Corvus Corax
Medieval Rock, the Minstrel, and Cosmopolitanism as Anti-Nationalism
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4304577 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kirsten Yri (0009-0008-8977-8906, Wilfrid Laurier University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Volume | 38 |
| Issue | 03 |
| Pages | 361-378 |
| Publication date | 2019-10-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Popular Music (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0261-1430 • E-ISSN: 1474-0095 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0261143019000229 |
| OpenAlex | W2979477994 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 16 |
This article explores the German band Corvus Corax and their reinterpretion of the Middle Ages as a creative answer to Germany's problematic history of nationalism. Invoking the community ideals and ideological values of the 1960s and 1970s, which, in the context of the GDR took on even more significance, Corvus Corax borrowed 'authentic' medieval texts and melodies, rendering them in acoustic arrangements inspired by medieval performance practices. In short, German 'folk' bands invented 'medieval' rock to sidestep Nazi connotations with the word 'folk'. Besides invoking the semantic shift from 'folk' to 'medieval', I argue that the band adopts the figure of the medieval minstrel and asserts that his multilingual texts, 'foreign' instruments and colourful performance practices speak to an inclusive, diverse and cosmopolitan community. Paradoxically, they do so by first positioning the medieval minstrel as a punked-up, marginalised 'outcast'. The cultural capital of this outcast status helps medieval rock bands like Corvus Corax carve out a space for marginalised voices who, in their new privileged positions, offer a form of retribution for politics of exclusion, racism and authoritarianism
Archaeology · Art · Context (archaeology · Cosmopolitanism · German · Literature · Middle Ages · Nationalism · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Communism, Protests, Social Movements · History · Law · Music History and Culture · Musicology and Musical Analysis
Transnationale Teutonen: Rammstein Representing the Berlin Republic
The Origins of Totalitarianism
Music and German National Identity
Most German of the Arts
Noah Greenberg and the New York Pro Musica
Hannah Arendt on the Stateless
East German Music and the Problem of National Identity
The magic that can set you free
The new German folk-like song and its hidden political messages
Folklore as Utopia
German symbolism in rock music
The mobilising of the German 1848 protest song tradition in the context of international twentieth-century folk revivals
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,33 |
| Citation span | 2020 - 2024 (5) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |