Tag Archives: Sowulo

Sowulo releases a new album GRIMA



Last Monday Sowulo announced that their new album GRIMA will be released coming friday, the 3th of april. according to Faber: “In the last past months I worked on the upcoming Sowulo album. Again I did my best to do something unexpected. I teamed up with Tumulus to create something truly unique.
The upcoming GRIMA album contains an immersive combination of Storytelling and Atmospheric music. Tumulus aka Niek van Eck did what he does best: storytelling like a mad skald-wizard, and I had to honour to add some cinematic tune to it.
We recorded GRIMA from a place of deep presence, rooted in ancient stories of wisdom.’
The artwork, Faber told us: ‘Consists of drawings by Niek van Eck edited by Jasper van Gheluwe .
Friday the 3th of April, American time, GRIMA will be digitally released on all the major platforms and smaller platforms, including Spotify and Sowulo’s Bandcamp page here, where we can all listen the album for the first time. Expect stories of Nordic saga told by Tumulus with compositions by Faber Horbachs hand under it. Indeed something truly unique.
The physical album release will take a bit longer. But just might be worth the wait. Of course will keep you informed on that.

picture by: Rebeca Franco Valle

Hello music lovers! 🎼

The last days of the year 2019 are passing by fast! Especially now that we are working so hard to have the new server up and running in the new year. The majority of our old collection has been reassessed and transferred to the new server. We are processing new music these days immediately upon arrival! We are so happy that we can show you the results quickly! Below are some featured albums that were processed this week. Have fun reading and of course, we are curious about which acoustic folk music you like!

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Sowulo – Dageraad (2016) Sowulo released a new album this year (review dd 24th Oct, made by Cliff de Booy), but the CD you see in the picture is an older one from 2016. This one contains only one song, namely ‘Dageraad’. This single was intended as a sponsorship campaign for a full album. The album in question was released soon after and was called ‘Sowulo – SOL (2016)’, on which ‘Dageraad’ was, of course, featured once again. Did you know? A couple of band members are also members of ‘Heilung‘! 🍂

OMNIA – World of Omnia (2009) This band regularly comes back in my reports. Omnia has made so many albums! On this one, they name their development: “What we were, what we are and where we are going… welcome to our World”. There are two live songs on it, five older songs as a remake and seven new songs. My personal favourites on this album are: “Old Man Tree”🍁 and “Dil Gaya” (trad. Hindi). The album is beautifully designed again with a booklet with nice photos, the lyrics and the origin of some songs. Very happy with our signed version! 🌳

Jyoti Verhoeff – Phoenix (2012) Jyoti is one of my favourite artists and she made this album together with the talented cello player Maya Fridman. The songs are often focused on nature and that what’s important in life. The album, signed for us 😊, is beautifully made with a booklet with atmospheric photos and lyrics (Sander Van Den Berg, Yana Kovtun and Jyoti herself). I cannot choose a favourite song… Sit down and let yourself be carried away on the beautiful magical sounds. 💚

Rapalje Celtic Folk Music – Rakish Paddies (2003) This is something completely different. Time for an Irish party and a good glass of beer? Then it’s time for Rapalje! The album is a mini-book, the CD itself is in the back. The booklet contains beautiful paintings of the band members. Rakish Paddies’ contains no less than 21 songs since it actually is a collection of three albums into one: Celts in Kilts (1997), Rakish Paddy (1999) and Wack Fol the Daddy-O (2000). 🍺

AmorromA – Op Voyage (2001)Their Facebook page states: “AmorromA, the musical brainchild of Jowan Merckx, is a Belgian folk band that creates its own music based on traditional music from all over Europe”. In the booklet, they tell us that they have made a musical journey with a couple of friends of musicians from too many bands to mention. 😁 The different types of flutes are central on this album. Probably also a favourite album for our Balfolk friends (Mazurka, Bourrée, Scottish)! My favourite is ‘Over de grens’ (translated into English: ‘Across the border’). For me, as I Dutch lady, Belgium is also ‘just’ across the border. 👣

