The Brobdingnagian Bards are a

Celtic music Celtic music is a broad grouping of music genres that evolved out of the folk music traditions of the Celts (modern), Celtic people of Northwestern Europe (the modern Celtic nations). It refers to both orally-transmitted traditional music and ...

group from

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

, United States.

History

Marc Gunn, formerly of Austin Texas' alternative rock bands Skander and Breastfed, released a solo album (''Geography'') featuring himself on

autoharp An autoharp or chord zither is a string instrument belonging to the zither family. It uses a series of bars individually configured to mute all strings other than those needed for the intended chord. The term ''autoharp'' was once a trademark of t ...

and Andrew McKee on recorder in 1998. This initial collaboration lead to the official formation of the Brobdingnagian Bards in 1999. The group's name is derived from

Brobdingnag Brobdingnag is a fictional land that is occupied by giants, in Jonathan Swift's 1726 satirical novel ''Gulliver's Travels.'' The story's main character, Lemuel Gulliver, visits the land after the ship on which he is travelling is blown off cour ...

, the kingdom of coarse giants described in

Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish writer, essayist, satirist, and Anglican cleric. In 1713, he became the Dean (Christianity), dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, and was given the sobriquet "Dean Swi ...

's satirical novel ''

Gulliver's Travels ''Gulliver's Travels'', originally titled ''Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships'', is a 1726 prose satire by the Anglo-Irish writer and clerg ...

''. The band was made up of its original two members, Marc Gunn (

, vocals), and Andrew McKee (

recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a newsp ...

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

, vocals). The Brobdingnagian Bards musical style is best described as a mixture of Irish and

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

, with their original compositions often falling into the

filk Filk music is a musical culture, genre, and community tied to science fiction, fantasy, and horror fandom and a type of fan labor. The genre has existed since the early 1950s and been played primarily since the mid-1970s. The genre has a ni ...

genre. Although the pair did perform a good deal of purely traditional songs, the band is most well known for their original works, including comedic

pop-culture Popular culture (also called pop culture or mass culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as popular art pop_art.html" ;"title="f. pop art">f. pop artor mass art, somet ...

and

sci-fi Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

-themed

parodies A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satirical or ironic imitation. Often its subject is an original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, etc), but a parody can als ...

. Despite performing in a niche genre, this duo was ranked as one of the top 20 bands on the original

MP3.com MP3.com was a website operated by Paramount Global publishing tabloid-style news items about digital music and artists, songs, services, and technologies. It is better known for its original incarnation as a legal, free music-sharing service, ...

. Over time, the Bards also honed their act into live entertainment by adding comedy, with McKee being the " straight-man" to Gunn's antics. As a result, they also became a familiar and popular act on both the

renaissance faire A Renaissance Festival (medieval fair or ren faire) is an outdoor gathering that aims to entertain its guests by recreating a historical setting, most often the English Renaissance. Renaissance festivals generally include costumed entertainers ...

and geek-show circuits. The Bards had the honor of being headliners at the Oscar party for '' The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King''. Both performers are from Austin, Texas, and have made regular appearances in the

Austin Chronicle Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...

's annual Austin Music Awards poll; they earned the #1 prize for "Best Novelty Band" in 2004, "Best None of the Above" performing band in 2006 (the first Celtic band to ever win such accolades), and "Best Folk Act" in 2007. The band has also made regular top-ten finishes in the folk band and

world music "World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...

categories. In 2002, the Bards were also given a critic's pick award for "Best Renaissance Men" in the 2002 Best of Austin awards. In addition to the many conventions, fairs and music festivals the group performed at around the Austin area, they also have toured coast to coast, and developed a following of devoted listeners, referred to as "Nagians." In 2007 and 2008, the Bards with several of their fans took a vacation tour of

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. On September 15, 2008, the Brobdingnagian Bards band broke up amicably in order to pursue solo careers. They played one of their last public performances at The Browncoat Ball, organized by the Austin Browncoats. The Bards reformed in 2012, performing at the Sherwood Celtic Music Festival near Austin and have continued to work together off and on since. The Bards performed at

DragonCon Dragon Con (previously Dragon*Con and sometimes DragonCon) is a North American List of multigenre conventions, multigenre convention, founded in 1987, which takes place annually over the Labor Day weekend in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

in Atlanta, GA in August 2013, 2016 and 2018.

Discography

*''Marked by Great Size'' (1999) *''Gullible's Travels'' (2000) *''Songs of the Muse'' (2001) *'' A Faire to Remember'' (2001) *'' Songs of Ireland'' (2002) *''Memories of Middle Earth'' (2003) *'' A Celtic Renaissance Wedding'' (2004) *'' Brobdingnagian Fairy Tales'' (2005) *'' Christmas in Brobdingnag, Vol 1'' (2005) *''The Holy Grail of Irish Drinking Songs'' (2006) *''LIVE: Nex Monoceroti, Per Risibus'' (2007) *''Real Men Wear Kilts'' (2008) *''Dragons and Virgins'' (2017) *''I Will Not Sing Along'' (2020) *''Another Faire to Remember'' (2023)

References

External links

Brobdingnagian BardsFeature on Celtic MP3s Music Magazine"The 'N' Word: What the Filk is this Music?"
in

The Austin Chronicle ''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogra ...

"Seeking Stardom? Check the Internet"
in

The Daily Texan ''The Daily Texan'' is the student newspaper of the University of Texas at Austin. It is one of the largest college newspapers in the United States, with a daily circulation of roughly 12,000 during the fall and spring semesters, and is among th ...

Interview with Marc Gunn
on

Slice of SciFi Slice may refer to: *Cutting Food and beverage *A portion of bread, pizza, cake, meat, or other food item that is cut flat and thin: :*Sliced bread :*Pizza by the slice, a fast food dish :* Vanilla slice :*Fudge :*Toffee :* Barfi * Slice (drink) ...

Electronic Press KitBards on MyspaceBards on SoundClickA Brobdingnagian Minute PodcastAdventures of the Brobdingnagian Bards Comic
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bards, Brobdingnagian Musical groups from Austin, Texas American Celtic music groups Renaissance fair performers Filkers Musical groups established in 1999 1999 establishments in Texas Musical groups disestablished in 2008 2008 disestablishments in Texas Musical groups established in 2012 2012 establishments in Texas