonic modes played on the dombra and

Mongolian fiddle tunes, with distorted guitars and a modern drum kit to expand the folk metal

scene with a unique sound, based on the culture of Mongolia. The influence of heavy metal

from Europe is evident in the treatment of how ‘metal’ the idea of warriors, horses and

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wolves are as a subject matter. Explaining their direction from their website, ‘Deeply

influenced by Shamanism and Buddhism, the songs of Tengger Cavalry are written to praise

the bravery of the steed, the valour of the horseman, the beauty of the grassland and the

enjoyable life of the nomad’. (Tengger Cavalry, 2013).

Brazil
Traditional

Devastated by their Portuguese colonisers in the sixteenth century, Brazilians may have lost

their musical traditions altogether. San Salvador was the first capital of Brazil and after killing

most of the indigenous people, the Portuguese began importing, en masse, slaves from Africa,

to its shores in the Bahia state, to work in plantations, (BBC, 2007). Up until the nineteenth

century, around four million Africans were forced to Brazil and consequently, while talking

of the traditional music of Brazil as we know it, we are, in effect, talking about the traditional

music of Africa. Brazil as we know it today, began in Bahia and throughout its history we can

document the mixing of cultures from Africa, Europe and unfortunately, to a lesser extent,

Brazil, to create a unique culture which blends the Christian with the pagan. It was from here

that, after slavery was eventually abolished, that people spread out around the country, mainly

to the more southern city of Rio de Janero. They took with them the Candomble, the religious

dance practice which honoured the gods, an example of how African spirituality, European

Christianity and Brazilian religion mixed, in a philosophy that, whether for good or bad, ones

destiny must be fulfilled to the best of their ability, (BBC, 2007). These dances were

performed alongside African drum styles, which, eventually developed into the choro and

then into samba. Mixing rhythms of waltzes and polkas, the more favoured musical styles of

the European settlers in Brazil and the Afro-Brazilian syncopated rhythm styles, the choro

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 Chapter 4

used instruments that would include guitars, flutes, clarinets and cavaquinhos, a miniature

guitar introduced by the Portuguese, (Cleary, 2000, p 334).

Mixing the tonalities of the Portuguese fado and European salon music, the choro is described

as the ‘opposite of samba, as quiet and private, as samba is loud and public’, (Cleary, 2000, p

334). It was a song style synonymous with Portuguese sea farers and relayed their longing for

their wives and children and the land of Portugal itself. In Brazil, the sentiment of the choro

remained the same and was so tightly composed they left little room for improvisation.

Brazilian classical composer and guitarist Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887 – 1959) looked to the

choro for inspiration, composer Pixinguinha (1898 – 1973), who was the most well known

producer of choros, as well as the improvised tangos and polkas of cinema musician Ernesto

Nazareth, (Cleary, 2000, p 334).

It was the syncopated rhythms of the choro that influenced the creation of samba music and

the experience of a samba drumming group in a carnival setting is as vibratory physically, as

it is musically, with volumes exceeding reproduction techniques, rendering it an experience

best witnessed live, (Cleary, 2000, p 334). Predominantly a dance form, samba incorporates a

2/4 rhythm pattern (Fig. 6.), enabling with ease, opportunities for syncopation and energetic

dances.

Fig. 6.

This ease of using the 2/4 beat pattern to create different rhythms, accommodates different

strands of the samba music culture. The most popular and widely recognised is that of the

carnival nature, samba de enredo, after which samba drumming schools around the world, are

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formed. A slowed-down version of this style of samba, called samba-cancao, or, song-samba,

employs a vocal element backed up by a varying size of band, built up around the guitar and

various percussion instruments. This vocalised element of samba music splits further into

contrasting sub-elements, ranging from the quiet and gentle to the more dance-friendly styles,

namely, samba-breque and samba-do-pagode, (Cleary, 2000, p 335).

Bossa Nova, Fig. 7, another off-shoot of samba’s rhythmical force, could be attributed to Tom

(Antonio Carlos) Jobim, a classically trained musician and Joao Gilberto, a native of Bahia,

whose songs, ‘A Garota de Ipanema’ (Jobim) and ‘Desafinado’ (Gilberto), epitomised the

more relaxed and sophisticated Brazilian’s approach to music, (Cleary, 2000, p 336).

Listening to the bossa nova classic, ‘The Girl from Ipanema’ (‘A Garota de Ipanema’), a

polar opposite to the samba of the carnival, the quietness of the voice and instruments could

not be more contrasting. Combining the musicality of jazz to the samba rhythm, the bossa

nova, or, new trend, relies much less on the percussive qualities of the latter and more on the

complicated tonalities of jazz. Thanks to the development of the recording industry in Brazil,

the exportation of the bossa nova to North America, helped influence, in return, a number of

jazz musicians like Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd, to create the softer ‘cool’ jazz, (Cleary, 2000,

p 336),

Fig. 7.

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Folk-metal contemporary

Tierramystica

In true apolitical fashion, Brazilian power/folk metal band Tierramystica look to the musical

heritage of a South America without borders. Expanding the folk metal genre, this band takes

much of its influence, musically, from the power metal strain of the heavy metal family and

imbibes it with the pan-Latin-American musical timbre. Panpipes, flutes, drums, guitars and

small native mandolins, some with steel and others with nylon strings, make up the sound

world of traditional folk music across South America. Representing a true indigenous people,

this folk music blends inevitably with the music brought over by African slaves, (Metal-

archives, 2008).

Sepultura

Speaking of Brazil and folk metal, one could not disregard the work of thrash metal band

Sepultura. Formed in 1984, the band would go on to be Brazil’s most globally influential

heavy metal export. Vocalising the travesties of corruption and greed of the country’s history,

Sepultura managed to mix Brazilian tribal music and samba rhythmicalities to thrash, black

and death metal, with lyrics like:

Choice control, behind propaganda, poor information, to manage your anger,

War for territory, war for territory,

Dictators’ speech, blasting off your life, rule to kill the urge, dumb assholes’ speech

War for territory, war for territory, (Sepultura, 1993).