Irfan – Irfan – remaster (2019) This album is a remaster of the album ‘Irfan – Irfan (2003)’. Not a new album, but the old album recorded with much better listening quality. For CeltCast as a folk radio station, this older album is on the border in terms of format, but still we will play a couple of songs of this remastered version. 🕌

Ranarim – Morgonstjarna (2006) Unfortunately, this band no longer exists, because … I love their work! Beautiful folk music from Sweden! All 15 songs will be played on our radio station. Folk music to dance to and to dream away by. Beautiful voices and folk instruments. The album also contains a Christmas song. All the lyrics are in the booklet (in Swedish, of course). 🥰

Prima Nocta – Lost in Time (2017) Of course, the savage men of Prima Nocta also belong on our radio station. 🙂 We can play 11 of the 15 songs, since they fit our format. The album and booklet contain beautiful drawings by Bart van Nieuwerburgh. Listen to the energetic Medieval, Viking and Celtic sounds. When you see them play live, you also see these beautifully savage men in equally beautiful historical clothing. ⚔️

Triakel – Triakel (1998) Last week I already told you about this Swedish folk music. This is another album of this fantastic band! And, I have news for you… soon… we’re going to play songs of their newest album! I’m going to tell you more about that later. 😍

Kallidad – The Awakening (2017) In November I already told you about our meeting with the Australian band Kallidad at Elfia. On this album there are only two songs we can play, but I’m really happy about that. If you need some energy… put this album in the player and I promise you… you can’t sit still! 🎭

***

We’re very happy that these beautiful CD’s have been processed: ❤️

Sowulo – Dageraad (2016)
Omnia – World of Omnia (2009)
Jyoti Verhoeff – Phoenix (2012)
Rapalje – Rakish Paddies (2003)
amoRRoma – Op Voyage (2001)
Irfan – Irfan – remaster (2019)
Ranarim – Morgonstjarna (2006)
Prima Nocta – Lost in Time (2017)
Triakel – Triakel (1998)
Kallidad – The Awakening (2017)

🎶🎵🎶

That’s it for now. Merry Christmas, Happy Yule and a Musical New Year!🎄

Festive greetings, Ilona CeltCast 💫✨

CD covers

Sowulo – Mann (2019) Review

Cover picture Mann

Just before Castlefest, Mann, the third album of Sowulo, came out and it has been spinning its rounds in my CD player ever since, slowly revealing its inner beauty to me.
Slowly because I have to admit, it took me a while before I finally understood this album. In pop music (and pagan folk is in essence a subgenre of pop music) we are used to albums containing 3 to 5 minute long songs that each tell a story. Sometimes these stories connect together as chapters in a concept. But we still listen to them as individual things. With their first album Alvenrad, Sowulo took a different route. Main composer Faber Horbach made a piece of art, a mix of classical – and Celtic/Nordic music that sounded like a classical folk suite, celebrating the beauty of nature and the neo-pagan festivals. On the second Sowulo album Sol, the music was approached more as individual songs, in the tradition of a pop format. Listening to Mann the first few times I thought the band kept that song-orientated approach. But there is more to Mann than that, wáy more.
Mann is another musical journey, just as Alvenrad was. But this time it is not a journey through the year, a journey through nature, no, it’s an inner journey. As Faber described in an interview we had with him earlier this year, these songs represent his inner four seasons. The different sides of his personality, represented by the warrior, the lover, the magician, and the king. It is a musical expression of these personalities, their struggles, and their growth. But not in the style of a singer-songwriter. No, it goes so much deeper, it is way more primordial. Yes, the album consists of 12 songs, with clear beginning and end, but they are so interlocked that you can only fully understand Mann if you see it as one concept, as one piece of musical art. I think I would describe it best if I said that a ‘normal’ pagan folk album is a collection of poems, whereas Mann is a book, a piece of literature, with the songs being chapters of a bigger thing.
As a piece of art Mann is a strong, a very strong statement. It was born as the soundtrack to a possible movie about a Dutch Celtic tribe in the early Middle Ages. The film never materialized, so Faber decided to use the material he already had for a new Sowulo CD and it became his most personal album yet. The golden moment was when Faber found an Anglo-Saxon rune poem that fitted perfectly with one of the tracks. The concept of Mann was born.



