A Nordic Poem
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Folkearth is an international music project created in 2003 by musicians playing
folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...
and
viking metal Viking metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by a lyrical and thematic focus on Norse mythology, Norse religion, Norse paganism, and the Viking Age. Viking metal is quite diverse as a musical style, to the point where some consi ...
. The name (
folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...
+
earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...
) symbolizes musicians from all over the world playing folk music. So far, a total of twelve full-length albums have been released, with the most recent being ''Balder's Lament''.


History

The history of the group began in February 2003 when the idea for creating a project which could unite musicians from different countries who play folk and pagan metal originated from some musicians. ''A Nordic Poem'' album was released in 2004. Because of what the band perceived as the poor quality of this record, Folkearth decided to remaster and reissue their debut. On 1 August 2006, shortly after the reissue of ''A Nordic Poem'' the second album titled ''By the Sword of My Father'' was released. Many bands, such as Van Langen, Thiasos Dionysos, Hildr Valkyrie, Death Army, The Soil Bleeds Black joined Folkearth in the production of this album, so the total line-up consisted of 31 musicians from 8 different countries. Folkearth's album ''Drakkars in the Mist'' was released on 28 May 2007. with the biggest lineup then to date. More than 30 musicians worked on the fourth album. However, a token performance on a single track will list someone on the booklet as a full-fledged member. The band members also do not make money out of the project, and do not promote it, probably because of the lack of funds. In 2007, Ruslan Danisevskis founded an offshoot project, Folkodia, joined by musicians playing
folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...
and
viking metal Viking metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by a lyrical and thematic focus on Norse mythology, Norse religion, Norse paganism, and the Viking Age. Viking metal is quite diverse as a musical style, to the point where some consi ...
. In June 18, 2008, the band released their fifth album ''Songs of Yore''. It is Folkearth's first acoustic album. Some instruments used were acoustic guitars, cellos, Celtic harps, violins, accordions, whistles, flutes, bodrans, mandolins, banjos, clarinets, galician bagpipes, soprano recorders, and recorders.Songs of Yore @ imperiumi.net
/ref> Because of the musical project's complex structure, Folkearth has not performed live, and it is unlikely they would perform live in the future. On 30 June 2013, the founder and leader of the band Ruslanas Danisevskis (Metfolvik) died after battling cancer. who died after a long fight against cancer.


Musical style

Because of the structure of Folkearth, the
recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, re ...
is also different from that of most bands. Each song begins from an individual or band that is involved in Folkearth and later the other members add their touch to it. Sometimes the work on a single song is based on a single
riff A riff is a short, repeated motif or figure in the melody or accompaniment of a musical composition. Riffs are most often found in rock music, punk, heavy metal music, Latin, funk, and jazz, although classical music is also sometimes based ...
or melody; other times some artist writes a song entirely on his own and other musicians simply orchestrate minor details on it. The band members also do not work all together, but rather in small groups, exchanging material they record with others. The music Folkearth makes is regular folk/Viking metal, while they incorporate a diverse selection of folk instruments, such as
lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck (music), neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lu ...
,
nyckelharpa ''Nyckelharpa'' (, roughly "keyed fiddle" in Swedish language, Swedish, , plural: ) is a "keyed" Bowed string instrument, bowed chordophone, primarily originating from Sweden in its modern form, but with its historical roots scattered across med ...
,
shawm The shawm () is a Bore (wind instruments)#Conical bore, conical bore, double-reed woodwind instrument made in Europe from the 13th or possibly 12th century to the present day. It achieved its peak of popularity during the medieval and Renaissanc ...
, saz and many others. The extent that traditional instruments and elements are used varies greatly between songs.


Lyrics

The lyrics are all written in
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...
with the exception of "Gryningssång". The main topic of Folkearth's lyrics are
ancient history Ancient history is a time period from the History of writing, beginning of writing and recorded human history through late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the development of Sumerian language, ...
,
belief A belief is a subjective Attitude (psychology), attitude that something is truth, true or a State of affairs (philosophy), state of affairs is the case. A subjective attitude is a mental state of having some Life stance, stance, take, or opinion ...
s, and mythology, especially
Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology, is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...
.
Celtic mythology Celtic mythology is the body of myths belonging to the Celtic peoples.Cunliffe, Barry, (1997) ''The Ancient Celts''. Oxford, Oxford University Press , pp. 183 (religion), 202, 204–8. Like other Iron Age Europeans, Celtic peoples followed ...
and
Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...
are also present in Folkearth's lyrics. Folkearth's songs tell stories and their purpose is to entertain, not to carry a symbolic or personal message.


Band members


Discography

* ''A Nordic Poem'' (2004) * ''By the Sword of My Father'' (2006) * ''Drakkars in the Mist'' (2007) * ''Father of Victory'' (2008) * ''Songs of Yore'' (2008) * ''Fatherland'' (2008) * ''Rulers of the Sea'' (2009) * ''Viking's Anthem'' (2010) * ''Sons of the North'' (2011) * ''Minstrels by the River'' (2011) * ''Valhalla Ascendant'' (2012) * ''Balder's Lament'' (2014)


References


External links


Folkearth homepage

Folkearth YouTube channel
* {{Authority control Folk metal musical groups Musical groups established in 2003 Viking metal musical groups