[This is a rough-draft excerpt from my forthcoming book concerning the history of modern Pagan and occult music. All work is copyright 2007 Jason Pitzl-Waters, and is posted under a Creative Commons License.]

"Neopagan identity is primarily expressed at festivals through music and dance. Drums and percussion instruments are common at many workshops and chanting often occurs at the beginning and end of workshop sessions." - Sarah M. Pike, Earthly Bodies, Magical Selves: Contemporary Pagans and the Search for Community

By the late 1970s and early 1980s, Pagan and occult music was starting to take on an existence of its own apart from its cultural and musical influences. Perhaps the purest expression of this was within the context of Pagan-run events and festivals. Unlike other musical genres where Pagan and occult-influenced musical strains emerged, there was no doubt here as to the religious allegiance of the performers or for whom they were performing, this was music made by Pagans for Pagans. These bands and songwriters often emerged from communal musical endeavors around campfires and drum circles, a process that continues to this day, and in the process helped form a more cohesive religious culture.

The Rise of the Pagan Festivals in the late seventies and early eighties was a huge motivator and agent of growth for Pagan-created music. The Pagan Spirit Festival in Wisconsin (now held in Ohio) started in 1980, The Starwood Festival in Pennsylvania(now held in New York) started in 1981. and the Rites of Spring Festival started in 1979 in New England among others created a new kind of venue for Pagan music. Here in a supportive and non-judgmental atmosphere a pool of musicians consisting primarily of hobbyists and amateurs emerged as performers for an audience hungry for music geared towards their view of the world and religious affiliation.

"The fact is that within the [Pagan] community, there is a great deal of appreciation for any creative endeavor in a way that is not true in mainstream culture. As a result, performers who would not have what it takes to be successful outside the movement are not only tolerated, but encouraged within it. This is actually one of the things I like about Paganism -- not the mediocre music, of course, but the fact that it's a subculture in which the active art of participating in the performance of folklore is still valued, in a way it is not in mainstream culture." - "Bramble", Pagan Music Questionnaire, 2007

Pagan musician and songwriter Jim Alan (who along with musical partner Selena Fox was part of the emerging Pagan music scene in the late seventies) remarked that the early festival culture, and the music produced within those confines was often informal and familial.

"The first [Starwood] festival was small compared to things nowadays, but that gave everyone a better chance to get acquainted...Early Pagan gatherings were highly communal and informal. At festivals when I was giving a concert, such as with early PSGs, early Starwoods, and the Pan Pagan Festival out of Chicago, people sat on the ground in a wide semicircle in front of the performer, and car headlights were sometimes used as stage lights. Other times, there were Coleman lanterns, flashlights, or electric lights, depending on what was available. Microphones might or might not be used. There was a real sense of intimacy with the audience, because they were only a few feet away, and there was nothing to separate us. I encouraged people to sing along on choruses, which helped bring us together, too."

As the 1980s progressed, the number of festivals grew at an amazing rate. From a handful in the late 1970s to literally hundreds across America, the UK, Australia, and Europe today, and attended by hundreds of thousands of modern Pagans, occultists, and fellow travelers. While the original ad-hoc feeling of musical gatherings still exists, many festivals now have an established stage for musical performances and other related activities. As a result, self-consciously Pagan music has evolved a far more polished cadre of artists (in addition to the hobbyists) who travel to festivals and other concert venues, release professionally recorded CDs, and enjoy a national (and often international) fan-base. This has allowed music primarily created for a Pagans to gain a wider audience with listeners sympathetic to messages contained within (Womyn's Music, Folk, Goth, New Age, and World music scenes have all contributed in part to these "crossover" sales).

Today it is still the festival and convention circuit that acts as the primary venue for most of these Pagan-focused artists. Like all musical movements there have been different "waves" of performers over the thirty-plus years of Pagan music. This has ranged from the early folk-oriented performers to today's vibrant festival culture where artists from several different genres make appearances on stages playing to thousands.

Labels: festivals, Pagan Music

To anyone paying attention it becomes clear that there isn't "a" Pagan music any longer (if indeed there ever was a singular "Pagan music"), instead there are several different Pagan musics from many different genres and perspectives that now co-exist. But increasingly, it appears as if the barriers of genre and subculture are starting to break down, at least within the mainstream Summer festival circuit.

In my main Pagan blog The Wild Hunt, I mentioned a relatively young festival in Michigan called Paganstock. Unlike other festivals, Paganstock features a line-up heavy with Pagan and Pagan-friendly metal bands.

"...a previous performer at Paganstock said: 'This is the only place a pagan can be a pagan.' The speaker was Roy Addams of Portland, Maine's metal band 13 Winters, one of this year's headliners ... Most of the music will be hard rock or metal. 'It seems a lot of pagan festivals in the past have had folk music, very mellow, a softer tone to it. ... There are a lot of artists out there that have a heavier or different sound I'd like to showcase,' Pulka said."

Among the Pagan metal bands in attendance are 13 Winters, Urn, With No Remorse, and Burning Sage. This is in stark contrast to larger American festivals like Pagan Spirit Gathering and Starwood, where the lineups are still dominated by singer-songwriters, choral groups, and folk music (as it was since Pagan festivals emerged in the early seventies).

What will be interesting to see is if more organizers start to invite a greater number of youth-oriented musical genres and activities to happen at their Pagan festivals and events (something that seems to happen more often in the UK), or if two types of festivals/conventions will emerge, ones for the older (and still culturally dominant) baby-boom generation and ones for the gen-x, and (the ever-growing) gen-y demographics.

MP3 Link: "Reflections" by URN.

Labels: 13 Winters, Burning Sage, festivals, metal, Pagan Music, URN, With No Remorse