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Music for a Renaissance festival
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Poll Question: Which band would you want to hear at a Renaissance Festival?
Poll Choice Votes Poll Statistics
4 [8.51%]
6 [12.77%]
12 [25.53%]
12 [25.53%]
4 [8.51%]
1 [2.13%]
3 [6.38%]
1 [2.13%]
4 [8.51%]
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moshkito View Drop Down
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Originally posted by HackettFan HackettFan wrote:

I am a regular Gentle Giant detractor, but authentic sounding Medieval music is something they do very well, so I would go with them on that basis. The band I personally would enjoy the most would be Tull, but Gentle Giant could do more straight up historical stuff that would be in the spirit of a Ren Festival. The last time I went to one was last summer 2018. They had a fantastic band called Wolgemut. They played Medieval German pieces with percussion and fife. Very good. I bought two of their albums there and got all the band members to sign one.


It's so weird to see this ... I would think that GRYPHON would be a much better choice, since they could pretty much play and improvise all night long and even (likely) join some of the theater troops for some more fun in the bits (provided they knew the bits, of course) ... c'mon ...  can't you just see it ... a take on R & J and the music by Gryphon instead of Nino Rota?

As much as I like GG, I tend to think that in the end, they were a bit more song oriented, than they were free form, and the RF stage stuff, is about a lot of freedom ... and many of those bands don't exactly have it. GG's well known for creating DIFFERENT music, which if Gary Green is any indication came off their "just play, and we never wrote anything" which is a great thing, which they obviously perfected into some really good material ... the problem that comes with this TODAY is that we don't like improvisations at the show ... we're there to listen to the hits ... and that means you just killed the RF's show.

The choices in most RF's are not bad, but these days, they are trying to satisfy the wrong crowd ... the OCF has been able to maintain, due to their history, and the private parties ... the Faire closes at like 9PM, and after that it's all private, and the waiting list for that party is about 9 years long! But the great music shows take place in that party, NOT IN THE FAIR ... where the hit makers can play their hour and go home with some money! 

But where the fun is, is when you get many of these folks in the private party, and they just go nuts having fun with anyone else in a stage ... and this is where the OCF has been the best ... just wish there were recordings of it, but they can't be allowed for obvious reasons, though I'm pretty sure there are many bits and pieces all over ... but for my .... why the fudge would you be spending your time with something in your hand to record ... a real party ... you're not enjoying it!




Edited by moshkito - September 14 2019 at 11:16
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Chaser View Drop Down
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Gentle Giant if it was possible!
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YESESIS View Drop Down
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Points: 2215 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote YESESIS Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 14 2019 at 12:49
You said it doesn't have to be prog.. some early Humble Pie stuff, or some of the more acoustic Led Zeppelin stuff(like from their 3rd album). Or some Mozart seems like it might fit the mood. 
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Snicolette View Drop Down
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Points: 5972 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Snicolette Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 14 2019 at 13:23
I have heard a RenFest band play an all acoustic version of "Kashmir..."  They did a pretty good job of it, too.  :)
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Sean Trane View Drop Down
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Points: 19626 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Sean Trane Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 15 2019 at 03:42
Originally posted by Snicolette Snicolette wrote:

Originally posted by BrufordFreak BrufordFreak wrote:

Originally posted by Sean Trane Sean Trane wrote:

Well, IMHO, Third Ear Band, Gryphon and Gentle Giant's main influences are medieval, and not renaissance stuff (baroque music), so they should be eliminated...
And Renaissance's musical foundations (despite their name) is well past the renaissance era, but purely XIXth & XXth symphonic

In terms of veracity, it's clearly Amazing Blondel (I see my buddy and PF colleague also voted them in ClapHug) that shoould/would win it hands down, but they're so boring Sleepy, that everyone would leave and move to the medieval festival next doorLOL

