February 2010

 

Everything Remains bonus DVD, 'The story behind the lyrics' - Transcription of narration with lyric samples and links included:

 

Hello, I am Chrigel and this is Dr. Karin Stuber, assistant professor at the Indo-Germanic seminar of the University of Zurich again, thank you for your time!

 

First, to talk about the album in itself;  Our new album narrates a collection of stories of the Antique Gaul.   Particular stories, individual destines, legends which have been transmitted (to some extent fragmentarily) down through time.  On this album we want to consider these stories with a very critical approach a perhaps slightly sarcastic smile with the idea that essentially nobody really knows how it was back then and that is also how the album got its name: Everything Remains As it Never Was ….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first song we will look at is the title track of the album and I guess the name says it all.  The lyrics of this song express nothing other than the subjectivity of our perception of everything and in particular, history.  That is actually the central question of the lyrics;  How was it really back then?:  What is real?  What is real nowadays, what will be real in the future?  Basically, nobody knows.  The form of these lyrics is inspired by the old bardic poetry of the Cymric tribes whose traditional riddle verses consisted of either difficult or unanswerable questions.  So with this pattern, our text which refers to this form of poetry also expresses this fact of the subjective of our perception.  Now I’d like to ask you:  You too are confronted with this subjectivity of perception of history – You research and analyze old Gaulish inscriptions and texts which are of very peculiar nature to us.  It’s hard for us to comprehend what meaning is conveyed by them.  How do you judge this?  What human aspects can we interpret in them?   Where does the nature of the Gaul reflect itself?  What aspects will stay in the dark completely?

 

(Dr Stuber)  Of course there are many different types of lyrics.  I’d like to tell you about two examples, one of which is indeed of strange nature to us.  Those would be the magical texts which were inscribed in lead plates (photo 1) Magic is something that doesn’t play a role in our lives anymore whereas at that time it seemed to be a part of the normal, every-day life.  That’s why it’s hard for us to comprehend the meaning of those words.  But then again, there are also other texts for instance really short ones inscribed on spindle whorls (photo 2) that could be pretty salacious.  Young men writing notes to young women, basically what is done in schools today on pieces of paper.  So you see, the only thing different here is the medium, but the act and topic the same as today.  Certain things don’t change and are natural whereas some depend on cultural circumstances.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sempiternal Embers .. is a song which, in very poetic way, extols the everlasting constants in natures cycles – a topic, which was very important in the antique Gaul.  It describes and almost even praises the everlasting constants of nature.  In my opinion a topic which was very important in the antique Gaul.  We come across such everlasting constants in the Gaulish calendar of Coligny for instance. (photo 3) Compared to the present age festive periods of this calendar rely on important periods in the cycle of nature like for instance a solstice rather than historical events.  Now I’d like to know:  you are familiar with the calendar of Coligny to what extent did it influence and shape a Gauls life?

 

(Dr Stuber) I do assume that the calendar had quite an influence on the every day life of the Gauls since it was publicly displayed.  We have to be aware that there wasn’t a “Sunday” like we have it today but the calendar actually determined when a day of rest would be and alaso when cultic acts could be carried out.  In Rome for instance, court proceedings could only be held on certain days or be determined by the calendar.  What we know about the Gaulish calendar is, that whole months or just single days were designated as either mati (good) or anmati (bad) which surely has a cultic background.  This fact could of course easily shape the every-day life, especially if we mind, that for instance things like the signing of a contract were also considered “cultic acts”.  What’s really interesting about the Gaulish calendar is that certain days were exchanged – certain days of good months with certain days of bad months.  This lets us assume that there was a strive for months not blocking the public life. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Essence of Ashes is dedicated to the revolt of the Bagaudae which took place in the southern regions of Gaul (southern France, north Spain) during the late antique…by then these parts of Gaul were already a part of the Roman Empire.  Gaulish peasants, perhaps even the whole population were not content with the new governance under the Roman flag.  It’s safe to assume that they revolted against the oppressive taxation and what’s more it was introduced for a peasant to be bound to a certain piece of land.  This was probably another issue provoking their revolt.   The Bagaudae was a coalition of dissatisfied Gaulish peasants trying to exploit a political moment of the weakened central power for a revolt.  Amandus, one of the leaders of the Bagaudae goes down in Roman history as an usurper!  I don’t really know what to make of that, how do you judge this? 

 

(Dr Stuber)  Here we face our usual problem again the sources we have.  This was passed on by certain Roman historians who were not in Gaul itself but far away somewhere.  In this case we have one primary source.  This being coins that were made for Amandus.  Coins on which he is calling himself “emperor” (photo 4)  Of course this is quite pretentious.  It’s questioning the claim to power of the Roman Emperor.   But to what extent can you talk about an emperor somewhere in a province of Gaul…Well, I think usurper is definitely a big word, I don’t think his influence was actually that big. 