The album ‘Roots’, released in 1996, saw the band entering into the rainforest of Brazil to

record. With the indigenous Xavante tribe and local musicians playing a part on almost every

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song, the folk metal aspect here is the immersion of the band into the geographical and

cultural sidelines which was a shared experience with the tribe’s people, (Sepultura, 1996).

The music, although thrash/groove metal, allows for the integration of the music of the

indigenous folk traditions, a symbol of the apoliticality inherent in heavy metal, its tolerant

pluralism bringing together two parts of Brazilian culture who otherwise, may not have had

the opportunity to meet and interact on an artistic level. In fact, the inclusion of this music to

the already ‘sambafied’ heavy metal styling’s of the band, could render it more deserving of

the title folk metal than another band from the area using only the musical heritage of post-

Portuguese colonialism.

Elsewhere in the world of folk metal

Folk metal festivals around the world are becoming more and more frequent and due to their

nature, the world is their proverbial oyster. The growing and spreading of this movement

encourages new mixtures of folk music culture and heavy metal. Vedic metal is emerging in

Singapore with the band Rudra (1992 – present), (Rudra, 2013), making substantial headway,

representing the essence of the movement there. Eugene Dairianathan has examined this

southern-Indian band’s identity in the context of ‘socio-cultural, historical and political

processes’, and asks us to consider ‘their multiplicity of identities’, (Dairianathan, 2009, p

585). The multiplicity of identities discussed by Eugene confirms the notion that folk metal

music is growing in popularity. Evident in the ability of a band from a foriegn community

living in Singapore, can produce and operate as a folk metal band, is the operation in which

the apolitical nature of folk metal is seen to operate.

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Conclusion

The continuing and growing tradition of folk-metal proves that, as a genre unto itself, a path

of influence has come full circle. From the original, ancient folk music traditions, having

influence over the path of the evolution of music (as we know it today), to the extensions or

re-awakening of its principles and ideologies through folk metal, we can observe a movement

with a global unity based on geographical, cultural, social and spiritual individualities.

With as much diversity in music as there are cultures in the world, we can now safely assume

that all differences can come together creatively and in celebratory fashion under the banner

of folk metal. The apoliticality and sense of tolerant pluralism in folk metal, coupled with the

recognition of needing to go back to our roots (in regards to spirituality and symbiosis with

the Earth), allows for any and all diversities to be comfortably included. Folk metal, through

its circle of influence, calls for the denunciation of mass media, capitalism and consumerism

but invites us to be ourselves, unashamedly.

As expected, both the cultural/local influences and the musical/international influences on

folk metal bands around the world, have created both an individuality and a partnership with,

the wider folk metal community. This proves the proposition that the combination of diverse

streams of musical and cultural influence, leads to a naturally occuring and expanding global

society, with the ability to influence itself, almost indefinately, (the only barrier to ‘zero-

point’, or, perpetual influence, is the number of: countries, regions within these countries,

different assimilations of different cultures within them and each different culture affected to

some degree by a sense of spirituality.

35
 Bibliography, Discography and Web Resources

Bibliography

Berger, H., Greene, P., Wallach, J., eds. (2011). Metal Rules the Globe: Heavy Metal Music
From Around the World. Durham, NC 27701, Duke University Press.

Broughton, S., Ellington, M., eds. (2000). World Music Vol. 2 – Latin & North America,
Carribean, India, Asia, and Pacific, The Rough Guide. 62 – 70 Shorts Gardens London
WC2H 9AB, Rough Guides Ltd.

Clarke, S., Heaton, J., Steptoe, S. (2009). Indonesia – Gamelan, from palace to paddy field.
In: Broughton, S., Ellingham, M. and Lusk, J. eds., The Rough Guide to World Music,
Europe, Asia & Pacific. 3rd ed. 80 Strand, London WC2R ORL: Rough Guides Ltd. p 598
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Heaton, J., Steptoe, S. (2000). Indonesia – Gamelan, a storm of bronze. In: Broughton, S. and
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Discography
Cruachan, (2004). Pagan, track 2 of Pagan, Karmageddon Media.

Cruachan, (2006). Shelob and Cuchulainn, track 1 and 11 of The Morrigan’s Call,
Karmageddon Media/Candlelight Records.

Primordial, (1998). Solitary Mourner and On Aistear Deirneach, tracks 5 and 7 of A

Journey’s End, Hammerheart Records.

Primordial, (2005). The Coffin Ships, track 5 of The Gathering Wilderness, Metalblade.

Sepultura, (1993). Territory, track 2 of Chaos A.D., Roadrunner Records.

Sepultura, (1996). Roots, Roadrunner Records.

Strapping Young Lad, (1995). Satan’s Ice-Cream Truck, track 10 of Heavy As A Really
Heavy Thing, Century Media Records.

37
 Bibliography, Discography and Web Resources

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15:26].

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Ben VickreeD, (2012). Sepuasnya Aaahhh... (Heavy Metal), [video online], available:
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Burger, (1975). Horslips: Celtic Rock Pioneers, [online], available:

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15:53].

Cruachan, (1995, 2001& 2004). Tuatha Na Gael,Nazgul Eyrie Prod, [online], available:
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Cruachan, (2014). Band Profile, [online], available:

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 Bibliography, Discography and Web Resources

Lentz, G., (2011). Caeli enarrant... VII. Mysterium: Ingwe, [online], available:
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ZED, (2006/2007). Living Cultures, Soul of the Mongolian Horseman. [online], available:
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39