Ancestral North

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.

Ross Hagen is associate professor of music studies in the Department of Music at Utah Valley University.

Table of Contents
List of Figures
Preface
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: Paradoxes of Ritual Folk Music: Enchantment and Escape
Chapter 2: Anglo Fascinations: A Cultural History of Borealism
Chapter 3: The Music of the North
Chapter 4: World Music of the Ancient World
Chapter 5: Individual Musical Approaches: Ancient Enchantments, Modern Technology, and Putting Away "Viking Things."
Aftermath: Final Libations
Bibliography
About the Authors