#31 - Heathen Musicology and the Ancestral North with Ross Hagen

In this very special episode I'm joined by fellow musicologist and mentor Ross Hagen to talk heathen musicology and how he and Mathias Nordvig went about approaching "Ancestral North: Spirituality and Cultural Imagination in Nordic Ritual Folk Music" - a musicological book on the nordic pagan music scene. Thanks for the good hang Ross!

"Ancestral North: Spirituality and Cultural Imagination in Nordic Ritual Folk Music offers a detailed exploration of Nordic ritual folk music, a music scene focused on the revival of ancient folkways and archaic music that has found remarkable popularity around the globe. Once the domain of Viking reenactors and neopagan practitioners, the niche sonic and visual aesthetics of this music have found widespread visibility through a new generation of popular films, television series, and video games. The authors argue that many of these musical and media products connect with longstanding cultural attitudes about the Nordic region that conceive of it as wild, exotic, and dangerous, while also being a place of honor, community, and virtue. As such, the Nordic region and its music often becomes a vessel for reactionary escapes from all manner of modern discontentment. However, the authors also posit that spending time re-creating the music of an imaginary past offers participants the possibility for engagement and re-enchantment in the multicultural present."

Link to the Book

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