Heather Dale is the daughter of Peter and Nancy Dale. Her mother's family comes from Cornwall, though Dale describes herself as a "Celtic mongrel", with Scottish, Irish, and Welsh ancestry in addition to Cornish.[3][4] She also has "family roots" in the west side of Ottawa.[5] As of 2004, Dale was a member of the Toronto/Cornish Association.[3] She was raised in Scarborough, and graduated from the University of Waterloo with a degree in environmental studies in the early-mid 1990s.[4]
Dale's musical passion began with taking piano lessons and writing poetry as a child. This early exposure led to a familiarity with a wide variety of classical and folk instruments.[3]
Career
At the age of eighteen, while a student at the University of Waterloo,[4] she discovered Medievalism through the Society for Creative Anachronism, and began composing songs inspired by Arthurian legend and other fantasy books she had grown up enjoying. Soon after, she began going to science fiction conventions in Toronto, and there found a welcoming community. She made her very first recordings in 1992, and released her first album The Trial of Lancelot in 2000. Trial included her most popular song, "Mordred's Lullaby", which went viral after release and counted over twenty million views on YouTube as of August 2020.[3]
As a teenager, she developed aspirations of living an independent, entrepreneurial life, modelled after what she could see Loreena McKennitt doing with her career.[6] Dale founded Amphis Music (officially Amphisbaena Music) in 1998, and it has been her primary record label throughout her career.[3][7]
As of 2004, she was touring with a four-piece backing band and giving solo shows.[3]
Dale with Ben Deschamps
Since around 2005, Dale has worked closely with multi-instrumentalist Ben Deschamps, who has co-written and co-produced with her for much of her career, as well as performing and touring with her as duo and as part of the "Heather Dale Band" (occasionally the "Heather Dale Trio") and providing instrumentation on her recordings.[5][8] Dale and Deschamps spent a decade on the road together before moving back to Toronto in 2019, the year which marked 20 years as a professional musician, according to an interview Dale did to promote the release of her 20th album, Sphere (2019).[6]
In 2006, Dale produced a songbook, The Legends of Arthur, which re-tells some Arthurian legends and provides sheet music for her songs from The Trial of Lancelot and May Queen albums.[9] The songbook is illustrated by Martin Springett.[8]
Deschamps made concert live-streaming platform Online Concert Thing in October 2019, as an option for musician friends who couldn't tour and who were left with no recourse after the earlier streaming service ConcertWindow shut down. As of August 2021, Dale is in charge of Artist & Customer Relations for the platform.[10][11]
On April 3, 2014, the Globe and Mail listed her as number six on a list of "the top 10 Canadian entrepreneurial crowdfunding campaigns of the moment" for her Indiegogo campaign to fund "CELTIC AVALON", a self-described "big King-Arthur-themed touring show & concert DVD, and youth educational program."[12] This campaign raised over US$56,000 and produced Dale and S. J. Tucker's original musical Queens of Avalon (2016), about the relationship between Guinevere (played by Tucker) and Morgan le Fay (played by Dale).[13]
On August 25, 2020, Dale was inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association's Hall of Fame during that year's virtual Aurora Awards ceremony. Dale was the first musician to be inducted into the Hall of Fame since its establishment in 2014.[2][14]
Style and subject matter
Dale at the 2009 Ohio Valley Filk Fest
Dale's music is frequently compared to Loreena McKennitt,[15][16][5][4][8] and she cites McKennitt as an influence, because of her "multi-ethnic approach to modern Celtic music."
