Hunter-Gatherer Ambient/Folk
Jan 4, 2020 1:42:04 GMT -5
Post by utumno on Jan 4, 2020 1:42:04 GMT -5
So I've slowly been scouring the web in search for what I'm calling hunter-gatherer ambient, a style of ritual ambient with an atavistic motif focused on hunter-gatherer cultures. I think the first instinct might be to call it primitive ambient, but I want to stay away from that label for two reasons. The first is that primitive as a word became a primary word to describe hunter-gatherer cultures in the late 1800's by anthropologists writing from a western colonialist/imperialist perspective, which poorly portrayed these people as if they were stupid, uncultured, and "in need of saving." Really not trying to be too political here but I think everyone can agree that colonialism and imperialism instilled us with probably a not so great vocabulary to use in discussing other cultures. The other reason is that in my opinion primitive should be more used for that really lo-fi, minimalist style of DS or BM that is often an ode to the 90s, so using primitive as a identifier in my opinion should always be used to signify this kind of music. I could imagine myself attempting to call this style tribal ambient, but I feel like that might be too limiting or too general since not all tribes are hunter-gatherer and not all hunter-gatherer cultures could be considered tribal (i might be wrong there). Also by a quick scan through the bandcamp tag of "tribal ambient" reveals a lot of unrelated, off-motif releases. I could also imagine "shamanic ambient" being used, but same like the last, not all shamans are from hunter-gatherer cultures and and most likely not all hunter-gatherer cultures had a shaman nor should a project be so intrinsically focused on just the shaman of a hunter-gatherer culture while playing in this style unless they do so for an album or two.
All that out of the way, what first led me down this rabbit trail was probably Fauna, Fearthainne, and all the other projects Vines and Echtra have taken part in. I was immediately enamored by their atavistic aesthetic, their album art, and gig (ritual) set up. It leads me to wonder how many projects have decided to be more historically, culturally, or atmospherically accurate in delineating hunter-gatherer or even pastoral cultures. So I can see this style--if you'll allow me--to be divided into three categories. I can see one being a combo of DS and ambient projects both using a paleolithic theme in their artwork and aesthetic from a more historical perspective, maybe more about representing the Ice Ages or megafauna than specific cultures. The second category would be projects showing that they've done some of their research on specific cultures and have adapted some of their folklore and semiotics into their music as they still remain an ambient project whether that be ritual ambient, DS, or neofolk as I could see. And then the third category is just a more extreme version of the last. This is when a project could probably get a phd with the amount of research they're put into researching a culture by learning of the instruments and vocal styles the culture(s) use(d), and writing their own music or even covering some of the cultures' traditional folk songs. At this point, I would just straight call this folk music, despite its potential ambient soundscape.
So examples of these: Woolly Rhinoceros is a good example of the first category. Paleowolf is in-between the first and second category depending on the release. I don't know too much about the project, but I would probably put Nubiferous in the second category. The third category is a bit difficult for me. I think the closest thing that I know of would simply just be what is generally considered new age/world music or "tribal drums" or what have you. A lot of these releases seem to focus on African cultures, but I would like to find more stuff that goes beyond just Africa. Also a lot of the artists behind these releases don't have the same underground ethos that a lot of DS and metal fans share. What I am imagining is something akin to Heilung or Wardruna but with a focus on even older cultures or more hunter-gatherer cultures.
So all this to say hopefully some of you also have a bit of a fascination in either the historical or modern cultural theme of hunter-gatherer society. Yes, I've probably way overthought out this "style" if you would even agree to call it a style, but this is definitely something I'd like to see built into a trend. I'd like to see something develop in the atavistic neofolk scene or ritual ambient or even DS scene that then grows and separates into its own unique style and specific following, probably with a demographic comprised between americans who grew up watching the film series Ice Age (ahem, ngl that's me), hopefully people of that culture or at least same country of origin, and then anthropology professors and students listening to someone's doctoral dissertation on a specific culture's music. so uh yeah. Let me know your thoughts and if you know of some projects that could fit either of the three categories.
(and gonna tell the truth, this whole thread got spurred on by me playing the game Dawn of Man and me wanting a better soundtrack than what the game provides.)
All that out of the way, what first led me down this rabbit trail was probably Fauna, Fearthainne, and all the other projects Vines and Echtra have taken part in. I was immediately enamored by their atavistic aesthetic, their album art, and gig (ritual) set up. It leads me to wonder how many projects have decided to be more historically, culturally, or atmospherically accurate in delineating hunter-gatherer or even pastoral cultures. So I can see this style--if you'll allow me--to be divided into three categories. I can see one being a combo of DS and ambient projects both using a paleolithic theme in their artwork and aesthetic from a more historical perspective, maybe more about representing the Ice Ages or megafauna than specific cultures. The second category would be projects showing that they've done some of their research on specific cultures and have adapted some of their folklore and semiotics into their music as they still remain an ambient project whether that be ritual ambient, DS, or neofolk as I could see. And then the third category is just a more extreme version of the last. This is when a project could probably get a phd with the amount of research they're put into researching a culture by learning of the instruments and vocal styles the culture(s) use(d), and writing their own music or even covering some of the cultures' traditional folk songs. At this point, I would just straight call this folk music, despite its potential ambient soundscape.
So examples of these: Woolly Rhinoceros is a good example of the first category. Paleowolf is in-between the first and second category depending on the release. I don't know too much about the project, but I would probably put Nubiferous in the second category. The third category is a bit difficult for me. I think the closest thing that I know of would simply just be what is generally considered new age/world music or "tribal drums" or what have you. A lot of these releases seem to focus on African cultures, but I would like to find more stuff that goes beyond just Africa. Also a lot of the artists behind these releases don't have the same underground ethos that a lot of DS and metal fans share. What I am imagining is something akin to Heilung or Wardruna but with a focus on even older cultures or more hunter-gatherer cultures.
So all this to say hopefully some of you also have a bit of a fascination in either the historical or modern cultural theme of hunter-gatherer society. Yes, I've probably way overthought out this "style" if you would even agree to call it a style, but this is definitely something I'd like to see built into a trend. I'd like to see something develop in the atavistic neofolk scene or ritual ambient or even DS scene that then grows and separates into its own unique style and specific following, probably with a demographic comprised between americans who grew up watching the film series Ice Age (ahem, ngl that's me), hopefully people of that culture or at least same country of origin, and then anthropology professors and students listening to someone's doctoral dissertation on a specific culture's music. so uh yeah. Let me know your thoughts and if you know of some projects that could fit either of the three categories.
(and gonna tell the truth, this whole thread got spurred on by me playing the game Dawn of Man and me wanting a better soundtrack than what the game provides.)