Dorset is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south-east, the English Channel to the south, and Devon to the west. The largest settlement is Bournemouth, and the county town is Dorchester.
Waylander are an Irish folk metal band influential in the realms of Celtic metal. Formed in 1993, the band blends traditional Irish folk with 1990s heavy metal.
Cornwall is a Celtic nation with a long musical history. Strengthened by a series of 20th century revivals, traditional folk music has a popular following. It is accompanied by traditions of pipers, brass and silver bands, male voice choirs, classical, electronic and popular music.
The Waterboys are a rock band formed in 1983 by Scottish musician and songwriter Mike Scott. The band's membership, past and present, has been composed mainly of musicians from Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England. Mike Scott has remained the only constant member throughout the band's career. They have explored a number of different styles, but their music is mainly a mix of folk music with rock and roll. They dissolved in 1993 when Scott departed to pursue a solo career. The group reformed in 2000, and continue to release albums and to tour worldwide. Scott emphasises a continuity between the Waterboys and his solo work, saying that "To me there's no difference between Mike Scott and the Waterboys; they both mean the same thing. They mean myself and whoever are my current travelling musical companions."
Pagan metal is a genre of heavy metal music which fuses extreme metal with "the pre-Christian traditions of a specific culture or region" through thematic concept, rustic melodies, unusual instruments or archaic languages, usually referring to folk metal or black metal. The Norwegian band In the Woods... was one of the first bands commonly viewed as pagan metal. Metal Hammer author Marc Halupczok wrote that Primordial's song "To Enter Pagan" from the band's demo "Dark Romanticism" contributed to defining the genre.
Inkubus Sukkubus are an English goth and pagan rock band, formed in 1989 by Candia Ridley, Tony McKormack and Adam Henderson, who have been described as one of the most enduringly popular underground Goth bands in the UK. They also have been described by Mick Mercer as a "zombie version of Fleetwood Mac" in his book Hex Files: The Goth Bible.
Cruachan are an Irish folk metal band from Dublin that have been active since the 1990s. They are recognised as one of the founders of folk metal, and have been acclaimed as having "gone the greatest lengths of anyone in their attempts to expand" the genre. With a specific focus on Celtic music and the use of Celtic mythology in their lyrics, Cruachan's style of folk metal is called Celtic metal.
Neck are a six-piece London-Irish Celtic punk band from the North London neighborhood of Holloway led by Leeson O'Keeffe who was a member of Shane MacGowan and the Popes. The band was influenced by two other London bands: The Clash and The Pogues, blending Punk rock with traditional Irish music to play a London-Irish style known as 'Psycho-Cèilidh' where a cèilidh is an Irish social gathering with Gaelic folk music.
Faun is a German band that was formed in 1998 and plays pagan folk, darkwave, and medieval music. The originality of their music style is that it falls back to "old" instruments, and the singing is always the center of attention. The vocals are performed in a variety of languages, including German, English, Latin, Greek, and Scandinavian languages. Their instruments include Celtic harp, Swedish nyckelharpa, hurdy-gurdy, bagpipes, cittern, flutes, and many others.
Pagan Altar is an English doom metal band formed by Terry Jones and his son Alan in 1978 in the borough of Brockley in London.
Alestorm are a Scottish heavy metal band formed in Perth, Scotland in 2007. Their music is characterised by a pirate theme, and as a result, they have been dubbed a "pirate metal" band by many critics and their fanbase. The group currently consists of lead vocalist/keytarist Christopher Bowes, bassist Gareth Murdock, drummer Peter Alcorn, keyboardist/harsh vocalist Elliot Vernon and guitarist Máté "Bobo" Bodor.
S. J. Tucker is an Arkansas-born North American female singer-songwriter. Originally inspired by alternative folk rock artists like Joni Mitchell, Jeff Buckley and Ani DiFranco, Tucker – also called "Sooj" or "Skinny White Chick" – soon branched out to assume a more diverse identity. Like The Beatles – another cited influence – Tucker prefers an eclectic approach to songcraft. Since her debut album in 2004, Tucker's work has integrated elements of electronica, filk, spoken word, world music, industrial metal, and – with the troupe Fire & Strings – fire-spinning.
Weymouth is a seaside town and civil parish in the Dorset district, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. Situated on a sheltered bay at the mouth of the River Wey, 7 miles (11 km) south of the county town of Dorchester, Weymouth had a population of 53,427 in 2021. It is the third-largest settlement in Dorset after Bournemouth and Poole. The greater Weymouth urban area has a population of 72,802.
Tersivel is an Argentine pagan metal band from Buenos Aires, formed in 2004. Alongside bands such as Skiltron and Tengwar, they are considered one of the first folk metal bands from Argentina.
Elfia, formerly known as the Elf Fantasy Fair is a fantasy-themed cosplay festival held twice a year in the Netherlands.
Castlefest is a medieval/fantasy festival in the Netherlands, held in the gardens of Castle Keukenhof in Lisse since 2005.
Eden is a concept album released in 2011 by the German band Faun. It was the only album to feature member Rairda.
Golden Bough is a Celtic-music band formed in 1980 and based in California. The band performs at music festivals and has toured Europe several times. They are known for their acoustic musical performances of folk music and Celtic music and for their 22 albums. They are also known for their association with Lief Sørbye and with the band Tempest.
Cesair is a Dutch band formed in 2008 who make pagan folk, world fusion and world music. They are the main representatives of the pagan folk music scene in the Netherlands, alongside pagan folk band Omnia. The band refer to their genre as "Epic Folk & Mythic Music". They perform on a variety of modern and traditional instruments, including accordion, hurdy-gurdy, hammered dulcimer, Irish bouzouki, violin, cello, bodhrán and many others. Their songs are performed in a variety of languages ranging from Arabic, medieval Celtic languages, English, Latin, Greek, to Middle Dutch, Old Norse and more.
Modern pagan music or neopagan music is music created for or influenced by modern Paganism. Music produced in the interwar period include efforts from the Latvian Dievturība movement and the Norwegian composer Geirr Tveitt. The counterculture of the 1960s established British folk revival and world music as influences for American neopagan music. Second-wave feminism created women's music which includes influences from feminist versions of neopaganism. The United States also produced Moondog, a Norse neopagan street musician and composer. The postwar neopagan organisations Ásatrúarfélagið in Iceland and Romuva in Lithuania have been led by musicians.
