Mythology in Prog

I voted Artificial. 

I don't really care what myth is behind it as long as the music is good. one of the greatest albums of all time though (and one of the least known because it was unavailable for over 25 years) is Nik Turner's "Xitintoday", which is based on ancient Egyptian mythology with half of the Gong crew aboard (Hillage, Howlett, Blake, Giraudy) plus former Hawkwind drummer Alan Powell plus Brand X percusionist Morris Pert plus conductor Jeremy Gilbert on harp and keyboards the line-up is exquisite, and the music is too. most astonishing oof al is Turner's flute, which is the predominant instrument of this recording. it gives the album a mysterious mood


Edited by BaldJean - November 20 2010 at 07:03

Geek?

aginor wrote: Dellinger wrote: Gandalff wrote: Notice: Christian mythology includes of course famous Legends of King Arthur and Saint Grail, also often used in Prog music. I hadn't though of King Arthur. Then ofcourse Rick Wakeman's King Arthur album is my favourite. I think I do like it over Therion's Secret of the Runes (and ofcourse, Wakeman's albums is much more progressive).   I allways thought the Arthur legend had celtc well, well im not a scholar, I know that he was sort of a crusader back in the days   probably a mix of celtic, anglo/saxen and christian folklore

Gandalff wrote: aginor wrote: Dellinger wrote: Gandalff wrote: Notice: Christian mythology includes of course famous Legends of King Arthur and Saint Grail, also often used in Prog music. I hadn't though of King Arthur. Then ofcourse Rick Wakeman's King Arthur album is my favourite. I think I do like it over Therion's Secret of the Runes (and ofcourse, Wakeman's albums is much more progressive).   I allways thought the Arthur legend had celtc well, well im not a scholar, I know that he was sort of a crusader back in the days   probably a mix of celtic, anglo/saxen and christian folklore Celts had lived in antiquity, approximately 500 BC - AD, Arthurian legend is a medieval myth from 5th-6th century after Christ.

Actually, There is a lot of Celtic material in the medieval Arthurian cycle. The earliest references to Arthur come from the Celtic, specifically the Welsh, world. The first references to him place him among the Welsh and their cultural relatives further north. The words "Cristian" and "Celtic" are by no means exclusive as the Celts (Brythonic/Welsh) living under Roman rule were largely Christianized before the withdrawal of the legions in 410 as the Roman Empire by theis point had been officially Christian for about a century. The most influential work to mention Arthur in the Middle Ages, Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain, dwells heavily on now-lost Welsh material, and the Grail itself, which did not become the "Holy" Grail until well after its first appearance in literature, seems to be associated originally not with the Chalice but rather with a Celtic cauldron of rebirth.

As for any Anglo-Saxon connection, the first mention of Arthur in English occurs in Layamon's Brut (c. A.D. 1200), a Middle English rendering of Monmouth's work via the Anglo-Norman Roman de Brut by Wace (c. 1155)--about 600 years after the first Welsh poetic reference in Y Goddoddin, and about 400 years after the references in the Welsh Annals. Arthur is in fact the enemy of the English, as his original context was as the defender of Christian British (Welsh) sovereignty in the face of the pagan Saxon invasion of the 6th century. The strange thing is not that he shows up late in English in this context, but that he shows up at all in an English context. There are reasons, but there is no need to go into them here.

The presence of pagan material in a profoundly Christian context should come as no surprise: Chrstmas tree, anyone? Or maybe a nice yummy Easter egg? 

And for the record, I am not talking out my back-side. I teach this stuff at university and have spent many years researching it. i.e. this is an informed professional opinion:not necessarily a definitive one, but definitely an informed one.

As for when Celts lived, your use of the past tense is incorrect. Celtic languages are still spoken as first languages in parts of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany (in France), and Nova Scotia (in Canada). Celtic culture strictly understood (as opposed to the new-age reconstructions of it) has been largely eclipsed over the last couiple of millennia, but is by no means extinct.

I do not mean to come across as a pompous ass, though I may well be doing so. Just trying to get the facts straight.

I´m sorry for my somewhat incorrect proclamation about Celts. Of course, Celts or their offspring de facto live up to present day. I´ve thought their main era as hegemony in majority of Europe. (But I must to admit history isn´t my strong suit.)