The Pagan Herald #01
In
an older interview, you once said regarding the significance of
mythology for you:”…it’s rather the idea behind northern mythology,
which fascinates me. It stands for freedom and pride, while the
church stands for oppression and weakness. I believe in a thing,
which mankind cannot understand, call it God, Odin or maybe the
spirit of nature…”. If I understand you correctly, it’s more
the comprehensive spirit of northern mythology you value, not the
myths themselves? I can appreciate this point of view. It’s one
of the main cores of today’s paganism, to be your own and not to
follow determined paths. Which says: Choose for yourself, in which
matter the old ways affect your daily life, but know, what you’re
talking about! Think consciously! Regarding northern mythology,
it can range from the highly ritual-based communities of Asatro
and Odinism to autonomous, freethinking individuals. The latter
merely includes certain aspects of mythological knowledge into the
daily life. Please explain your opinion! In which way do you integrate
mythology into your daily lives? Are they a plain resource or more
a scientific basis? How do you preserve the myths’ authentic roots?
This question can be answered quick: I´m a highly rational person.
I´m interested in old myths, but I wouldn`t go so far to say I integrate
them in my daily life. A rather stupid thought anyway: On the one
hand the daily life, on the other hand the old myths. It`s far more
complex. Because of my interest for northern mythology I read, hear,
in general consume art, which deals with northern mythology. Because
I consume this stuff, my thoughts deal with the old myths, conscious
or subconscious. And because of this the way I see the world changes.
That´s why you could say I integrate mythology in my daily life,
but with what kind of consequences I don`t know, I deal with northern
mythology for such a long time that I´ve forgotten how I was thinking
before.
Well, let us go deeper into this complex subject. You know, most
of Hagal’s lyrics consist of a real skilful poeticism,
but also has miscellaneous possibilities for interpretation. There
are different levels of reading. One is the obvious heathenish one.
The other is open to individual interpretation. You said you transfer
northern myths throughout your lyrics into your daily life. You
make use of them, not as a plain channel to express something (like
a vocabulary), but as a deeper part of the self. Is this correct?
If I read between the lines of lyrics like for instance “Nebelkrieger”
('Warrior of fog'), “Das Ende” ('The end') or “Urd”,
I can see a clear analogism to today’s society and a persons environment.
Have you got any pattern how to see the lyrics’ deeper meaning?
Yes, and who is responsible for the lyrics?
In general I am the one, who`s responsible for the lyrics. “Das
Ende” was written by A.F. and I really don`t know what he`s
trying to express in this song. He won`t tell us. You`re totally
right by saying the lyrics are about myself, I think that`s what
you mean with ”a deeper part of the self”. Berthold Brecht coined
the word “parable” for this kind of stories/lyrics: The reader should
recognize the link between the lyric and todays society. I usually
extend those two dimensions, story itself and the parable, by a
third dimension: My own thoughts. The song “Nebelkrieger”
from our first album “Karg” is even more complex, it contains
four dimensions: The first is the story about a creature wandering
all over the land killing people, hiding in the mist. The second
is heuristical: The creature stands for the pest. The third one
is the link to todays society: The weakness of mankind, the believe
in helping gods leading to devastation and death. And, finally,
the fourth dimension: My personal thoughts, my hate towards the
biggest part of society: That`s why the lyric is written in the
first person perspective, that`s why the lyric leads to sympathy
with this cruel creature. We´ve come full circle!
In general, why did you “choose”, or better decided northern
mythology as to be the main content in lyrics and picture? Simply
intuitively? Where does the deeper interest come from? When, where
and how did this happen? I know you read a lot of books on history
and mythology. Do you like other mythologies as well, like the greatest
of all, the rich pantheon of Greek mythology? How did you
develop your interests?
Yes, I like mythologies in general. Why? Hard to answer. They`re
exciting, they´re full of good values, they make people think. I
decided northern mythology as to be main content in lyrics simply
because I know it better than for example Greek mythology. The booklets
artwork fits to the lyrical backround. I always liked mythology
and fantasy stories, I think it was my mother, who gave me the first
book on mythology as a present. That was the starting point.
What is the main principle of creating music and lyrics in your
opinion, both in general and concerning Hagal? I guess
you do not only compose music/ write lyrics to satisfy your own
purposes? Or is there a kind of message, a presupposed instructing,
educating or moralizing content (so to say) you would like to get
the recipient out of Hagal? What are the main feelings
you wanted to bring to mind for the listener? In this latter case
you would have the responsibility to explain Hagal’s symbolism
and subjects to anyone who hasn’t read or understood the lyrics
at all, don’t you?
There are no feelings we want to bring to the listeners mind. Everybody
feels in another way when listening to our music, and that`s great.
I mentioned this in an interview some years ago: The listener should
step into another world, what he sees and what he feels, we cannot
know, it differs from person to person. For example, one guy told
us, that he felt like paddling a canoe through the Norwegian fjords,
the cold winds blowing through his hair. We have other feelings
and emotions while listening to our music and so everybody feels
in another way… |
|
