Faun (band)
Template:Short description Script error: No such module "Distinguish". Template:Use dmy dates Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Faun is a German band that was formed in 1998 and plays pagan folk, darkwave, and medieval music. The originality of their music style is that it falls back to "old" instruments, and the singing is always the center of attention. The vocals are performed in a variety of languages, including German, English, Latin, Greek, Scandinavian and Hungarian (e.g. "Ne Aludj El") languages. Their instruments include Celtic harp, Swedish nyckelharpa, hurdy-gurdy, bagpipes, cittern, flutes, and many others.
History
The band was founded in 1998 by Oliver s. Tyr, Elisabeth Pawelke, Fiona Rüggeberg, and Birgit Muggenthaler. Two years later, Rüdiger Maul joined the band as a percussionist. At the same time, Birgit left the band to continue her musical life with the folk-rock band Schandmaul. In 2002, they released their first album Zaubersprüche. Niel Mitra was a guest musician on this album, and he later became a full-time member of the band, the only one playing only electronic instruments.
In 2003, the band released its second album, Licht, and performed at several festivals in support of this music.[1]
Elisabeth Pawelke left Faun in 2008 to focus on her studies in classical song in Basel, Switzerland. She was succeeded by Sandra Elflein, who left Faun in April 2010 due to a pregnancy and health issues. Singer and multi-instrumentalist Rairda replaced her but left the band in 2012. She was succeeded by Katja Moslehner.[2]
In 2013, the band toured Europe, including Berlin.[1] Later that year, they published their seventh studio album Von den Elben, which became the first Faun album to reach top ten positions in the album charts of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, and was also their first album to chart in the latter two countries.[3][4][5] It was nominated for the ECHO award in the categories "National Rock/Pop Group"[6] and "National Newcomer of the Year".[7]
On 19 August 2016, the band released an album called Midgard. It quickly reached third place in the German album ranking.[8] The following year, Katja Moslehner left the band. She was replaced by Laura Fella.
On 15 November 2019, the band released Märchen & Mythen, their tenth studio album.
In 2020, founding member Fiona Frewert announced her departure from the band. She was replaced by singer-songwriter Adaya.[9][10]
After five albums released by Universal Music Germany, Faun established their own record label in 2021, Pagan Folk Records. The first album to be released on this label was Faun's Pagan from 2022.[11][12]
Style
Music
Faun is a prime example of "Mittelalter" music, a German musical style mixing Medieval folk and folk metal. To express their own bond with nature the band coined the term "Pagan Folk" for one style of their concerts. While the term was initially used for electronically amplified concerts only, it is now used by fans and band for their music itself. A quote by Oliver Pade reveals another possibility for having chosen this specific term: "We don't know ourselves what kind of music we play, so we call it paganfolk" (Oliver Pade 2004 in a song announcement at the 2004 Summer Darkness in Utrecht, Netherlands). The Münchner Merkur defines it as "a sometimes experimental mix of folk elements, medieval and traditional music from different epochs and regions as well as modern, even electronic influences".[13]
Faun's repertoire ranges from melancholic ballads to exuberant dances like the Breton an dro. Thereby they set historical tunes from various periods and regions to music and on the other hand create a lot of their own compositions as well.
Faun combines ancient Perso-Arab melodies with the Swedish nyckelharpa and Middle High German lyrics. Equally distinguishing are Pawelke's and Rüggeberg's singing, mostly in two voices and, on newer recordings, the driving beat by Niel Mitra. Mitra has described the essence of the band as a form of "musical alchemy", due to the different musical interests of the members and how they are combined in Faun's music.[14]
The debut album Zaubersprüche deals mainly with slow ballads from the era between the Late Middle Ages and Romanticism. The instrumentation is kept entirely acoustic and waives modern instruments and electronic beats. The second album features far less ballads, but offers considerably more danceable tunes like "Andro", "Unda" or the double song "Deva/Punagra".
Lyrics
The lyrics originate from very different languages, Standard German, Middle High German, Old Icelandic, Low German, Old Norse, Latin, Hungarian, Finnish, and Ladino among them. Among lyrics of their own, the group uses or writes lyrics inspired by classical texts such as the Carmina Burana ("Satyros", "Renaissance"), the Cantigas de Santa Maria ("Da que Deus", "Renaissance"), Jenaer Liederhandschrift from Vitslav III, Prince of Rügen ("Loibere Risen", "Renaissance"), Egil's Saga ("Licht"), the Poetic Edda ("Sigurdlied", "Buch der Balladen"), Heinrich von Morungen ("Von den Elben", "Licht"), the ballad King Henry, as well as from romantic and modern authors such as John Keats ("Der Wilde Wasermann", "Buch der Balladen"), Baron Munchausen ("2 Falken", "Totem" and "Jahrtausendalt", "Buch der Balladen"), José Melchor Gomis ("Tinta", "Totem"), Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff ("Der stille Grund", "Totem"), Felicitas Kukuck ("Tanz über die Brücke", Buch der Balladen") and others.
Faun seek to promote a form of paganism they characterise as nature religion. They are however not hostile to Christian culture and are open to performing Christian songs. They have stressed that many Christian traditions have a pagan origin or pagan components. Oliver s. Tyr has said that he is opposed to the church, but regards Christianity as a good religion and thinks it is better to be a Christian than to have no faith at all.[14]
Meaning of the name
The name Faun comes from ancient Greek-Roman mythology, where it equals the herders' deity Faunus or Pan. According to the band, this figure which is often also depicted as a natural or forestal spirit, shall express the members' connection with nature. For the same reason Oliver Pade's pseudonym is the Satyr, who is closely related to Faunus.
