Orphic club music
Posted by Erik on November 30, 2009
As I was poking around looking for an archive of the (now apparently lost) GeoCities page with Athanassakis’ translation of the Orphic Hymns, I came across the site of a Greek band called Eleusis (they’re also on Myspace) – whose album, Tales of the Holy, is mostly settings of snippets of various Orphic hymns! (On the first site, click on the “Inspiration” icon – the horned altar – and you can see the lyrics in English, French or Greek.)
There are samples at both links… so far I really like what I’ve heard. Their site says the music is a blend of Greek, West African and Indian influences, and they definitely have a good groove. Here’s a bit of what they say about the album:
The journey starts with an invocation to Mnemosyne … and continues with the “secret marriage” of Persephone to Hades and the rage of Demeter … once reunited with Persephone, Demeter finally bestows wealth and prosperity upon all mankind … The myth then takes us through the state of dreams … and finally leads us to the birth of Apollo … The album concludes with a hymn to Pallas Athena … for life would be incomplete without ‘sophia’.
Sannion said
Oh man, that looks really awesome, and the sample of music they have is just gorgeous. Thanks for linking to this. Next time I’ve got some spare cash, I’ll definitely be purchasing this.
executivepagan said
I figured you’d like it.
Kullervo said
Sounds sort of Dead Can Dance-ish.
executivepagan said
It does a bit – but a little less over-produced. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be for sale as a download anywhere – it’s from 2006, and a bit hard to find. I have found one distributor that says they have a few in stock.
Dver said
Ooh, that looks interesting, will go check them out. Btw, before that Geocities site got taken down, I copied the whole thing into a Word doc and uploaded it to my server. I didn’t clear up all the typos yet, there were a few, but it’s still a pretty useful document.
http://www.winterscapes.com/orphichymns.doc
executivepagan said
Bless you for that!