Skáld (stylised as SKÁLD) is a French Nordic folk group formed in 2018. Their songs bear a heavy Norse influence, making use of traditional instruments and the themes they treat are mostly centred on Scandinavian culture, especially on

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 ...

and they use mostly

Nordic languages The North Germanic languages make up one of the three branches of the Germanic languages—a sub-family of the Indo-European languages—along with the West Germanic languages and the extinct East Germanic languages. The language group is also r ...

, particularly

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

History

Origins

The band was formed in 2018 by producer Christophe Voisin-Boisvinet, together with singers and musicians Justine Galmiche, Pierrick Valence, and Mattjö Haussy. They aimed to tell Nordic myths and legends singing mainly in

. The name "Skáld" comes from the Old Norse for "

skald A skald, or skáld (Old Norse: ; , meaning "poet"), is one of the often named poets who composed skaldic poetry, one of the two kinds of Old Norse poetry in alliterative verse, the other being Eddic poetry. Skaldic poems were traditionally compo ...

": a poet who composed skaldic poetry, usually in the courts during the

Viking Age The Viking Age (about ) was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonising, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. The Viking Age applies not only to their ...

. In August 2018, their first EP was released, featuring three songs: ''Gleipnir'', ''Ódinn'', and ''Rún.'' These three tracks were later included in their first album, released on 25 January 2019 by Decca: ''Vikings Chant''. This album was re-issued with the name ''Vikings Chant (Alfar Fagrahvél Edition)'' during the following September with three more covers and two new tracks. On 29 February 2020, Mattjö Haussy announced his departure from Skáld in favour of the new music project Hrafngrímr. Skáld's second album ''Vikings Memories'' was released on 9 October the same year, featuring Justine Galmiche and Pierrick Valence as official members of the group, with the first single ''Fimbulvetr'' published in August. Pierrick Valence departed from the group following the release of their second album, and on 21 October 2021, the single ''Jólanótt'' was published, preceding the release of their second EP ''Winter Songs'', released on 29 October 2021, featuring Justine Galmiche as the only official member of the band, besides composer Christophe Voisin-Boisvinet.

''Huldufólk'' and the new line-up

In June 2022, before the band's summer tour, it was announced that lead singer Justine Galmiche would leave the group due to undisclosed health reasons. She was substituted by singer Chaos Heidi, who toured together with new group members: Steeve Petit, Marti Ilmar Uibo, Ravn, and . On 20 September 2022, the new album ''Huldufólk'' was announced on Skáld's social media pages, and was released on 20 January 2023. The first single ''Troll Kalla Mik'' was released on 17 November 2022, featuring the new line-up of the band: Steeve Petit, Marti Ilmar Uibo, Ravn, Julien Loko, Lily Jung, Chaos Heidi, Kohann, Laetitia Marcangeli, and uRYa. However, Chaos Heidi, who had taken part to the summer tour with Skáld, left the band before the release of the new album, and was substituted as a lead singer by Lily Jung during the band's European tour in October 2022.

Style

The band's repertoire is derived mostly from Norse texts, which were originally re-adapted by Christophe Voisin-Boisvinet alone, and since 2021, by Voisin and Anna Scussel. The most used language is Old Norse, but other Nordic languages have also been employed, including

modern Icelandic Icelandic ( ; , ) is a North Germanic language from the Indo-European language family spoken by about 314,000 people, the vast majority of whom live in Iceland, where it is the national language. Since it is a West Scandinavian language, it ...

, Faroese, Norwegian, and

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

, as well as a few covers 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 ...

and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

. The themes treated by Skáld in their albums are several. Their first album ''Vikings Chant'' focused mostly on some of the most famous elements of

and

religion Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...

, like the gods

Odin Odin (; from ) is a widely revered god in Norse mythology and Germanic paganism. Most surviving information on Odin comes from Norse mythology, but he figures prominently in the recorded history of Northern Europe. This includes the Roman Em ...

and

Freyja In Norse mythology, Freyja (Old Norse "(the) Lady") is a goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, sex, war, gold, and seiðr (magic for seeing and influencing the future). Freyja is the owner of the necklace Brísingamen, rides a char ...

Valhalla In Norse mythology, Valhalla ( , ; , )Orchard (1997:171–172) is described as a majestic hall located in Asgard and presided over by the god Odin. There were five possible realms the soul could travel to after death. The first was Fólkvang ...

, or the

ash tree ''Fraxinus'' (), commonly called ash, is a genus of plants in the olive and lilac family, Oleaceae, and comprises 45–65 species of usually medium-to-large trees, most of which are deciduous trees, although some subtropical species are evergr ...

Yggdrasil Yggdrasil () is an immense and central sacred tree in Norse cosmology. Around it exists all else, including the Nine Worlds. Yggdrasil is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'' compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and in t ...

, with texts taken mainly from the

Poetic Edda The ''Poetic Edda'' is the modern name for an untitled collection of Old Norse anonymous narrative poems in alliterative verse. It is distinct from the closely related ''Prose Edda'', although both works are seminal to the study of Old Norse ...

. The main focus of their second album ''Vikings Memories'' is the element of water, collecting songs about mythological sea creatures, sea-kings, and voyagers like Yngvar víðförla. Their third album ''Huldufólk'' borrows its title from the hidden people of

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

ic and Faroese

folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

, and shifts the focus to the woods instead, revolving around the theme of folkloristic Nordic figures like

troll A troll is a being in Nordic folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated areas of rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human bei ...

elves An elf (: elves) is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology, being mentioned in the Icelandic ''Poetic Edda'' and the ''Prose Edda''. In medieval Germanic-speakin ...

skogsrå The Skogsrå ( ; ), Skogsfrun ('the Mistress of the Forest'), Skogssnuvan, Skogsnymfen ('the Forest Nymph'), Råndan ('the Rå') or Huldran, is a mythical female creature (or ''rå'') of the forest in Swedish folklore. It appears in the form of ...

