EUROPA CALLING! THE MUSIC AND MEANING OF NEOFOLK [BOOK]

By attempting to define the indefinable, in this case a broad category of music that has become known as ‘Neofolk,’ we simply add to the wonderful flexibility of the genre itself. That is not to say that this book is concerned with drawing comparisons between Neofolk and other forms of music, not at all, only that there are no hard-and-fast rules about what Neofolk should actually be. It is certainly comprised of elements that are both folkish and new, or at least ‘new’ in the sense that it has broken the mould of what many people think folk music should be, but the style itself has come a long way since the halcyon days of the early-1980s and its gradual emergence from the dark wave, post-punk and industrial scenes of that formative and influential period.

This book sets out to demonstrate how Neofolk ultimately transcends the typical boundaries of ethnomusicology and embodies a startling vision of Europe, nature, history and identity that defies the march of modernity and everything it stands for. Here you will find an unmatched comradeship, a tribal identity etched upon ancestral fields, lost rivers and traditional boulevards, the blare of trumpets and the steady rhythm of martial drums, the sweet allure of the romantic ballad, the timelessness of occult wisdom, and tales of human existence that are at once both tragic and glorious. To celebrate Neofolk is to celebrate who we are and where we come from.

Chapters include Setting the Scene – Dedicated to the Many Who Have Gone, and the Few That Remain; Allerseelen – On Transmigration of Souls; Pioneers and Poets – Robert N. Taylor; Darkwood’s Romantic Entourage; A Dive Into the Modern World – Sol Invictus’ Against the Modern World; Dernière Volonté – A March Through Martial Pop; Resonances of Beauty – Blood Axis and the Reactionary Aesthetic Ideal; Der Arbeiter – A Wanderer Off the Beaten Track; Eclipse of the West – Richard Leviathan’s Funeral Oration for the Decline of Empire; Urze de Lume – Echoes from Gallaecia; Bruno de Sousa (1973-2023) – The Soul of Sangre Cavallum; Echoes of Mystery – The Enigmatic Journey of Ianva; Forgotten Blood; and A Short Excursion Into a Black Man’s Experience in Neofolk.

The contributors are Troy Southgate (Editor), Michael Victor (A.K.A. Dev), Miklós Hoffer, Alexander “Hugin” Karrila, José Almeida, Graziano Ciccarelli, Luís Couto, Grzegorz Siedlecki, Ismo Meinander, Manuel Dugos Pimentel, Brittany Mnemosyne, David Oakspawn, Rafael Moreira and Aleksandar Sazdovski.