Members
- Oliver s. Tyr – vocals, bouzouki, nyckelharpa, Celtic harp, jaw harp
- Rüdiger Maul – tar, riq, davul, panriqello, darabukka, timbau, gaxixi and many other percussion instruments
- Niel Mitra – sequencer, sampler, synthesizer, FL Studio, Buzz, Logic Pro, TASCAM us 224, boss dr 202, Korg Alpha, granular synthesis, folder synthesis, feedbacks, sounds taken from nature and everyday life
- Stephan Groth – vocals, hurdy-gurdy, flutes, cittern (2012–present)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
- Laura Fella – vocals, Framedrum, Mandola (2017–present)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
- Adaya – vocals, bagpipes, flutes, pandora, celtic harp, bouzouki (2020–present)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Former members
- Elisabeth Pawelke – vocals, hurdy-gurdy (2001–2008)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
- Birgit Muggenthaler – whistles, bagpipes, shawm, vocals (1998–2000)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
- Sandra Elflein – vocals, violin, hurdy-gurdy (2008–2010)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
- Rairda – vocals, harp, flutes, percussion instruments, hurdy-gurdy (2010–2012)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
- Sonja Drakulich – vocals, dulcimer, percussion instruments (2012–2013)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
- Katja Moslehner – vocals, percussion instruments (2013–2017)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
- Fiona Frewert (born Rüggeberg) – vocals, recorders, whistles, bagpipes, seljefloyte (2000–2020)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Timeline
<timeline> ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:25 PlotArea = left:100 bottom:80 top:10 right:80 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1998 till:04/29/2026 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:4 ScaleMajor = increment:3 start:1998 ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:1999
Colors =
id:studio value:black legend:Studio_album
LineData =
layer:back color:studio at:08/09/2002 at:12/01/2003 at:07/04/2005 at:03/02/2007 at:11/20/2009 at:06/24/2011 at:01/25/2013 at:09/05/2014 at:08/19/2016 at:02/16/2018 at:11/15/2019 at:04/22/2022
BarData =
bar:Tyr text:"Oliver S. Tyr" bar:Muggenthaler text:"Birgit Muggenthaler" bar:Pawelke text:"Elizabeth Pawelke" bar:Elflein text:"Sandra Elflein" bar:Rairda text:"Rairda" bar:Drakulich text:"Sonja Drakulich" bar:Moslehner text:"Katja Moslehner" bar:Fella text:"Laura Fella" bar:Rüggeberg text:"Fiona Rüggeberg" bar:Adaya text:"Adaya de Baïracli Levy" bar:Maul text:"Rüdiger Maul" bar:Schulz text:"Alex Schulz" bar:Mitra text:"Niel Mitra" bar:Groth text:"Stephan Groth"
PlotData=
width:11 bar:Tyr from:start till:end bar:Pawelke from:start till:03/01/2008 bar:Elflein from:03/01/2008 till:04/01/2010 bar:Rairda from:04/01/2010 till:01/01/2012 bar:Drakulich from:01/01/2012 till:01/01/2013 bar:Moslehner from:01/01/2013 till:02/17/2017 bar:Fella from:02/17/2017 till:end bar:Rüggeberg from:start till:02/28/2020 bar:Adaya from:05/17/2020 till:end bar:Muggenthaler from:start till:06/01/2000 bar:Maul from:12/01/2003 till:09/03/2023 bar:Schulz from:09/03/2023 till:end bar:Mitra from:12/01/2003 till:end bar:Groth from:01/01/2012 till:end </timeline>
Discography
Studio albums
| Year | Title | Peak chart positions | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GER [3] |
AUT [4] |
NED [15] |
SWI [5] | ||
| 2002 | Zaubersprüche | 97 | — | — | — |
| 2003 | Licht | 85 | — | — | — |
| 2005 | Renaissance | 79 | — | — | — |
| 2007 | Totem | 76 | — | — | — |
| 2009 | Buch der Balladen | 25 | — | — | — |
| 2011 | Eden | 13 | 16 | 19 | 11 |
| 2013 | Von den Elben | 7 | 9 | 8 | 5 |
| 2014 | Luna | 4 | 20 | 90 | 12 |
| 2016 | Midgard | 3 | 14 | 94 | 9 |
| 2018 | XV – Best Of | 12 | — | — | 45 |
| 2019 | Märchen & Mythen | 6 | 59 | — | 27 |
| 2022 | Pagan | 3 | 28 | — | 48 |
<templatestyles src="Refbegin/styles.css" />
— denotes an album that did not chart
The band feature as guest musicians on several tracks of the 2009 Mediæval Bæbes album Illumination, and on Kati Rán's 2024 SÁLA album.[16]
Live albums
- FAUN & The Pagan Folk Festival – Live feat. Sieben & In Gowan Ring (2008)
DVD
- Lichtbilder (DVD, 2004)
- Ornament (DVD, 2008)
References
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />
- ↑ a b " Live Review: Faun – Berlin 2013". Reflections of Darkness 08 November 2013 Johannes Steigmann
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ a b Otti. 19 March 2006. Nightshade Interview - Faun. Nightshade.
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
External links
- Script error: No such module "Official website".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
- Template:Allmusic
- Pages with script errors
- Pages using infobox musical artist with associated acts
- Pages with broken file links
- German musical groups
- Musical groups established in 1998
- Pagan-folk musicians
- 2002 establishments in Germany
- Polydor Records artists
- Modern pagan musical groups
- Modern paganism in Germany
- Mixed-gender bands