Those of you who have already heard the single Brego in Brēoste will have noticed a big difference in Sowulo’s music. Where Sol and especially Alvenrad were instrumental albums, with the violin and flute weaving beautiful melodies together, representing the beauty of nature, Brego in Brēoste is very much more percussion and especially vocal orientated. It is an intense song, very intense actually.
In our interview, Faber told us he had written this song at a time when major things were changing in his life and the world he knew seemed to fall apart. Well, you can clearly hear that in this extremely powerful song. Some of you may know that Faber is also the vocalist of the Viking/folk metal band Myrkvar, a band that mixes melodic metal in the style of Heidevolk together with screamed vocals and folk influences. It’s clear Faber weaved elements of that particular style into the writing of Brego in Brēoste. He combined the clean double vocals and power of a metal band like Heidevolk with the strong percussion of Heilung and mixed it with the classical harp, nyckelharpa, string ensemble set-up of the Sol album.
The result is intense and pure. Just as Coppelius manages to capture melodic heavy metal in a classical orchestral setting, Faber managed to do the same with Nordic folk metal. The vocals, in particular, seem to come from deep within his inner soul. He pours them out in an epic, theatrical way. For those who like Viking metal, this album is a treat. To those that love the melodic gentle classic melodies of Alvenrad and Sol, I should give a heads up. Although still based on classical instruments like the violin, viola, harp, and nyckelharpa, Mann has a different, more dramatic feel to it. You can see Brego in Brēoste as a blueprint for the whole CD. So if your not sure about that song you might want to listen to Mann first before buying. On the other hand, if you love Brego in Brēoste (and I know many do) you’re in for a treat.

This is also the point where I would normally mention I miss a wee bit of variation, especially in the vocals. They are constantly in that same, double vocal, theatrical, slightly screamy style. The constant driving percussion will only enhance that. Some listeners will find this too intense after a while. (In all honesty, this happened to me too the first times I listened to Mann.) But, as I said earlier, this is not a collection of songs. This is an artist expressing himself through music. This is a composer showing his inner self to the world. And in that case, there is no right or wrong.

Chloe Bakker, Sowulo Having said that, it’s not that there aren’t beautiful songs on Mann. Especially in the second part of the album, there are plenty. Fægru Fara for instance. One of the lovesongs on Mann, although you have to expect a warrior style lovesong. Even in his lovesongs, Faber keeps using those double vocal power chords. It’s the string section -Sophie Zaaijer on violin, Klaartje van Zwoll on viola, Faber on nyckelharpa and Chloe Bakker (right) her harp melodies under it that make Fægru Fara a very nice love song.

There is also Dēoplīcu Ðearf a lovely song with strong vocals, tender moments, but also a lot of the beautiful orchestral parts we know from Sowulo’s previous albums Alvenrad and Sol. One of my favourite songs on Mann. And there are more.
Wulfwiga is another one of them. It starts intriguing with some wood percussion and chant-like singing. But it’s after the intro that the song reveals its true beauty. Strong, almost shamanic percussion, epic vocals and a catchy melody played by the string section, featuring the nyckelharpa. Epic stuff! This is a song you should play loud, just to feel its full impact. I can’t wait to hear this life over a full stage sound system. It’s gonna bee something, I’m sure of that.

