Gremena: oktober 2013

Faun is a german band that creates beautiful medieval ballads capable of taking any dreamer back to the middle ages. The songs lead us through woods filled with mythic creatures, so that we may encounter elves, witches and fauns, until we finally reach the high lands of Asgard, where we dance songs dedicated to Iduna.

They evidently create a parallel between Norse, Egyptian, Greek and Latin mythology (the band’s name is quite suggestive: Faun is a mythical creature from the Latin mythology bond to fertility, he’s the kipper of the woods and is usually associated to music). The most known faun is the god Pan, always represented carrying his flute, while he wanders through the forest and dances with the nymphs. Some songs bringing concepts of latin mythology are: Alba (a city believed to have been founded by Eneias), Lupercadia (Pan’s Temple) and Arcadia (Yes, this term you for so many times heard during literature classes is the name of Pan’s homeland). In the Greek imaginary, Arcadia was full of hills and flock of sheeps, away from the cities (here comes the idea of living in touch with the nature: the bucolic).

Fortunately for deutsch Lerners like me, most lyrics are written in this language. If you search the translations you’ll find yourself staring at lovely poetry (and in this case, listening to it). Read some verses of the song Isis (an Egyptian goddess connected to the nature and magic): ~Ich höre deine Stimme in dem Wind, Ich sterbe im Winter, ich stehe dir bei, Ich wachse im Regen, ich spüre den Wind, Ich spüre die Erde, ich halte dein Kind~ (Eu ouço sua voz no vento, Eu morro no inverno, Eu cresci na chuva, eu posso sentir o vento, Eu sinto a terra, eu acho que sou seu filho).

Von Den Elben

~Muitos homens são enfeitiçados pelas fadas,

da mesma forma eu também fui enfeitiçado,

com o grande charme da melhor

a quem um homem pode ter amado.~

♥Thymian und Rosmarin♥:

~Du sagst Du stehst kurz vor dem Ziel

Ich glaube der, der ich verfiel

Du sprichst im Traum von einem Ort

den es nicht gibt, doch bist du dort~

(Você diz que está à beira

Acredito que por isso me recusou.

Você fala de um sonho, de um lugar que não existe,

Mas você fala como se estivesse lá.)

Das Tor
~Ich werde dir eine Blume geben
und du mir eine
Ich werde dir meine Hand geben
und du mir deine
die Nacht, die Nacht, sie wird nicht mehr sein
nur eine Wiese mit Blumen~

(Eu vou te dar uma flor
E você me dará outra (tradução: mais ou menos isso)

Vou te dar minha mão
você e eu
a noite, a noite, ele deixará de ser
apenas um gramado com flores)

Hymn To Pan

~Listen now, Great Pan he calls us
From the green wood in his grove
'neath the waxing moon above us
Hear his clear flute sweet and low~

The vocals are alternated among Fiona Rüggeberg, Oliver Pade and Lisa Pawelke. Since 1998, year they banded, seven full-lengths were launched: “Zaubersprüche”, “Licht”, “Eden”, “Totem”, “Renaissance”, “Buch Der Balladen” e “Von Den Elben” – not necessarily in this order. In the oldest albums the songs used to sound more acoustic than nowadays, but they always added modern tricks, differing themselves from Krauka, for instance, a band that tries to make authentic Viking music by playing old instruments rebuilt by archeologists (this is the closer to viking music we’ll ever hear). Though Faun make constant use of technological resources , it doesn’t make their music bad at all, for their use of typical medieval instruments, like bagpipes, flutes, harp, lutes, hurdy-gurdy (intensely played by the bards), etc, make it possible for any listener to imagine he’s dancing around the fire of a medieval village, surrounded by magic creatures. Watch the video below where some of the previous instruments are displayed with more details:

Eden is my favorite album and also the first one I had the pleasure of listening to. The first song to slave my soul was The Market Song: the sweet rhythm of the flute, the lyrics about medieval fares, the woods in harvest time, the parties and dances – all this atmosphere combined with a lovely melody. I find this song very similar to Diese Kalte Nacht, from the album Von den Elben. Curiosity: Eden’s cover art was drawn by Brian Froud, who works with medieval fantasy along with his wife. Their work is a real show of goblins, elves, witches, trolls and so on. One of the most beautiful songs in this album is called Iduna. I know a nice story about this goddess:

~In the old tales from the Norse mythology it is believed that there’s a young goddess called Iduna, who’s in charge of carrying a chest of golden apples capable of keeping the god’s immortality. Without these apples they’d perish like any mortal creature. Once Odin ordered that a new world ought to be raised to give the gods some shelter against their worst enemy: the giants. This world, that would be later called Asgard (the god’s homeland), was then summoned. One day, while the gods were all gathered admiring the work, a horseman came close to the party and noticed that the boundaries that should be protecting Asgard were nowhere to be seen. He offered his work as master builder, quickly receiving the god’s allowance, especially Odin’s. The problem began when Loki (another god) decided to make a dare with the horseman: if he accomplished the task within six months, he could have Iduna’s hand in marriage. Loki obviously didn’t think it was possible for a mortal man to do such a thing. Unfortunately, as time passed by, all signs pointed that he would indeed finish the boundaries in time. Loki was then under the pressure of the other gods (they were all suspicious about this mere mortal’s extreme strength), and had to come up with a plan to discover who was that mysterious master builder. So, one night Loki disguised himself as a female horse, attracting the man’s horse into the woods. Without the horse’s help, the man had to reassume his original shape, revealing to be a giant. Thor, then, thrown his powerful hammer and smashed the giant’s head, who had his body thrown to the fogs of Nilfheim (the world of the dead).~ ♥