MARIA W HORN
& SARA PARKMAN :
funeral folk
ASTRID SONNE : great doubt
1 Febbraio 2024'This musical meeting explores everything from sacred songs and minimalist spectral music to folk melodies from Ångermanland and Finnish black metal.’
Limited gatefold vinyl released in collaboration between XKatedral x Supertraditional, inc,
‘Funeral Folk’ pairs multi instrumentalist composer Maria W. Horn with violinist, singer and composer Sara Parkman on a soundtrack commission for Mattias Lech & Lisen Allard’s dance performance of the same name. Drawing on a shared, formative background playing in the same band as teenagers in their hometown Härnosand, Horn & Parkman naturally and skilfully collapse their worlds of influence, ranging from sacred songs and minimalist spectral music to Finnish black metal and Swedish folk, into epic arrangements for synths, zithers, hurdy gurdy, guitars, mellotrons and lamenting vocals.
Artwork by Olle Norås, photography by Gustaf Broms, sleeve design by Stephen O’Malley.
Funeral Folk is a musical collaboration between Sara Parkman and Maria W Horn. Together they explore the rituals of grief and the musical phenomenology of death through their respective crafts and influences.
Flocking around a mutual passion for the sort of progressive music coming from their native north Sweden as teenagers, as well as personal deep dives into their family’s Christian heritage of several generations, Horn & Parkman reassess the meaning of “rites of loss in a de-ritualised and dying civilisation” with a crafty blend of the sacred and profane guided by a heightened emotive intelligence.
Sara Parkman is a violinist, singer and composer focused on Swedish folk music. She has been diving into her Christian heritage - the sacred music that has been a part of her family traditions for several generations.
Maria W Horn is a contemporary composer employing varied instrumentation ranging from analog synthesizers to choir, string instruments, pipe organ, and various chamber music formats. Her music is often based on minimalist structures, exploring the inherent spectral properties of sound.
Maria’s and Sara’s musical relationship dates back to when they were both teenagers playing in the same band in their hometown Härnösand. This band was at the time playing a blend between folk music and rock, influenced by the wave of progressive music deriving from the north of Sweden at the time.
During the process of making Funeral folk they revisited this shared background after a decade of cultivating their respective musical paths.
Funeral Folk was originally composed for the dance performance Funeral created by Mattias Lech and Lisen Ellard. Funeral explores the rites of loss and their place in a de-ritualized and dying civilization.
Leading up to this performance, the group learned some traditional lamentation techniques of Finnish Karelia from Pirkko Fihlman.
These songs of mourning have been used as a way of expressing collective and personal grief, and are sung at funerals to guide the deceased on their last journey.