 

Yeah, I still have my doubts and questions about this whole thing.  The thing with the coins is a fact, definitely.  But what I ask myself is, who were the Bagaudae?  I mean, they weren’t a folk they were peasants who joined to a local militia, maybe something like a guerrilla warfare.  This sounds stupid, but maybe you have to imagine it as something like “Braveheart”, hehe And then to refer to an emperor seems kind of strange… Well like I said, in the end they were just peasants who tried to stir up a revolt.

 

(Dr Stuber) I agree with you on this and it’s easy to imagine that the Gaulish tribes or peasants were discontent with the situation.  Obviously Rome exercised its authority which provoked local riots, but the thing with the coin and the emperor imprinted on it could be viewed as the questioning of Roman claim to power rather than the aspiration of actually ruling yourself   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kingdom Come Undone -A song about Vercingetorix- A gaulish Warrior who definitely went down in history!  During the Gaulish War he tried to unite the diverse tribes of Gallia (who partly even were at enmity) under one banner and so repel the Roman invasion and end it once and for all.  The lyrics portray a passionate speech of Vercingetorix how he probably could have held it in front of assembled rulers of different Gaulish clans. 

The next song “Kingdom Come Undone” is about Vercingetorix.  He was a man who definitely went down in history as a man whose story moved many people over centuries, who was often underestimated and viewed with heroisation.  There is even a statue of him in France! (photo 5)   He was a person, a warrior who lived in the times of the Gaulish war and was driven by the vision of a free Gaul.  His endeavor was practically “mission impossible”.   He tried to repel the roman invasion and end it once and for all by uniting all the Gaulish tribes under one banner.  Now I’d like to ask you what kind of picture do the historical sources of Vercingetorix show us?

 

(Dr Stuber)   Once again, considering this case we depend on Caesar entirely. Vercingetorix was his enemy so he obviously had the interest to portray him as strong and dangerous as possible.  But Vercingetorix was certainly an impressive personality.  Mission impossible … Yeah, on one hand this may apply to today’s view but on the other hand we shouldn’t forget that the Gaulish tribes were by all means militant and successful.  But in this case they were unlucky for facing a rival like Caesar and fail in the end.

 

The lyrics of the song portray a passionate speech of Vercingetorix how he could or may have held it in front of assembled rulers of the different Gaulish clans.  His intention was only partially successful and in the end failed completely.  He eventually surrendered to Rome to protect “his folk” from death by famine.  (photo 6) and was executed publicly in Rome.  What would you say, why was it so hard to unite the Gaulish tribes?

 

(Dr Stuber)  It’s not very easy for us to judge this nowadays but it seems that tribal thinking in Gaul was very important.  One didn’t’ feel himself as a Gaul, but as a Helvetian, an Aedu, Sequani, or whatever.  We have to be aware of the fact that the size of the Roman Empire was quite an exception and that the belonging to a tribe was rather the norm!  And if you think about it, this was actually the case until the modern era in certain areas.  A united Germany (for instance) was formed pretty late after being at war for some time.  So I guess it’s comprehensible why the Gaulish tribes couldn’t join… maybe the gravity of the situation was underestimated, that they weren’t aware that not uniting could mean the end of their freedom.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quoth the Raven… is a poetic song about the topics of dying, death and what is beyond, according to what Gaulish mythology tells us about them… Themes which the Gauls seemed to have very concrete ideas of.  Looking at those ideas, we often encounter a ferryman who comes for the souls of the deceased to bring them to the otherworld with his ferry.  It is said, that due to this belief the tradition of placing a coin under the deceased person’s tongue developed.  Perhaps to pay the ferryman or to afford something in the afterlife.  Another picture that we come across is that of an island (representing the otherworld)   combined with a raven which, like the ferryman, comes for the souls to bring them to this island.  There is even a source implying that in Western Gallia on the Atlantic coast there lived a tribe that had the task of taking the deceased to the island which was apparently somewhere in the north of Britain.  Since you work with and analyze old Gaulish texts and talked about magic earlier on did you ever come across those pictures/ideas?

