Navarr music

The Music of Navarr

Style summary

Navarr music reflects a dichotomy of wistful remembrance for their old culture and the practicalities of survival in the wild. Recent music has a practicality underlying it. Loud and high calling noises appear throughout the music in order to develop vocal chords for the relay of messages, cries of warning and the roar of a fear enducing charge from hiding. Drumming is widely used for similar reasons. The sounds, in contrast to the melodic music of old culture, are often harsh which reflects the Navarr attitude towards nature - not one of harmony but of dominance. Much of the music of their lost cities has changed over time to include primal sounds, for example, fast fiddle and pipes or soft unison singing is joined by loud calling and percussion. Lyrics reflect the dichotomy of the memory of lost cities and the practicalities of life in the wild. References to nature are common but are dark and evocative rather than romantic. Work songs and cautionary tales are common as are the themes of travelling, fate, forests, and blood. Songs of the old culture; lost cities and sacrifice concentrate on remembrance rather than lamentation.

To achieve this sound look at music that fuses Celtic folk styles with African and South American tribal sounds. Music can draw on Scottish, Irish, Greek, Galician, and Basque/French folk tunes as well Tolkienesque fantasy for lyrics, with added African-style percussion, Amazonian and Amazigh music, to fuse with the sounds of the old culture.

Commonly known songs

• Ten Thousand Miles - song of love/travelling, medium.
• By Chance It Was - A love song
• Navarr - A song about reclaiming the old cities - traditionally used at the start of dances.

A musical tradition

Music has a practical use in Navarr society. Music plays a prominent part to create social harmony and to invoke the powers from beyond. It is used for work songs and for teaching.

Social rituals are often performed to music, such as courtship rituals where a male lead, supported by a male chorus, makes his case, and the female lead, supported by a female chorus, questions him.

Blood Rituals often rely on percussion support to evoke the feel of the pumping heart and helps focus the arts of the Vates.

One for the kids

• All the Pretty Ponies - lullaby remembering extinct horses, very easy.

Further examples

Songs

• I Come and Stand at Every Door - sad song about the fall of Navarr cities, easy.
• All the Pretty Ponies - lullaby remembering extinct horses, very easy.
• Ten Thousand Miles - song of love/travelling, medium.
• Navarr - A song about reclaiming the old cities - traditionally used at the start of dances.
• By Chance It Was - A love song

Instrumentation and tunes

Strings, whistles, chanters, djembes, bodhráns and voices. Pretty much any instrument works well in Navarr.

Other performance traditions

• Storytelling is discussed in Navarr Culture and Customs
• Dance
• Poetry e.g. Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost.

How to adapt your repertoire

• Western Folk tradition - Stick to folk songs from the folk traditions mentioned as sources or that have a primal sound. Dirty them up by simplifying arrangements and then add tribal sounds. This will lend the sense that the old culture has been a little forgotten over time and will give added poignancy to the occasional song performed with a pure 'Celtic' sound. Maybe keep one or two songs unchanged and perform them unaccompanied as a powerful reminder of the old culture.
• Non-western traditions - Move songs into English. Try to lean melodies towards a more 'Celtic' sound.
• Try to avoid frenzied drumming circles - the Navarr are an urban culture turned traveller, but wants to return to city life – and try to avoid the ceilidh vibe. Jigs and waltzes don't match the feel of primal otherworldliness.

Our sources

• Modern Gaelic artists; Modern Welsh Language Artists such as Fern Hill; World Fusion such as Afrocelt Sound System (although less electronic) and Baka Beyond; Scottish-influenced Canadian songs and tunes e.g. Ashley MacIsaac, Great Big Sea (although less poppy), the instrumental stuff by Shooglenifty e.g. Arms Dealer's Daughter (CD), Michael McGoldrick (e.g. Wired), Irish folk, Greek folk tunes and dances. modern pipers e.g. Finlay MacDonald,
• Travel-themed songs and poems by Tolkien could provide inspiration e.g. http://allpoetry.com/poem/8500011-I_Sit_And_Think-by-J_R_R_Tolkien and the Misty Mountain song is spot on for the Navarr sound.

Here is a youtube playlist of appropriate or inspiring music.