10 Years Corvus Corax // Backstage 1999 🎬
These two lovely guys (who are total sweethearts, I've been in contact with both of them), Castus and Wim, founded the medieval band Corvus Corax during their escape from the GDR via Hungary in 1989 and named themselves after their pet raven. Corvus Corax became one of the household names in the German medieval scene and beyond. Carefully researched ancient and medieval song lyrics in several languages, self-built instruments and composed orchestral epics are typical for the band, which still exists today under a slightly different line-up (Castus is still part of it, Wim has his own band and focuses on his instrument manufacturing company).
As always when I'm falling headfirst into a new obsession, I did some research and digging, et voilà , turns out that once again, everything is somehow connected 😊
Their first album, Ante Casu Peccati, was recorded in a cloak-and-dagger operation (the discogs entry literally says 'recorded during the night from 3rd to 4th March 1989') at the DEFA Studio, Babelsberg during the shooting of the fairytale movie 'Die Geschichte von der Gänseprinzessin und ihrem treuen Pferd Falada' (English: The story of the goose princess and her faithful horse Falada). Members of Corvus Corax contributed to the soundtrack of this movie, among others with Robert Beckmann, who later founded the band Inchtabokatables, in which Olli played until 1994.
On the mentioned album Ante Casu Peccati, the 17th track is named 'Heiduckentanz', based on the tradition of a Hungarian soldier's dance. This song name most likely rings a bell in every Feeling B fan's ear, since this band also has a song called 'Heiduckentanz' on their medieval-style album Die Maske des roten Todes from 1993. There is a certain resemblance between the two songs, and who knows - maybe the members of Feeling B could draw some inspiration from Corvus Corax, since Flake, Paul and Wim knew each other and worked together on Wir kriegen euch alle in 1991 - plus Feeling B played on medieval fairs a lot during that time, exactly the environment in which Corvus Corax performed.
Most likely, probably only my little fangirl soul is interested in all this, but I just adore it when I can find connections and parallels 🔎
(probably me and the fandom in here)
Little bonus: Wonderfully bizarre Nina Hagen, one of the flagships of German punk music, in the end of the Corvus Corax documentary ✨