 

(Dr Stuber) I have to disappoint you on this one,  all texts that we have and study are of very practical nature.  They’re either dedicatory inscriptions, epitaphs, and so on.  But magic in itself is actually something rather practical since they wanted to serve a purpose with it …but no, no visions of the otherworld except of course from the Irish region in which the legends of the island and ferry are common.  But it’s not like this idea is only Celtic.  Look at Greek mythology where Charon brings the souls across the Archeron!  Or also the tradition of giving something to the deceased to take with them to the afterlife that’s definitely very wide-spread outside of Gallia.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“(Do)Minion” talks about another very strong personality, a Gaulish druid named Diviciacus.  He was politically active in the tribe of the Aedui  (photo 7).  On the one hand he was a druid but at the same time campaigned for a pro-Roman party.  Why he did this is not known to us today but I can imagine he thought it to be the last opportunity to confer with Rome or else his tribe would fall.   Ironically, his opponent was his own flesh and blood, his brother Dumnorix who was also politically active since he was king and you could say he detested Romans which obviously led to quite a conflict.  On one hand concerning the domestic party of the Aedui and on the other hand concerning the fact that they were related that probably wasn’t an easy situation to deal with…The lyrics of the song, like the lyrics of “Thousandfold” are quite bold.  We interpreted to some extent and of course it’s purely hypothetical but like I said, we want to look at the personal facet of the story.  I imagine it to be a devastating situation if two people are fighting for opposed political stances but at the same time have a natural attachment!    

(Dr Stuber) Well, from a strictly historical viewpoint one can only speculate.  Again, we depend on Caesar who was obviously only interested in the political side of the story not the personal one.  But if you ask me it’s legitimate to focus on the personal matter which was surely there, if it’s in the context of poetry and songwriting.  So I’m sure you can speculate if you are still aware of the fact which you are, that it ultimately is speculation.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nil  This revolves around the story of the tribe of the Salassii.. or rather the tragic end it took…  

The song “NIL” revolves around the story of the Gaulish tribe of the Salassi or rather the end it took.  The Salassi were one of those tribes who struggled vehemently against the Roman invasion for a long time (photo 8) Often small wars would occur  between the Salassi and Roman legions.  Sometime after a new emperor, Augustus, had been nominated everything went pretty fast.  He ordered to take care of the “Salassi case” once and for all.  The Salassi tribe was basically terminated and several different statements and assumptions exist regarding that a large part of the tribe was killed for sure and the survivors or most of them at least were sold as slaves to different regions or countries. 

 

A very sad story actually… but war has always accompanied us, it does today and it will probably do so in the future.  So it was like that in the classical world and the Gauls were everything but peace-loving tribes but still the case of the Salassi went down in history as a very sad example since it almost comes close to what one could call genocide.   Imagine a whole tribe that suddenly ceases to exist and it’s not like this is the only example regarding Rome.  During the Gaulish war history tended to repeat itself, the tribe of Usipi, a Germanic tribe endured the same thing and this is where I wonder since we’re not talking about a normal war but the termination of whole tribes is it especially and on every occasion the imperialistic powers who seem to have a weakness for genocide or similar solutions?     

 

(Dr Stuber) I’m afraid you’re right.   But one has to be aware that such a huge empire like the Roman one – actually at the time a world empire had to struggle with the fact that the cultures in that empire were very different.   That basically means that there was no natural solidarity which eventually had to be forced upon the people by higher powers and the rebellion resulting from that couldn’t be ignored, even if only one tribe is caused trouble, it could have extended and to then seek for such radical solutions definitely has this background.   I think genocide is a very strong word since not a large amount of the tribe was killed, of course it’s not a nice destiny to be sold into slavery but at that time it was a normal procedure to sell your enemies as slaves after winning a war.  Again, we shouldn’t look at this with today’s standards.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lugdunon portrays an old origin legend a myth of the arising of this city, today’s “Lyon” in France.   Unfortunately, the legend only survived fragmentarily.  Nevertheless it’s a beautiful legend and historical sources present this legend with very distinctive pictures.  A strong young king, a wise druid, a fiend pursuing the population of   or perhaps prospective, Lugdunon.  And again we spot the raven in those images!  What’s your opinion of this?

 

(Dr Stuber) The images are, like you said, very strong!  There are references that this legend isn’t actually that old but was “fabricated” if you want to call it that, after the city was founded and then an origin legend needs good images there has to be a good story behind it, but that of course doesn’t suggest that the people couldn’t identify themselves with their foundation legend!

 

The Lugdunon of today, Lyon, is believed to be the city of light.  Every year the “Fete des Lumieres”, the Festival of Lights (photo 9) is celebrated with a torchlight procession at night, candles are lit everywhere.  I find this very interesting especially regarding the original name of the town “Lug” is the name of a Gaulish god who is associated with fire and light.  What do you think? Could there be a connection between the old myth and the custom of this festival?

 

(Dr Stuber) I consider this as possible.  In quite a few cases pagan traditions or festivities have  survived through time, even through christianity.  The meaning was reinterpreted, but the custom didn’t change.  Just think of Halloween for instance.  It’s an old Celtic feast that has survived for hundreds and thousands of years and is even becoming popular again nowadays.