My absolute favourite song is Slincan Snīcan. It combines everything that is good about Mann. It starts with a lovely atmospheric intro played by Faber on synthesizer and Chloe on harp. Like morning fog hovering over the music. Faber’s vocals work wonders here. I really like those Anglo-Saxon lyrics and never knew they were so closely related to modern Dutch. Then suddenly Faber opens up his full lung capacity for a vocal climax in the song, even enhanced by the powerful orchestral string section. This is Faber, the composer, at his very best, making full advantage of the talent of his fellow musicians, and the song is wonderfully mixed by Fieke van den Hurk. Really something special.

The last song I would like to pick up on is also the most ‘extreme’ one, Berabeorn. In this song Sowulo comes closest to an acoustic version of Myrkvar. This is pure acoustic Nordic folk metal and probably not everybody’s cup of tea. But honestly, I love it for its pure emotion. The start is especially raw, distorted and rather disturbing in a way. Yet it is beautiful, actually because of that. This is the point where music becomes art. It will not be for everybody, but that’s not the intention of this album anyway. Mann is not about recording 12 joyful folk tunes. This is about an artist expressing himself in the purest form.

As I said at the start, this review took me a while. I had to learn to love this album. At first, it was too much for me, too strong, too much raw emotion pouring out for me to handle in one go. It was one looong epic scream with heavy percussion under it. But listening to it again and again, Mann started to grow on me. Starting with the songs that are a bit ‘ lighter’, Wōhs Wildum, Slincan Snīcan, Dēoplīcu Ðearf, Hēahlufu and Wulfwiga. I started listening to what was behind those power vocals. I started recognising the individual songs and started hearing the beauty of the melodies under them. I also started reading the lyrics with the songs, and in that way deepened my understanding of the music Faber composed. In the end it all started to make sense to me.
Mann will always divide people. I’ve seen a lot of responses from people that love it for its power and its intensity, and I can fully understand that now. I can also understand that for some it’s too much. All I can say is give this album time, open yourself up for it and start discovering its beauty even if it is one song at a time.
I for one know that this album will keep me busy for quite a while to come. And I’m actually looking forward to that. Mann intrigues me, it grabs me way more than I thought it would the first time I listened to it. It has gotten deep under my skin. It provokes me every time I listen to it. Just as a good piece of art should do.

– Cliff

Editor: Diane Deroubiax
sleeve art: Jasper van Gheluwe & Samiye van Rossum
photography: Wolfgang Schmitt

The second CeltCast Classic by Cara

After a nice summer break, -admittedly a bit longer than beforehand anticipated- CeltCast’s review team is singing back in action. With a bigger team than before -more on that later in the month- and a load of lovely new albums waiting in line to be introduced. Keep an eye out for new music from Sowulo , EMIAN PaganFolk Music , Imbue , Twigs & Twine (formerly known as TWIBV), the Spanish band Vael and the German folk band Drowsy Maggie . Yep the coming months are gonna be busy. But before all that we kick off the new review season with our second CeltCast Classic: ‘Yet We Sing’ by Cara .

This album was suggested by Ilona CeltCast , or actually the band was, because after I said yes I got a huge pile with five albums to listen to :-D. It goes without saying that Ilona is a huge fan of Cara’s music, and I have to say, while working on this review I’ve become a fan too.

So here’s the link to the review telling all about this Irish folk band from Germany. Enjoy the read and enjoy their music. Until next time Cliff and the review team!

https://celtcast.com/celtcast-classic-cara-yet-we-sing-2016/

Sowulo newest single ‘Brego In Breoste’

About a month ago Sowulo released their newest single ‘Brego In Breoste’, taken from their upcoming album. The sound is more epic, more Nordic, more Viking Folk than the Celtic Pagan Folk album ‘Sol’, or the ritual Neo-Pagan Folk CD ‘Alvenrad’. It even has vocals!!

So we contacted Faber Auroch for an interview so he could tell us all about the single, the new sound, the recording process and the upcoming album. Just follow the link and dive into the spiritual world of Faber and his brainchild Sowulo.

Sowulo have a new single out called Brego In Breoste. We had an interview with Faber Auroch telling all about it.


Faber







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