The Mediæval Bæbes is a British musical ensemble founded in 1996 by Dorothy Carter and Katharine Blake. It included some of Blake's colleagues from the band Miranda Sex Garden, as well as other friends who shared her love of

medieval music Medieval music encompasses the sacred music, sacred and secular music of Western Europe during the Middle Ages, from approximately the 6th to 15th centuries. It is the Dates of classical music eras, first and longest major era of Western class ...

. The lineup often rotates from album to album, and ranges from six to twelve members. As of 2010, the group had sold some 500,000 records worldwide, their most successful being '' Worldes Blysse'' with 250,000 copies purchased.

Music

The Bæbes' first album, '' Salva Nos'' (1997), reached number two on the UK specialist classical charts, and was certified silver on 15 May 1998. Subsequent albums include '' Worldes Blysse'' (which went to No. 1), ''Undrentide'', (co-produced by

John Cale John Davies Cale (born 9 March 1942) is a Welsh musician, composer, and record producer who was a founding member of the American rock band the Velvet Underground. Over his six-decade career, Cale has worked in various styles across rock, dr ...

), ''The Rose'', (produced by Toby Wood), and the Christmas-themed album '' Mistletoe and Wine''. ''Mirabilis'' (2005) was launched at a concert and party in London, August 2005. A self-titled DVD was released in July 2006. The first 300 preorders were autographed by the band and received a special mention in the DVD credits. A live album was released on 25 November 2006 and features two new studio tracks. Each album features traditional medieval songs and

poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

set to music, mostly arranged by Blake specifically for the ensemble, alongside varying numbers of original compositions. They sing in a variety of languages, including

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman Conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English pe ...

, French, Italian, Russian, Swedish,

Scottish English Scottish English is the set of varieties of the English language spoken in Scotland. The transregional, standardised variety is called Scottish Standard English or Standard Scottish English (SSE). Scottish Standard English may be defined ...

, German,

Manx Gaelic Manx ( or , or ), also known as Manx Gaelic, is a Goidelic language, Gaelic language of the insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, itself a branch of the Indo-European language family. Manx is the heritage language of the Manx ...

, Spanish, Welsh, Bavarian, Provençal, Irish, modern English and Cornish. Their vocals are backed by medieval instruments, including the recorder and cittern, played by the singers or fellow musicians. The Bæbes' musical pieces run the gamut from extremely traditional, such as their version of the " Coventry Carol" on ''Salva Nos'', to songs that feel traditional but are much more modern, such as their rendition of "Summerisle", a song written for Robin Hardy's 1973 cult film, '' The Wicker Man''. John Cale added non-medieval instruments, including

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

and

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

, to some of the arrangements on ''Undrentide'', although with subsequent albums the band returned to more traditional instruments. Even with these instruments, however, the band's current style is quite different from medieval authentic performance groups, as it displays significant modern influence - this juxtaposition is apparent in the album ''Illumination'' (2009) produced by KK (Kevin Kerrigan).

Collaborations

In 2005, the Bæbes contributed Mediæval Bæbes music to the soundtrack of the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

period drama '' The Virgin Queen'', which portrays the life of

Elizabeth I of England Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudor. Her eventful reign, and its effect on history ...

, including the title music, which is a poem written by Elizabeth set to music by Blake. The Bæbes provided the vocal track for and starred in the video of the

Delerium Delerium is a Canadian new-age ambient electronic musical duo that formed in 1987, originally as a side project of the influential industrial music act Front Line Assembly. Throughout the band's history, their musical style has encompassed a ...

track "Aria"; the vocals are an adapted version of the vocals from "All Turns to Yesterday" from ''Worldes Blysse''. They are also featured on two tracks from Delerium's 2006 album, '' Nuages du Monde'': "Extollere" and "Sister Sojourn Ghost". In 2016, the group performed the theme song to the ITV TV series '' Victoria'', performing the composition by Martin Phipps. In 2023, the Baebes collaborated with Orbital on the latter's single "Ringa Ringa", a version of the children's rhyme " Ring a Ring o' Roses" referencing the COVID pandemic. The song appeared on Orbital's album '' Optical Delusion'' which released February 17, 2023

Members

On 19 December 2016, the Mediæval Bæbes performed a concert at the Tabernacle, Notting Hill in London to celebrate their 20th anniversary as a band. Seventeen of the past and present members were reunited on stage for a few songs. In 2017, Sophia Halberstam joined as a high soprano vocalist. Member Maple Bee (aka Melanie Garside) is the singer in electronic duo Huski and the younger sister of KatieJane Garside, singer of London-based rock band Queenadreena.

