The Varangian's Saga – Epic Byzantine Symphony feat. The Skaldic Bard



A collaboration between ​⁠@SkaldBard and Farya Faraji. Music by Farya Faraji and The Skaldic Bard with traditional melodies from Greek, Scandinavian, Georgian, Belarusian and Ukrainian folk music.

Old Norse and Old East Slavic lyrics by The Skaldic Bard, Koine Greek lyrics by Demetrios Paraschos, with additional texts from The Alexiad, Kutadgu Billig, the Divan of Hafez, and the Roman des Franceis.

Instrumentation by @Dimitrios_Dallas, Jiří Maršálek, Mohab Attalah, Illias de Sutter Ndavidlis, GSMusicStudio and the Hiimart Group.

Vocals by Skaldic Bard, Farya Faraji, @julyvitraniuk, Dimitris Kap, and The Skaldic Bard’s wife Lady Skald.

This work is mainly based on the sounds of the depicted cultures’ modern counterparts, using the instruments, melodic motifs and rythmic patterns of the traditional forms found in those cultures today, as follows:

The Norse are represented using modern Scandinavian sounds: Norwegian-Faroese melodic motifs, Schottische dance melodies, as well as Swedish-Norwegian instrumentation such as the nyckelharpa, hardanger, harps, and traditional zithers of the region.

The Eastern Romans are represented using modern Greek traditional and liturgical sonorities: Constantinopolitan, Thracian, Nisiotika, Pontian and Cretan folk sonorities, including Psaltic liturgical forms such as kalophony using Byzantine musical temperaments. The instruments consist of: oud, kanun, Dodecanese, Thracian, Constantinopolitan, Pontic and Cretan lyras, gaida, saz, tzouras, and the medieval organ, as well as toumberleki, davul and bendhir drums.

Slavic passages are rooted in modern East Slavic folk motifs and instrumentation, primarily using guslis, bagpipes, the hurdy-gurdy, and flutes. July Vitraniuk provides the vocals using traditional vocal intonations of the region. The melodies associated with the Slavs come from the folk songs “Što j pa Moru,” and “Yurya,”
both from Belarus.

Georgian passages utilise modern Georgian traditional music, namely their specific kind of harmony, musical forms such as the Sachidao chant and Acharuli dances, the touloumi bagpipe, and the panduri.

The Normans are represented using historical medieval French music, with bagpipes, hurdy-gurdys (with the anachronistic usage of chiens on the latter), lutes and gitterns. Their passage uses Organum fifth and fourth parrallel harmony as per the era.

The Seljuks utilise a mixture of modern Turkish and Iranian music, with the usage of the ney, kopuz, and bağlama, drawing partially from Sufi musical forms as well as Anatolian folk dances.

00:00 Overture
02:58 My Astrid
06:27 Yearning
10:58 The Merry Vikings
15:02 To The World
22:42 Rivers of the Slavs
28:05 Miklagard
33:08 A Raven-Haired Maiden
36:26 The Emperor
42:24 Love’s Blossoming
45:16 To Georgia
53:42 The War in Georgia
1:07:14 My New Faith
1:09:42 Zonaradiko of Wealth
1:14:30 The Choice
1:17:23 My Wedding
1:20:06 Against the Rus’
1:23:00 Battle in Lemnos
1:26:57 Fury of the Slavs
1:31:14 The Varangians Retaliate
1:37:08 Zonaradiko of Greed
1:41:10 The Passing of Basil II
1:44:26 Tides of Time
1:48:50 Love’s Souring
1:51:58 Against the Normans
1:54:26 Battle in Montemaggiore
2:02:24 Farewell to Sigurdsson
2:05:06 A Life of War
2:13:54 Lament of Gold
2:16:02 Love’s Death
2:18:14 Taksims of Time
2:22:10 In the Year 6579
2:24:14 Astrid’s Lament
2:30:30 Elder’s Wisdom
2:36:14 Against the Turks
2:39:49 The Last Prayer
2:43:06 Manzikert
2:53:20 The Last Stand
2:56:52 Death

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44 thoughts on “The Varangian's Saga – Epic Byzantine Symphony feat. The Skaldic Bard”

  1. A collaboration between ​⁠The Skaldic Bard and Farya Faraji. Music by Farya Faraji and The Skaldic Bard with traditional melodies from Greek, Scandinavian, Georgian, Belarusian and Ukrainian folk music.