In analyzing Dale's portrayal of the Lady of Shalott in her song "Lily Maid", scholar Ann F. Howey notes that "in many of Dale's songs, the lyrics function as a dramatic monologue, so that Dale as a singer "speaks" in the persona of a particular character."[17]:117
Dale's early album The Trial of Lancelot (1999, with songs written between 1996 and 1999), features instrumentation that includes piano, guitars, flute, fiddle, cello, and various kinds of drums. Her instrumentation across her career has combined traditional Celtic instruments (Irish flute, tin whistle, bodhran) with rock-associated instruments (e.g. electric guitar) and instruments from world music, notably the didgeridoo and the udu.[9] The nine songs on this album all draw on Arthurian legend. According to A Bibliography of Modern Arthuriana (1500–2000) (2006):[18]
"The Lily Maid" consists of Elaine of Astolat's instructions to Lancelot. In "The Trial of Lancelot," various knights speak about Lancelot's guilt and fate, each one influenced by his own relationship to the knight; Lancelot's replies make up the chorus. In "Miles to Go," Guenevere voices her thoughts as she chooses to enter a nunnery. "The Prydwen Sails Again" is a song about the quest to Caer Siddi. "Mordred's Lullaby" is a haunting, disturbing lullaby sung by Morgan (here Mordred's mother) as she trains him from the cradle to seek revenge. "Hawthorn Tree" is the story of Merlin and Vivian, while "Culhwch and Olwen" retells that story [ie the story of Culhwch and Olwen]. "Tarnished Silver" is a song about Lancelot and Guenevere years later. The last song, "Measure of a Man," is about Arthur's death.
May Queen (2003) also uses Arthurian legend as its primary subject matter. She re-recorded most of the songs from Trial and May Queen in her later album Avalon (2010).[9][17]:122
Call the Names (2001) has much barer instrumentation than Trial, and according to the BBC features "humorous and poignant" songs inspired by the everyday challenges of Renaissance life.[3]
This Endris Night (2002) is a collection of medieval Christmas music, including the titular song.[3]This Endris Night also includes a trilingual version of the "Huron Carol", a seventeenth century carol composed by Jesuit missionaryJean de Brébeuf at Sainte-Marie among the Hurons. Dale sings the song in Wyandot, French, and English.[19] Dale's version uses different English lyrics than most other recordings, favouring a more accurate translation of the Wyandot words.[20]
According to Alan M. Kent's 2007 essay "Towards a History of Popular Music in Cornwall, 1967–2007", Dale's music is "explicitly 'Celtic' and keenly Brythonic and Arthurian in theme." Kent identifies Dale as infusing Cornish popular music with "ethereal and soaring female vocalization," placing her in a genre also occupied by artists including Mary Black, Loreena McKennitt, Maire Brennan, and Enya. Despite Dale's inspiration by the Society for Creative Anachronism, Kent notes that throughout both The Trial of Lancelot and May Queen, she makes use of Cornish historical literary material, for instance the story of Tristan and Iseult (recounted in her song "Tristan and Isolt" on May Queen).[15] She likewise draws on specifically Welsh stories. Her song about the legend of Culhwch and Olwen is, according to a 2011 essay by Megan MacAlystre, "one of only a handful of musical settings of the tale to be found", and is "among the most readily available"—the long legend of "how Culhwch won Olwen" is shortened into a "jaunty" five-minute-long song that stands out from what MacAlystre calls identifies as more familiar tales on the Trial of Lancelot album.[21]
The Road to Santiago (2005) extends beyond the Celtic styles of her earlier albums, and includes influences from "jazz, art song, shanties, Spanish/North African rhythms and modal melodies, medieval court music and contemporary pop balladry," according to a review in the Toronto Star.[16]The Road to Santiago also features the song "Sedna", a retelling of the Inuit creation myth involving the goddess Sedna that includes archival recordings of Inuit throat singing.[8]
Her song "The Maiden and the Selkie" (from The Green Knight (2009)) is an example of her drawing on Norse and Celtic folklore, both in style (as a sea shanty) and subject matter (the song is about a romance between a woman and a male Selkie).[22]
Dale's lyrics are quoted in many of the novels in S. M. Stirling's The Emberverse series, including The Sword of the Lady (2009), The High King of Montival (2010), The Tears of the Sun (2011), Lord of Mountains (2012), The Given Sacrifice (2013), The Golden Princess (2014), The Desert and the Blade (2015), and Prince of Outcasts (2016).[25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32]
Tanya Huff's novel The Wild Ways (2011) is dedicated to Dale, "who sang about Selkies and started the whole thing".[33]
Fellow filker and author Seanan McGuire states in the acknowledgements to her novel Chimes at Midnight (2013), that Dale's album Fairytale was a part of her "soundtrack" while writing the novel.[34]
Author E. K. Johnston cites her music as an inspiration for her novels The Story of Owen: Dragon Slayer of Trondheim (2014) and Prairie Fire (2015), and quotes the lyrics to "Joan" (a song about Joan of Arc from the 2008 album The Gabriel Hounds) in the latter novel.[35]
Camelot is a legendary castle and court associated with King Arthur. Absent in the early Arthurian material, Camelot first appeared in 12th-century French romances and, since the Lancelot-Grail cycle, eventually came to be described as the fantastic capital of Arthur's realm and a symbol of the Arthurian world.
