Mediaeval Baebes - 10th Anniversary Live

 Part 1

Part 2

 #Mediaeval Baebes #medieval music #choral music #traditional #crossover #a capella #vocal ensemble #ex-Miranda Sex Garden #live music video

Mediaeval Baebes have been called classic music's Spice Girls and early music Pussy Cat Dolls for their sexy contemporary approach to medieval music. Katherine Blake founded the group in 1996 after she left the goth music group Miranda Sex Garden. Katherine explains, "One of the inspirations for forming the Baebes was my participation in (another) Mediaeval ensemble called Synfonie, performing mostly Hildegard plainsong. The group also introduced me to a song called Salva Nos which I performed in a cabaret in Berlin. That song was the first we ever sang together and also the name of the first album we made." After returning to England she called her girl friends together and taught them the song then outlined her vision for an all female choral group. Her timing couldn't have been better. The music scene which had been dominated by male groups was about to be kicked over by a new breed of gutsy female vocalists starting with the Spice Girls. Even before the Spice Girls’ first album was released, the Mediaeval Baebes were working up enough songs for their first concert, which was held in a cemetery. Soon they made a demo tape and sent it off with high hopes but low expectations. Within days they were signed by Virgin Records sight unseen. The executives must have died and gone to heaven when they saw the Baebes for the first time and realized what a sizzling effect these young, sexy women in flowing white gowns produced on their audience as they wove an enchanting tapestry of heavenly music.
In the years that followed they have produced six albums, a live performance DVD, a songbook, a book of erotic art called Songs of the Flesh, and have toured all of Great Britain, Europe, and North America. In the USA they toured with Lilith Fair where they developed quite a reputation for pranks. Rachael Van Asch, the band's only blond, recalls those days, "like when our drummer boys Hans and Trevor dressed up in our spare long white dresses with full make-up and came onstage with us on Lilith Fair to perform the closing number with Sarah Maclaughlin." The band swelled to thirteen women at one time and now has settled on just seven voices, Katherine Blake (music director), Audrey Evans, Emily Ovenden, Marie Findley, Maple Bee, Cylindra, and Rebecca Dutton. The Baebes are all talented individuals, so the band makes time for everyone to develop personal projects.
Rachael, who left the band in 2004 to get married and have a baby, grew up in rock music. Her mother was a member of New Zealand band Ragnarock. For eight years Rachel Van Asch performed and served as costume designer for the Baebes. Rachael has also produced fashion clothes based on her costume designs under the labels Sacred Clothing and Van Asch. Now she is in the process of moving to Sweden where she will be opening a clothing store.
Audrey Evans has been with the band since the beginning but when she isn't performing she teaches in a nursery school. In November of 2005 she also gave birth to a son, Lewis, who is the love of her life.
Emily Ovenden is the daughter of famous English Ruralist artists Graham & Annie Ovenden but her talents are manifested in music and writing. She has written and published one book, Vulpes Vulpes, and has just finished her second novel, The Ice Room. Currently she is working on songs for an upcoming Celtic album.
Maple Bee, the dark haired mezzo soprano, joined the band in 2003. She spent her childhood on board a yacht, traveling the world and living in the Middle East. She has made two techno solo albums and just released a new dance album, Huski.
Mediaeval Baebes celebrated an important anniversary in May this year. Maple Bee tells, "the Baebes had their 10th anniversary party which involved lots of singing loudly in a pub called the Boogaloo on Highgate Hill, followed by lots of strange baebeish antics and fake champagne." In June, she says, they performed at "an amazing show in Cornwall inside a real life stalactite-ridden cave called Carnglaze Caverns - then on to the sunrise festival near Glastonbury.”
From: https://stores.renstore.com/art-and-music/mediaeval-baebes

Mediaeval Baebes - Musa Venit Carmine

 #Mediaeval Baebes #medieval music #choral music #traditional #crossover #a capella #vocal ensemble #ex-Miranda Sex Garden  

The Mediaeval Baebes are a crossover vocal ensemble whose unique style features a deft mixture of medieval music, multi-language texts, modern arrangements, and both ancient and modern instrumentation. Their skillful and attractive arrangements, usually fashioned by member Katharine Blake, often have a dark, somber character while exhibiting contemporary rhythmic and sound features. Consisting of about six to twelve singers, Mediaeval Baebes are typically attired in long, sometimes provocative gowns or gothic-inspired costumes, and may wear, depending on the concert's theme, vampiric teeth, flowered headwear, or other exotic accoutrements. Song texts typically deal with such subjects as death, drunkenness, unrequited love, and religious and supernatural subjects. The ensemble's members often play an instrument during performance. Katharine Blake, Bee Lee Harling, and Jo Burke, for example, are violinists; Emily Ovenden and Blake play the recorder; and other members, Esther Dee, Clare Edmondson, and Tanya Jackson, play various instruments. Over the years the group has made use of accompanists like Frank Moon (oud, cittern, etc.) and Rebecca Dutton (medieval fiddle, psaltery, etc.). The range of languages in which the Mediaeval Baebes sing is vast and includes Latin, French, German, Russian, Spanish, Italian, Swedish, Irish Gaelic, English, various older forms of English, and such archaic languages as Cornish and Welsh. The Mediaeval Baebes were formed in London in 1996. Founding members included Katharine Blake, who also serves as the ensemble's musical director, and Dorothy Carter, who played several medieval stringed instruments like the hurdy-gurdy and hammered dulcimer. Some of the earliest members were drawn from Blake's musical group Miranda Sex Garden. After early concert success, the Mediaeval Baebes were invited onto Thames Television in 1997 to sing the 14th century hymn Gaudete. Their first album, Salva Nos, was issued on Virgin Records the following year and it's success led to more prestigious concert venues and a string of popular recordings.  From: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1vQmLYgD92RwmsfHqTwjmQ 

Mediaeval Baebes - Scarborough Fayre

 #Mediaeval Baebes #medieval music #classical crossover #European folk #ethnic fusion #choral music #vocal music #traditional #a capella 

Mediaeval Baebes is an all-female ensemble from the UK, known in the international media as much for how they dress as for their music. The group originated on a lark and grew quickly, as friends invited friends to sing with the ensemble. Soon after recording a demo, Mediaeval Baebes was signed to Virgin, where the group became the fastest selling act on the label, second only to the Spice Girls. Their vocal musical style, steeped in ancient traditions, has topped the charts. The group was originally founded by Katharine Blake and Dorothy Carter in 1996 as an a cappella vocal group. Blake, a British classically trained musician who has worked with Michael Nyman and Nick Cave among others, said she founded the Mediaeval Baebes "just for fun." Her idea was to gather women friends to sing a few medieval songs at informal gatherings. While traveling in Germany she met Carter, who played hurdy-gurdy and dulcimer, and who eventually composed music for the group. Carter's talent for playing hurdy-gurdy, zither, and dulcimer inspired Blake to begin exploring ancient music, and she recruited other friends to join in the project. "Twelve was as many people as you could fit into Katharine's sitting-room," group member Ruth Galloway told the Independent in a 1998 interview. When the group was formed in 1996, there were 12 members plus Carter. In addition to Blake and Carter, there were Teresa Casella, who was in the band Miranda Sex Garden with Blake; Audrey Evans; comic writer Marie Findley; Nichole Frobusch; and Ruth Galloway. Members held various day jobs, from actor to computer programmer to clothing and jewelry designer.  From: https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/mediaeval-baebes