    Old Norse and Old East Slavic lyrics by The Skaldic Bard, Koine Greek lyrics by Demetrios Paraschos, with additional texts from The Alexiad, Kutadgu Billig, the Divan of Hafez, and the Roman des Franceis.

    Instrumentation by Dimitrios Dallas​⁠, Jiří Maršálek, Mohab Attalah, Illias de Sutter Ndavidlis, GSMusicStudio and the Hiimart Group.

    Vocals by ​⁠The Skaldic Bard, Farya Faraji, July Vitraniuk, Dimitris Kap, and The Skaldic Bard's wife Lady Skald.

    This work is mainly based on the sounds of the depicted cultures' modern counterparts, using the instruments, melodic motifs and rythmic patterns of the traditional forms found in those cultures today, as follows:

    The Norse are represented using modern Scandinavian sounds: Norwegian-Faroese melodic motifs, Schottische dance melodies, as well as Swedish-Norwegian instrumentation such as the nyckelharpa, hardanger, harps, and traditional zithers of the region.

    The Eastern Romans are represented using modern Greek traditional and liturgical sonorities: Constantinopolitan, Thracian, Nisiotika, Pontian and Cretan folk sonorities, including Psaltic liturgical forms such as kalophony using Byzantine musical temperaments. The instruments consist of: oud, kanun, Dodecanese, Thracian, Constantinopolitan, Pontic and Cretan lyras, gaida, saz, tzouras, and the medieval organ, as well as toumberleki, davul and bendhir drums.

    Slavic passages are rooted in modern East Slavic folk motifs and instrumentation, primarily using guslis, bagpipes, the hurdy-gurdy, and flutes. July Vitraniuk provides the vocals using traditional vocal intonations of the region. The melodies associated with the Slavs come from the folk songs "Što j pa Moru," and "Yurya," both from Belarus.

    Georgian passages utilise modern Georgian traditional music, namely their specific kind of harmony, musical forms such as the Sachidao chant and Acharuli dances, the touloumi bagpipe, and the panduri.

    The Normans are represented using historical medieval French music, with bagpipes, hurdy-gurdys (with the anachronistic usage of chiens on the latter), lutes and gitterns. Their passage uses Organum fifth and fourth parrallel harmony as per the era.

    The Seljuks utilise a mixture of modern Turkish and Iranian music, with the usage of the ney, kopuz, and bağlama, drawing partially from Sufi musical forms as well as Anatolian folk dances.

    00:00 Overture
    02:58 My Astrid
    06:27 Yearning
    10:58 The Merry Vikings
    15:02 To The World
    22:42 Rivers of the Slavs
    28:05 Miklagard
    33:08 A Raven-Haired Maiden
    36:26 The Emperor
    42:24 Love's Blossoming
    45:16 To Georgia
    53:42 The War in Georgia
    1:07:14 My New Faith
    1:09:42 Zonaradiko of Wealth
    1:14:30 The Choice
    1:17:23 My Wedding
    1:20:06 Against the Rus'
    1:23:00 Battle in Lemnos
    1:26:57 Fury of the Slavs
    1:31:14 The Varangians Retaliate
    1:37:08 Zonaradiko of Greed
    1:41:10 The Passing of Basil II
    1:44:26 Tides of Time
    1:48:50 Love's Souring
    1:51:58 Against the Normans
    1:54:26 Battle in Montemaggiore
    2:02:24 Farewell to Sigurdsson
    2:05:06 A Life of War
    2:13:54 Lament of Gold
    2:16:02 Love's Death
    2:18:14 Taksims of Time
    2:22:10 In the Year 6579
    2:24:14 Astrid's Lament
    2:30:30 Elder's Wisdom
    2:36:14 Against the Turks
    2:39:49 The Last Prayer
    2:43:06 Manzikert
    2:53:20 The Last Stand
    2:56:52 Death

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  2. The Greece runestones (Swedish: Greklandsstenarna) are about 30 runestones containing information related to voyages made by Norsemen to the Byzantine Empire. They were made during the Viking Age until about 1100 and were engraved in the Old Norse language with Scandinavian runes. All the stones have been found in modern-day Sweden, the majority in Uppland (18 runestones) and Södermanland (7 runestones). Most were inscribed in memory of members of the Varangian Guard who never returned home.