Excalibur is the mythical sword of King Arthur that may possess magical powers or be associated with the rightful sovereignty of Britain. Traditionally, the sword in the stone that is the proof of Arthur's lineage and the sword given to him by a Lady of the Lake are not the same weapon, even as in some versions of the legend both of them share the name of Excalibur. Several similar swords and other weapons also appear within Arthurian texts, as well as in other legends.
King Arthur, according to legends, was a king of Britain. He is a folk hero and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain.
In Welsh mythology, Olwen is the daughter of the giant Ysbaddaden and cousin of Goreu. She is the heroine of the story Culhwch and Olwen in the Mabinogion. Her father is fated to die if she ever marries, so when Culhwch comes to court her, he is given a series of immensely difficult tasks which he must complete before he can win her hand. With the help of his cousin King Arthur, Culhwch succeeds and the giant dies, allowing Olwen to marry her suitor.
Guinevere, also often written in Modern English as Guenevere or Guenever, was, according to Arthurian legend, an early-medieval queen of Great Britain and the wife of King Arthur. First mentioned in popular literature in the early 12th century, nearly 700 years after the purported times of Arthur, Guinevere has since been portrayed as everything from a fatally flawed, villainous and opportunistic traitor to a noble and virtuous lady. Many records of the legend also feature the variably recounted story of her abduction and rescue as a major part of the tale.
In the Matter of Britain, Igraine is the mother of King Arthur. Igraine is also known in Latin as Igerna, in Welsh as Eigr, in French as Ygraine, in Le Morte d'Arthur as Ygrayne—often modernised as Igraine or Igreine—and in Parzival as Arnive. She becomes the wife of Uther Pendragon, after the death of her first husband, Gorlois.
The Lady of the Lake is a name or a title used by several either mermaid or mermaid-like but human enchantresses in the Matter of Britain, the body of medieval literature and mythology associated with the legend of King Arthur. She plays several important roles in many stories, including providing Arthur with the sword Excalibur, eliminating Merlin, raising Lancelot after the death of his father, and helping to take the dying Arthur to Avalon. Different sorceresses known as the Lady of the Lake appear concurrently as separate characters in some versions of the legend since at least the Post-Vulgate Cycle and consequently the seminal Le Morte d'Arthur, with the latter describing them as a hierarchical group, while some texts also give this title to either Morgan or her sister.
Loreena Isabel Irene McKennitt is a Canadian singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and composer who writes, records, and performs world music with Celtic and Middle Eastern influences. McKennitt is known for her refined and clear soprano vocals. She has sold more than 14 million records worldwide.
Culhwch and Olwen is a Welsh tale that survives in only two manuscripts about a hero connected with Arthur and his warriors: a complete version in the Red Book of Hergest, c. 1400, and a fragmented version in the White Book of Rhydderch, c. 1325. It is the longest of the surviving Welsh prose tales. Lady Charlotte Guest included this tale among those she collected under the title The Mabinogion.
Bedivere is one of the earliest characters to be featured in the legend of King Arthur, originally described in several Welsh texts as the one-handed great warrior named Bedwyr Bedrydant. Arthurian chivalric romances, inspired by his portrayal in the chronicle Historia Regum Britanniae, portray Bedivere as a Knight of the Round Table of King Arthur who serves as Arthur's marshal and is frequently associated with his brother Lucan and his cousin Griflet as well as with Kay. In the English versions, Bedivere notably assumes Griflet's hitherto traditional role from French romances as the one who eventually returns Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake after Arthur's last battle.
