Re: Why should barbarians get all the poetry....

From: Jeffrey Zahari <jeff_zahari_at_...>
Date: Thu, 08 Mar 2001 02:48:19 +1100

I don't mean to rain on anyone's parade here (though Orlanth IS the God of Storm), but the sorts of songs that are being promoted here are using tunes from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries--tunes that are the product of a long history of Western music, starting probably with the development of church music in the middle ages, through the classical period of orchestral/chamber music/opera, to the popular songs of the nineteenth century. The twentieth century saw the addition of African rhythms to the European melodic tradition (hey presto, jazz).

It's most unlikely that any songs the Orlanthi or Lunars or anybody else have resemble at all "Scotland the Brave", "Advance Australia Fair" etc. Groaning horns, tinkling harps, and chanting would be the sound of a musical event. Instruments in pre-medieval times may have been used more for emphasis than melody. Listen to some oriental music (which never went through the same processes of development), for ideas on how a different, older culture might have heard music. Listen to Arabic Koran-reading to feel yourself transported to another place, where Western plainsong never appeared.

So what, you may say? It's just that I believe there is always a kind of current which sweeps us away from Glorantha, the Bronze Age world, towards Gloranthanachronismia. It's subtle and insidious. Yes, it can be fun, but beware! So much work and revision has gone into, eg the new systems of worship, that it would be a pity to spoil the atmosphere by the details. Let us try to think carefully about our models.

Attend! We have heard how the Sartari
In days gone by worked mighty deeds.
King Tarkalor deprived his enemies,
Man and beast, of their comforts.
He was a terror to them all, won honour
Until the folk of every nearby tribe
Under Wintertop's shadow
Were forced to give him tribute
That was a good king!

(sound of harp in background)

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