Neo-Medieval music is a modern

popular music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fu ...

characterized by elements of

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

and

early music Early music generally comprises Medieval music (500–1400) and Renaissance music (1400–1600), but can also include Baroque music (1600–1750). Originating in Europe, early music is a broad musical era for the beginning of Western classi ...

in general. Music styles within neo-Medieval music vary from authentic performance interpretations of Medieval music (understood as

Classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" al ...

) to

crossover Crossover may refer to: Entertainment Albums and songs * ''Cross Over'' (Dan Peek album) * ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987 * ''Crossover'' (Intrigue album) * ''Crossover'' (Hitomi Shimatani album) * ''Crossover'' (Yoshino ...

genres that blend Medieval instruments, such as bagpipe,

shawm The shawm () is a conical bore, double-reed woodwind instrument made in Europe from the 12th century to the present day. It achieved its peak of popularity during the medieval and Renaissance periods, after which it was gradually eclipsed by th ...

and hurdy-gurdy with

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electro ...

and rock. In many cases, it is more or less overlapping with styles such as

folk rock Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers s ...

British folk rock British folk rock is a form of folk rock which developed in the United Kingdom from the mid 1960s, and was at its most significant in the 1970s. Though the merging of folk and rock music came from several sources, it is widely regarded that the ...

and

neofolk Neofolk, also known as apocalyptic folk, is a form of experimental music blending elements of folk and industrial music, which emerged in punk rock circles in the 1980s. Neofolk may either be solely acoustic or combine acoustic folk instrumen ...

. Bands specializing in neo-Medieval music are particularly plentiful in Germany, although the genre also enjoys some popularity in North America, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, France, United Kingdom, Italy and the Scandinavian countries.

History

It is difficult to point to the exact origins of neo-Medieval music. One could argue that all Medieval-sounding tunes written after the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

are in some way neo-Medieval music; this definition would include music from as early as the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ide ...

and onwards. Other examples of early neo-Medievalism in music would also include a number of Romantic composers such as Niels W. Gade, Edvard Grieg, and

Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include sym ...

(who often used Medieval- and folk-style tunes in their music), as well as parts of the '' Carmina Burana'' by Carl Orff, and many movie soundtracks from the 20th century. However, as a popular music form, the birth of neo-Medieval music is closely connected with the

and roots music movement of the 1960s and 1970s. In many countries in Europe musicians sought to find their cultural roots, reviving music that had largely died out as a result of centuries of

industrialization Industrialisation ( alternatively spelled industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive re-organisation of an econo ...

, and decades of exposure to United States music styles like

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

and rock. In Great Britain, too, prog rock bands like Jethro Tull would often write songs with a Medieval touch. It was not until the late 1980s, however, that neo-Medieval music would arise as an entire genre of its own, replete with a subculture following. The Australian outfit Dead Can Dance, who released most of their most famous works in the latter half of the 1980s, were another early influence on the scene. Dead Can Dance had a more symphonic sound than previous acts, and, although never considering themselves to be a goth band, were popular among

goths The Goths ( got, 𐌲𐌿𐍄𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰, translit=''Gutþiuda''; la, Gothi, grc-gre, Γότθοι, Gótthoi) were a Germanic people who played a major role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Euro ...

. This formed the precedent of neo-Medieval music being particularly popular in the Goth scene. 1989 saw the formation of the German band

Corvus Corax The common raven (''Corvus corax'') is a large all-black passerine bird. It is the most widely distributed of all corvids, found across the Northern Hemisphere. It is a raven known by many names at the subspecies level; there are at least e ...

, two members of which were on the run from the disintegrating

East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

regime. In the 1990s, Corvus Corax would go on to have a profound effect on neo-Medieval music. Corvus Corax, along with other bands, started the now popular strategy of combining Medieval music with electronic music. More recently, the band

Extra Life In video games, a life is a play-turn that a player character has, defined as the period between start and end of play. Lives refer to a finite number of tries before the game ends with a game over. It is sometimes called a chance, a try, rest ...

has combined aspects of early music with the modern genre of

math rock Math rock is a style of progressive and indie rock with roots in bands such as King Crimson and Rush as well as 20th-century minimal music composers such as Steve Reich. It is characterized by complex, atypical rhythmic structures (includi ...

. Neo-Medieval and

neo-Renaissance Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range ...

qualities have been used by contemporary composers like

Mamoru Fujieda is a Japanese composer associated with the postminimalist movement of contemporary classical music. Biography He received a Ph.D. in music from the University of California, San Diego in 1988. His composition instructors have included Joji Yuasa ...

and

Michael Waller Michael Vincent Waller (born October 26, 1985 in Staten Island, New York) is an American composer of contemporary classical music. He has studied with La Monte Young, Marian Zazeela, and Bunita Marcus. Life and works His recent compositions h ...

, with their use of modal cells and subtle counterpoint. {{Medieval music Popular music Medieval music