“In order to connect to what was before”, says Christopher Juul, “you have to disconnect from what it is now”.
That is essentially the mission statement of Heilung, the multimedia project created by the German vocalist Kai Uwe Faust and the Norwegian singer Maria Franz.
At the end of 2017, we were introduced to the Danish trio, who recorded an inspiring and intense concert at Castlefest. The band’s name translates to “healing” in German, and this describes perfectly their sound and the effect it causes on its audience. Invoking the primal wildness of the Northern European Bronze Age, the trio blends ancient and unusual tools — such as running water, human bones and frame drums — with electronic samples, plus a primitive and wild throat singing. Heilung’s sound is definitely a magical and quite spiritual experience.
Heilung’s lyrics are borrowed from texts found on rune stones, amulets and other preserved ancient artefacts. Along with Juul’s organic percussion, Faust’s resonant howls create an immersive bridge between folk tunes and death metal — a heaviness balanced out by Maria Franz’s smooth voice, which culminates in “amplified history”, a genre of their own making.
As for my own experience of Heilung’s work, it was love at first sight; the sound, the garments, the ritual aura that surrounds them on stage, everything seemed just in place. And to talk a bit about the spectacle witnessed in the Lifa album’s live performance, I had the pleasure of talking to Christopher Juul in the late July — a nice conversation that turned into my first interview and my debut as a blogger. I hope you appreciate.
My Heiðinn Life: Alright. First of all, I noticed many of us who watched Lifa’s concert got curious about the creative process in general. Where did the core idea come from? How much of that is based on historical records, and how much was added by yours and the other member’s inspiration?
Christoper Juul: It actually started as a poetic project between Kai [Uwe Faust] and I. I’m the owner of Lava Studios in Copenhagen, which mostly deals with Nordic traditional music but also with world music. Kai is the owner of Kunsten på Kroppen, a tattoo studio that deals with Nordic symbolism and hand-poked techniques. We both met at a Viking [reenactment] market in Scandinavia. Everything we do is either directly from the source or inspired by real events.
MHL: Like the singing of one of the Merseburger Zaubersprüche?
CJ: You are talking about Hamrer Hippyer?
MHL: Exactly.
CJ: Though we do not wish to present Heilung as 100% [historically] authentic — which would be impossible, since we are dealing with materials that are too old — , we wish to provide our take on the “feeling” from the early Iron Age in Scandinavia. Well, that is an interesting line indeed. We do not wish to give exact translations or explanations, because those are still open for great discussion in the scientific community.
MHL: I was introduced to this lyric before in an In Extremo’s album.
CJ: Roots of that poem can also be found elsewhere around the globe.
MHL: So Christopher, as a former member of Druidry, both Celtic and Norse cultures are a great source for me, and for many in my homeland. Both cultures hold inspiration and poetry in high regard, as something divine — though people’s opinions differ in this matter.
How would you define Heilung’s position regarding this? When you are together on stage, is that simply an artistic display? Or do you see it as a de facto rite? Also, how do you relate to that when it comes to, as you call, making “amplified history”?
CJ: Heilung means “healing”, and that describes the core of what we want to achieve. Amplifying history is the means through how we wish to achieve it. We are not a “band” in a modern sense. We use both visual and audio-visual material to bring people back to an ancient time. What you see on stage is also what we have been doing privately for years.
When we first discussed the possibility of amplifying our ritual [and turning it to] live, it was hard to see how that would even fit on a stage. Our initial idea was to actually do it on the ground, along with the audience — because we intended to invite everyone [to join] the travel that we were performing, in a very real sense. However, that would later prove to be impossible since the festival [management] have safety restrictions about this.
We see our live show as a kind of þing [thing] — a meeting ground for people and tribes. Originally, þings were performed in a stone circle or somewhere similar, so that everybody could look at each other in the eyes. Many rites, if not all, are set up in 360 degrees. Our first solo concert that will happen in October in Copenhagen will, in fact, be a circular 360 degrees show, and it will be the first time we will perform fully as was originally intended.