I don't find Amazing Blondel's music boring at all! Plus, the RenFairs I've happened to attend seem to blur the lines with regards to what is fitting to the exact era they're claiming to represent (e.g. Whose Renaissance? 13th Century Italy's? France's with François I/Leonardo in the 1500s? Great Britain's with Edward IV through Elizabeth I?) Plus, I find that the average person has a very difficult time pinpoint particular musical styles to particular eras of history much less countries and composers, so "medieval" versus "Baroque" versus "Elizabethan" could mean Merovingian (do we have any music that we know survives from the early medieval? John of Damascus? Peter Abelard?), Gregorian (von Bingen), Carolingian, Occitan troubadours, the Eleanor of Aquitaine era of courtly music, Dufay and des Prez, Palestrina and Vivaldi, Teleman and Haydn, but who would know? I think we, the listeners, care about the use of period(-sounding) instruments (wood and brass) and pre-Industrial Rev-sounding music. Most Renaissance Fair personel seem to prefer the term "anachronistic" anyway. Thus, any time will do! Today's musician/performers are quite eclectic anyway and rarely show any allegiance to any single composer or single pocket of music, thus they fit into the world of "anachronistic" performers perfectly! 
You are absolutely right.....only the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) tries to truly stick to "period correct," in as much as possible with what they do.  And the stretch of time does differ from Faire to Faire and some are more period correct than others, with budgetary and availability of talent playing in mightily.  The original RPF (Renaissance Pleasure Faire) did strive to be period correct, but there have always been asides to modern culture, thanks to the participation of groups like the Firesign Theatre founders.  There are also Medieval and Fantasy Fairs about the country that try for a different approach than the Renaissance Faires.  


Indeed there is probably some recent revisionism about how renaissance was reappraised, but when at school during the 70's (whether in Europe or North Am), we were taught that the Renaissance era really started with the end of the Inquisition and discovery of the new world (both in 1492). The next "age" (Modernism) comes with the French revolution and the period before renaissance was called the upper-middle ages or upper-medieval era, as opposed to the lower/darker middle ages, which followed the fall of the roman empire.





As for these fairs, never been to a renaissance one (though they probably exist around renaissance castles in my area), but medieval fairs are fairly common in my necks of the woods (the more commercial ones being held in city parks, but some of the 'serious ones" are held in medieval castle with kights & armour tournaments), though indeed now are very selective about the music they choose, but it's generally more in the vein of string-instrument troubadour stuff (something Blackmore's Night is maladroitely trying to ape) than the pompous wigs & white-powedered faces and horn-filled music ala Marin Marais.






Edited by Sean Trane - September 15 2019 at 03:46
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cstack3 View Drop Down
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Points: 6754 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote cstack3 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 15 2019 at 15:09
I had to smile a bit at this one....I once read a magazine article that was a "slam" on prog-rock, saying that much of the neo-prog sounded like "music you'd hear at a Renaissance festival..." !  

 (I actually did get what the author was saying, and I think it is a symptom of neo-prog artists "trying too hard" to be authentic and English.  I've been guilty of that a bit myself).

Given that, I voted Blackmore, although others would be valid, especially Gryphon.  
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moshkito View Drop Down
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Originally posted by Snicolette Snicolette wrote:

I have heard a RenFest band play an all acoustic version of "Kashmir..."  They did a pretty good job of it, too.  :)

In the private party side of things, it's all acoustic ... but in the "show" band, during the regular hours it is electrified. At least in the OCF ... I don't remember the one in Southern California (Thousand Oaks or something like it near there!) in the old days.

Thus, the suggestions as to which bands, would change SIGNIFICANTLY between the two ... a hit band would not likely survive in the free form side of things at all ... whereas a folk styled band, or any kind of bluegrass or simplistic designed band, would be just fine ... this is the reason why I think that THE THIRD EAR BAND, would be fine in these places ... their material does not change or make a huge difference either way. Maybe Amazing Blondel, however I have not heard them in so long that they are but a distant memory ... for that matter, the early STRING DRIVEN THING, although the later side of the band is all rock music and not acoustic.