    On these runestones the word Grikkland ("Greece") appears in three inscriptions, the word Grikk(j)ar ("Greeks") appears in 25 inscriptions, two stones refer to men as grikkfari ("traveller to Greece") and one stone refers to Grikkhafnir ("Greek harbours").

    Swedish Viking ships were common on the Black Sea, the Aegean Sea and on the wider Mediterranean Sea. Greece was home to the Varangian Guard, the elite bodyguard of the Byzantine Emperor, and until the Komnenos dynasty in the late 11th century, most members of the Varangian Guard were Swedes. As late as 1195 AD, Byzantine Emperor Alexios Angelos sent emissaries to Denmark, Norway and Sweden requesting 1,000 warriors from each of the three kingdoms. Stationed in Constantinople, which the Scandinavians referred to as Miklagarðr (the "Great City"), the Guard attracted young Scandinavians of the sort that had composed it since its creation in the late 10th century.

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  3. Bar my joke comment 6 mins after this dropped I have to say this has to be my second favourite piece of yours so far
    (I have a weak spot for Nineveh- That build-up to the drums and the duel was just too hype for me)

    I really felt this story, was hyped when our viking lad was doing great, was regretful when he was filled with vainglory, was hyped at the battle segments, and was sad seeing his regrets
    I felt bad for Astrid, and ofc I was immensely hyped for the Basil segments (Holding out the gaida solo for the actual war in georgia has to be one of my favourite things in this symphony)

    Recognising the individual leitmotifs was also great fun- and really good for piecing together the details of the story

    Now, were I to pick my favorite segments / motifs- in no particular order
    – War in Georgia
    – The various Zonaradika
    – To Georgia, (with the Pontic song)
    – Merry Vikings
    – My Wedding
    – Fury of the Slavs
    – Astrid's Lament
    – Death

    And, finally, just to give an idea of something I'd like to see in a future symphony
    The 1204 – 1261 timespan
    – With the Fall of Constantinople to the crusaders
    – With the struggles of the successor states vs Latins, their successes and failures
    – With the Latins and their struggle to keep their Empire together
    – With the rise of the Bulgarian Empire
    – With the Arrival of the Mongols
    – With Strategopoulos' fluke of a win and Michael's coronation

    (In full honesty this is a bias pick bc I'd just like to see more Epirote stuff in this channel, and the Despotate's zenith would be a good place for that)

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  4. By far, for me, the most musical part I guess in this symphony is the Manzikert part, not only it adds the "Drottin Jesus Kristr" prayer but also Hikanatoi and Terirem, besides the muslim/Seljuk/Persian(I guess, pls correct me if I'm wrong) man, it feels so unique and amazing ngl. Thank you Farya and Skald for making this amazing 3 hour symphony of amazingness.

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  5. Новая симфония от Farya Faraji и Skald – лучший предновогодний подарок, который я мог только ожидать!
    На моменте, когда заиграл мотив «Што й па мору», чуть не рухнул со стула от удивления услышав знакомую мелодию и речь.

    Могу сказать спасибо – спасибо за твой восхитительный труд!

    The new symphony from Furia Ferrari and Skald is the best New Year's gift I could have expected!

    At the moment when the tune "Sztoj pa moru" started playing, I almost fell off my chair in surprise when I heard the familiar melody and speech.

    I can say thank you – thank you for your amazing work!

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  6. I can’t put into words how incredible this is. What makes it more emotional to me, is that your music is based off real events which really allows you to relate to the story. While the Varangian story may be just a story, the people in it are not. Basil, Arslan, the battles, they all happened and they were real people just like you and I. Such an incredible symphony as always. Thank you Farya Faraji, the Skaldic Bard and everyone involved. I wish I was more eloquent with my words to thank you properly.

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  7. This is breathtaking! One of your best symphonies for sure! So many good moments, new and old leitmotifs (usage of the Scandinavian female song to end the symphony reminded me of the "Gladiator" movie).
    And great thanks (Дякую and Спасибо!) for the Old East Slavic parts of the symphony! Kyivan Rus is somewhat unrepresented even in Byzantine-related historical media.

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  8. can you put latin alphabet lyrics for other seljuk or ottoman music pls as a turk i can understand partially these languages but i cant read arabic letters so i cant sing along with the music thanks

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  9. hearing 'Death' after listening and following along with the story it hit me right in the feelings, gave me goosebumps.

    oh and especially the last lyrics of 'the last stand' made me feel real sad.

    Reply

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