And there’s more: How we personally identify ourselves is, of course, different from person to person. Heilung is, after all, a very international concept live.
MHL: Is that what you intended to give to your audience then? Connecting with each other? The line “Remember that we all are brothers” comes to mind right away.
CJ: Yeah exactly. If you dig far enough back into your own history, then you realize how similar [our culture] is to any other ancient culture on the planet. Dig far enough back, and you find the same drawings, symbols, stories, songs and instruments. The more you travel into yourself, the closer you get to the world around you.
It’s only natural that we seek to learn about who were those people [who came] before us, because they are us.
MHL: That is the reason you write songs in many languages? What is the idea behind the linguistic variety? And how are your pieces made — everybody composes together, or each one was made by a member?
CJ: Languages differ according to the source. We don’t rewrite or translate them.
MHL: So it is a pretty intuitive work, I suppose?
CJ: It is, always. You could draw parallels to the work we do when doing living history. It’s about testing found objects. What to some seems like some sort of religious item, or whatever, can all of a sudden work perfectly as a door handle for example. We can only guess, but that guess demands thought and heart.
MHL: I’ve read in an earlier interview that, just like your writing sources, your garments and instruments come from many places. Did you make them yourselves?
CJ: Yes, all of them were made by us. A good example is the drums.
MHL: 100% handmade? Impressive!
CJ: We haven’t found a single drum in Scandinavia from the Iron Age. However, every single ancient culture used drums — therefore we had to find material elsewhere to recreate the same sounds.
MHL: What are they made of?
CJ: We use deer, horse, goat, cow, and reindeer skin. Blot, our big drum was made from a horse, with its spine tied in the middle.
MHL: Wow. I personally get pretty enthusiastic when it comes to primitive, folk instruments.
CJ: The drums we use are similar to Sami’s, Siberian’s or even Southern/Northern American drums.
MHL: Lakota drums are everywhere, huh?
CJ: As I wrote earlier, if you dig far enough back, we are pretty much the same! Another interesting instrument would be the Ravanhata — the bowed instrument Maria plays. In its current shape, it is actually Indian.
MHL: The one she plays in Alfadirheiti’s background?
CJ: Yes. You know, when Ibn Fadlan met the Northmen at the Volga River, he described an instrument that was buried with a man. That instrument is, of course, up to great discussion on what it exactly is. It is something between a lyre and a pandura. A pandura is sort of the great-great-great-grandmother of the mandola, which is again the great-great-great-grandmother of the guitar. In other words, a stick with a string attached to a simple soundboard — that design can be found everywhere, including [in the] Indian peninsula. As I wrote earlier, if you dig far enough back, we are pretty much the same!
MHL: Well, it leads me to the closing question: Since Heilung digs so deeply into our past (and since what we do today will soon become history)…what do you expect your work imprints in history for future generations?
CJ: I don’t expect anything really. Nor should I. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very happy to see how our work connects people around the world. I get to talk to you, on the other side of the planet, and that is cool! I believe we are in a time when people seek their roots, some even without knowing it, and I’m pleased to be part of it. However, it takes more than one person to connect, so you might as well ask the same question to anyone that listens to Heilung — because everybody is creating history as we speak!
MHL: Grand. I ask this to everyone I talk to because we all have a deep connection with history. It lingers on us somehow, but as you said, everyone feels it in a different way.
CJ: We are here now in a modern society because of both brilliant people and the opposite. For instance, I don’t know how to make a smartphone, but I know how to use it. I’m genetically 100% identical to the people who walked the earth 40 generations back. It’s only the surroundings that have changed. It’s only natural that we seek to learn about who were those people [who came] before us because they are us.
MHL: Yes. Still, we don’t see it in the modern world quite often. Not as much as I would like, I wonder…
CJ: It’s there, it’s just hidden. You just have to look beyond.
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Find more at: Heilung’s Facebook page | Kunsten på Kroppen tattoo studio
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*The pictures present in My Heiðinn Life are either licence-free, authorized by their owners or even of my own intellectual property. In case of any oversight, I ask you to get in touch so all pieces are properly credited.