The Battle of Camlann is the legendary final battle of King Arthur, in which Arthur either died or was fatally wounded while fighting either alongside or against Mordred, who also perished. The original legend of Camlann, inspired by a purportedly historical event said to have taken place in the early 6th-century Britain, is only vaguely described in several medieval Welsh texts dating from around the 10th century. The battle's much more detailed depictions have emerged since the 12th century, generally based on that of a catastrophic conflict described in the pseudo-chronicle Historia Regum Britanniae. The further greatly embellished variants originate from the later French chivalric romance tradition, in which it became known as the Battle of Salisbury, and include the 15th-century telling in Le Morte d'Arthur that remains popular today.
In Arthurian legend, Gorlois of Tintagel was the Duke of Cornwall. He was the first husband of King Arthur's mother Igraine and the father of her daughters, Arthur's half-sisters. Her second husband was Uther Pendragon, the High King of Britain and Arthur's father, who marries her after killing him.
Twrch Trwyth, is a fabulous wild boar from the Legend of King Arthur, of which a richly elaborate account of its hunt described in the Welsh prose romance Culhwch and Olwen, probably written around 1100.
Gwenhwyfach was a sister of Gwenhwyfar (Guinevere) in medieval Welsh Arthurian legend. The tradition surrounding her is preserved in fragmentary form in two Welsh Triads and the Mabinogi tale of Culhwch and Olwen.
Rachel Bromwich born Rachel Sheldon Amos, was a British scholar. Her focus was on medieval Welsh literature, and she taught Celtic Languages and Literature in the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic at the University of Cambridge, from 1945 to 1976. Among her most important contributions to the study of Welsh literature is Trioedd Ynys Prydein, her edition of the Welsh Triads.
King Arthur's family grew throughout the centuries with King Arthur's legend. Many of the legendary members of this mythical king's family became leading characters of mythical tales in their own right.
Bagdemagus, also known as Bademagu, Bademagus, Bademaguz, Bagdemagu, Bagomedés, Baldemagu, Baldemagus, Bandemagu, Bandemagus, Bangdemagew, Baudemagu, Baudemagus, and other variants, is a character in the Arthurian legend, usually depicted as king of the land of Gorre and a Knight of the Round Table. He originally figures in literature the father of the knight Maleagant, who abducts King Arthur's wife Queen Guinevere in several versions of a popular episode. Bagdemagus first appears in French sources, but the character may have developed out of the earlier Welsh traditions of Guinevere's abduction, an evolution suggested by the distinctively otherworldly portrayal of his realm. He is portrayed as a kinsman and ally of Arthur and a wise and virtuous king, despite the actions of his son. In later versions, his connection to Maleagant disappears altogether.
Caradoc Vreichvras was a semi-legendary ancestor to the kings of Gwent. He may have lived during the 5th or 6th century. He is remembered in the Matter of Britain as a Knight of the Round Table, under the names King Carados and Carados Briefbras.
Prydwen plays a part in the early Welsh poem Preiddeu Annwfn as King Arthur's ship, which bears him to the Celtic otherworld Annwn, while in Culhwch and Olwen he sails in it on expeditions to Ireland. The 12th-century chronicler Geoffrey of Monmouth named Arthur's shield after it. In the early modern period Welsh folklore preferred to give Arthur's ship the name Gwennan. Prydwen has however made a return during the last century in several Arthurian works of fiction.
1 2 Kent, Alan M. (2007). "Alex Parks, Punks and Pipers: Towards a History of Popular Music in Cornwall 1967–2007". Cornish Studies. 15: 209–247. doi:10.1386/corn.15.1.209_1.
1 2 3 Quill, Greg (July 28, 2005). "Roots – Heather Dale – The Road to Santiago (Amphis Music/MapleMusic)". What's On Disc. Toronto Star.
↑ "sfadb: Heather Dale Awards". Science Fiction Awards Database. March 22, 2013. Archived from the original on September 15, 2017. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
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