Mediæval Bæbes

There’s something stimulating and magical about fantasy. There’s also something sexy about a musical collective comprised of eight women who compose and chant music to literature from ages long, long ago. Fascination in medievalism continues to make appearances through the arts (film and rock music) as well as through purists and reinventions, but these Bæbes, (as they like to be referred to; and rightly so), have taken this appreciation to a different level.

With 18 units composed from mostly unidentifiable sources of poetry and texts written in Middle English and Italian as well as mediaeval Latin, Cornish, Scottish Gaelic, traditional Manx Gaelic, and 18th century Swedish, these musicians have given breath and rhythm to passages that would have otherwise disappeared from our culture.

Recorded in London, England and produced by Dru Masters, instruments responsible for the enchanting and mystical sounds include the cittern, dulcimer, zither, cello, viola, glockenspiel, concertina, and the harmonium among others.

Some songs are deep and uplifting while others dark and eerie as the underlying whispers beneath the chanting in ‘Tam Lin’ (a song about being captured by the queen of fairies on Halloween night). Layers of various strings and vocal harmonies create the trancelike effect in the traditional Manx Gaelic folk song ‘Lhiannan Shee’, about a man who falls in love with a fairy and is never able to find love again with mortal women.

Listening to these songs continuously will definitely hypnotize. The Bæbes describe the Latin word Mirabilis as “a supernatural force on the fringes of this world”. Depending on your beliefs, Mirabilis may have not only existed in the past but has been making its appearance for several centuries.