Former members

One of the group's founding musicians, Dorothy Carter, died of a stroke in 2003 at the age of 68. In addition to playing

autoharp An autoharp or chord zither is a string instrument belonging to the zither family. It uses a series of bars individually configured to mute all strings other than those needed for the intended chord. The term ''autoharp'' was once a trademark of t ...

hurdy-gurdy The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-turned crank, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin (or nyckelharpa) bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar ...

, and dulcimer with the group, she performed the lead vocals on "So Spricht Das Leben" (''Worldes Blysse'') and "L'Amour de Moi" (''The Rose''). Emily Ovenden left the group at the beginning of 2016. She is the daughter of artists Graham Ovenden and Annie Ovenden. She was born and raised in

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

and now lives in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. She performed backing vocals on DragonForce's '' The Power Within'' and '' Reaching into Infinity''.(2017). "Reaching into Infinity liner notes (Japanese edition)". In ''Reaching into Infinity'' D booklet JVC. She is also a founding member and former lead vocalist of English gothic metal band

Pythia Pythia (; ) was the title of the high priestess of the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo at Delphi. She specifically served as its oracle and was known as the Oracle of Delphi. Her title was also historically glossed in English as th ...

. Marie Findley left the group in March 2007. She is also a film reviewer and television script writer for programmes such as '' Smack the Pony'' and ''The Ant & Dec Show''. She was the lead (using the name Tulip Junkie) in the

Ken Russell Henry Kenneth Alfred Russell (3 July 1927 – 27 November 2011) was a British film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. His films were mainly liberal adaptations of ...

film '' The Fall of the Louse of Usher''. 16 May 2007 – Audrey Evans and Maple Bee resigned due to family and professional commitments and Cylindra Sapphire resigned in order to follow a different musical path. 22 July 2009 – Claire Rabbitt left the Bæbes. Sarah Kayte Foster came on to replace her.

Discography

Studio

* 1997 '' Salva Nos'' * 1998 '' Worldes Blysse'' * 2000 ''Undrentide'' * 2002 ''The Rose'' * 2005 ''Mirabilis'' * 2008 ''Illumination'' * 2012 ''The Huntress'' * 2013 ''Of Kings and Angels'' * 2019 ''A Pocketful of Posies'' * 2020 ''Prayers of the Rosary'' * 2022 ''Mydwynter''

Live

* 2006 ''Live'' (includes two new studio tracks; sold only on the official website and at concerts) * 2010 ''Temptation''

Compilations and soundtracks

* 1999 ''The Best of the Mediæval Bæbes'' (this title is absent from the Mediæval Bæbes' website, and they comment that ''Mistletoe and Wine'' is 'the only compilation endorsed by the Mediæval Bæbes') * 2003 '' Mistletoe and Wine'' (a collection of Christmas-related music from previous albums, plus two new songs and two re-recorded songs) * 2006 '' The Virgin Queen - Music from the Original Television Series'' (soundtrack album by Martin Phipps, featuring Mediæval Bæbes) * 2012 ''Devotion'' (a collection of devotional tracks from previous albums remixed and remastered, plus one new song; sold only on the official website and at concerts) * 2017 '' Victoria'' (soundtrack album by Martin Phipps and Ruth Barrett, featuring Mediæval Bæbes; digital-only release) * 2017 "Victoriana"

Video

* 2000 ''Live at The Rehearsal Hall'' (VHS) * 2006 ''Mediæval Bæbes'' (DVD) * 2009 ''Live at Gloucester Cathedral'' (DVD) * 2015 ''In Concert At Berkeley Castle'' (DVD)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mediaeval Baebes Early music choirs Virgin Records artists Musical groups established in 1996 1996 establishments in England Performers of medieval music Latin-language singers of the United Kingdom French-language musical groups from the United Kingdom Italian-language musical groups from the United Kingdom Russian-language musical groups from the United Kingdom Swedish-language musical groups Spanish-language musical groups from the United Kingdom