, and

dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

s. The band uses a variety of instruments from the Norse tradition, dating back to the 14th century. Among the instruments the group has employed, their repertoire numbers, among others, shamanic drums,

lyre The lyre () (from Greek λύρα and Latin ''lyra)'' is a string instrument, stringed musical instrument that is classified by Hornbostel–Sachs as a member of the History of lute-family instruments, lute family of instruments. In organology, a ...

talharpa The talharpa, also known as a tagelharpa (tail-hair harp), hiiu kannel (originally hiiurootsi (which meant Vormsi island located on the halfway to Hiiumaa) kannel) or stråkharpa (bowed harp), is a two to four stringed bowed lyre from northern ...

citole The citole was a String instrument, string musical instrument, closely associated with the medieval fiddles (viol, vielle, Geige, gigue) and commonly used from 1200–1350."CITOLE, also spelled Systole, Cythole, Gytolle, &c. (probably a Fr. d ...

jouhikko The ''jouhikko'' (Finnish: �jou̯hikːo is a traditional, two- or three-stringed bowed lyre, from Finland and Karelia. Its strings are traditionally of horsehair. The playing of this instrument died out in the early 20th century but has been ...

, and

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 ...

Members

Current members

Touring members

* Christophe Voisin-Boisvinet: composer * Steeve Petit:

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

, vocals * Lily Jung: lead vocals * Marti Ilmar Uibo: drums, vocals * Ravn: nyckelharpa,

moraharpa The moraharpa is a modern name for an early predecessor of the nyckelharpa keyed fiddle; the primary example instrument dated 1526, was found in Mora, Sweden. A number of modern reproductions of the original moraharpa have been made since the 198 ...

gudok The gudok (, ), gudochek (, ) is an ancient Eastern Slavic string musical instrument, played with a bow. A ''gudok'' usually had three strings, two of them tuned in unison and played as a drone, the third tuned a fifth higher. All three st ...

, lyra viol,

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

double harp A multi-course harp is a harp with more than one row of String (music), strings. Harps with two rows are called double harps; harps with three rows are called triple harps. A harp with only one row of strings is called a single-course harp. Diat ...

* Guillaume Levy:

bouzouki The bouzouki (, also ; ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', , from Greek , from Turkish ) is a musical instrument popular in West Asia (Syria, Iraq), Europe and Balkans (Greece, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Turkey). It is a member of the long-necked lute fam ...

Additional members

* Kohann: vocals * Laetitia Marcangeli: vocals,

hurdy-gurdy The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-turned crank, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin (or nyckelharpa) bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar ...

* uRYa: vocals,

didgeridoo The didgeridoo (;()), also spelt didjeridu, among other variants, is a wind instrument, played with vibrating lips to produce a continuous Drone (music), drone while using a special breathing technique called circular breathing. The didgerido ...

morin khuur The ''morin khuur'' (), also known as the horsehead fiddle, is a traditional Mongolian bowed stringed instrument. It is one of the most important musical instruments of the Mongol people, and is considered a symbol of the nation of Mongolia. ...

Former members

* : vocals,

Irish bouzouki The Irish bouzouki () is an adaptation of the Greek bouzouki (Greek: μπουζούκι). The newer Greek ''tetrachordo'' bouzouki (4 courses of strings) was introduced into Irish traditional music in the mid-1960s by Johnny Moynihan of ...

, talharpa (2022–2023) * Chaos Heidi: vocals (2022) * Justine Galmiche: vocals (2018-2022) * Pierrick Valence: vocals, talharpa, nyckelharpa, citra,

(2018–2020) * Mattjö Haussy: vocals (2018–2019) * Xavier Bertand: vocals (2018–2019)

Timeline

Discography

Albums

* ''Vikings Chant'' (2019) * ''Vikings Chant (Alfar Fagrahvél Edition)'' (2019) * ''Vikings Memories'' (2020) * ''Huldufólk'' (2023)

EPs

* ''Skáld'' (2018) * ''Winter Songs'' (2021)

Singles

* 2018 – ''Ódinn'' * 2018 – ''Gleipnir'' * 2018 – ''Rún'' * 2018 – ''Ó Valhalla'' * 2019 – ''Flúga'' * 2019 – ''

Seven Nation Army "Seven Nation Army" is a song by American rock duo the White Stripes. It is the opening track on their fourth studio album, ''Elephant (album), Elephant'' (2003). V2 Records released the song to American alternative radio on February 17, 2003, a ...

'' * 2019 – ''Hross'' * 2020 – ''Fimbulvetr'' * 2020 – ''Grótti'' * 2020 – ''Norðrljós'' * 2021 – ''Jólanótt'' * 2022 – ''Troll Kalla Mik'' * 2022 – ''Då Månen Sken'' * 2023 – ''

Du Hast "Du hast" () is a song by German metal band Rammstein. It was released as the second single from their second album '' Sehnsucht'' (1997). It has appeared on numerous soundtracks for films, most notably '' The Matrix: Music from the Motion Pictu ...

'' * 2023 – '' Elverhøy''

References

External links

* *{{allmusic Musical groups established in 2018 Neofolk music groups French musical groups Modern pagan musical groups