Edited by moshkito - September 16 2019 at 13:14
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Psychedelic Paul View Drop Down
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Points: 34804 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Psychedelic Paul Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 02 2019 at 14:43
The obvious choice for a renaissance festival would be Renaissance, but my vote goes to Blackmore's Night. Smile
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Points: 7955 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BrufordFreak Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 30 2022 at 08:38
Originally posted by cstack3 cstack3 wrote:

I had to smile a bit at this one....I once read a magazine article that was a "slam" on prog-rock, saying that much of the neo-prog sounded like "music you'd hear at a Renaissance festival..." !  

 (I actually did get what the author was saying, and I think it is a symptom of neo-prog artists "trying too hard" to be authentic and English.  I've been guilty of that a bit myself).

Given that, I voted Blackmore, although others would be valid, especially Gryphon.  

Having now given Blackmore's Night plenty of listens--throughout their entire discography--a can assert with conviction that they may be the least anachronistic band I've ever heard from this list. Candace Night's voice and lyrics--while beautiful and confident--are neither representative of the musics that I've heard preserved from the mediæval, Renaissance, Baroque era's of history (or music). They make Ritchie's music feel more like modern folk-rock music; there is nothing, aside from Ritchie's solo/instrumental pieces, that remotely "remind" me of pre-Baroque music.
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Gryphon all the way!
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Snicolette View Drop Down
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Originally posted by BrufordFreak BrufordFreak wrote:

Originally posted by cstack3 cstack3 wrote:

I had to smile a bit at this one....I once read a magazine article that was a "slam" on prog-rock, saying that much of the neo-prog sounded like "music you'd hear at a Renaissance festival..." !  

 (I actually did get what the author was saying, and I think it is a symptom of neo-prog artists "trying too hard" to be authentic and English.  I've been guilty of that a bit myself).

Given that, I voted Blackmore, although others would be valid, especially Gryphon.  

Having now given Blackmore's Night plenty of listens--throughout their entire discography--a can assert with conviction that they may be the least anachronistic band I've ever heard from this list. Candace Night's voice and lyrics--while beautiful and confident--are neither representative of the musics that I've heard preserved from the mediæval, Renaissance, Baroque era's of history (or music). They make Ritchie's music feel more like modern folk-rock music; there is nothing, aside from Ritchie's solo/instrumental pieces, that remotely "remind" me of pre-Baroque music.

  Having been a Renaissance Faire attendant/participant/vendor since 1973, the Faires have changed a lot.  My first Faires were both the Northern and Southern California Renaissance Pleasure Faires, which were created by Ron and Phyllis Patterson.  They strove to make their Faires as period correct as humanly possible.  I can remember being lined up each morning, for the Patterson's to examine our garb (costumes) and great lengths were taken to teach everyone how to speak correctly.  Many artisans had to demonstrations of their crafts at the booths.  The music was all authentic as possible, with music from other nations also being represented, such as the music for bellydancers and other folk dancers.

With the popularity of these Faires, other enterpreneurs began to create their own versions.  Some are more authentic than others.  Same for the music one might hear at these Faires.  I prefer the more accurate ones to the less accurate ones, as they are how I was introduced.  But even at some of the Faires where there are questionable representation, one can still find gems.  I don't mind if musicians play folkier tunes, for surely there was music in the lanes, as well as in the courts.  We do know of some of these old tunes, many are cautionary tales etc, such as Reynardine or just tell gripping tales of wicked deeds and cuckoldry and the like, some are just bawdy fare. 

That all being said, I do prefer to see instruments of the period (and preceding it, as well), to ones that just don't belong (banjo, yes, I've seen it), or hearing obviously anachronistic ones, such as once hearing Richard Thompson's 1952 Vincent Black Lightning (without changing the lyrics to Black Lightning being, perhaps, a knight's steed, lol).  However, I do find little odd asides from performers that mention current events to be funny, as long as they are subtle.  Anyway, just my take.




Edited by Snicolette - July 31 2022 at 15:39
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