Taylor Swift wasn’t the only one to dominate the pandemic music scene, 2020 also saw the rise of Bardcore. But, I know what you’re thinking, what is it and how did modern music get a medieval makeover?
Let’s face it 2020 was not your average year between the pandemic and lockdowns we all needed something to help us get through it, and for some people it was turning traditionally mainstream songs into what would definitely rocked the medieval age.
So what is Bardcore?
Bardcore is a genre of music which uses traditional medieval instruments and vocals to perform a song or tune that was not initially intended to be in a medieval style.
Modern popular pop songs are taken and transformed into the medieval style to create the perfect Bardcore songs. There are no words within the style and the instruments that are used are as follows; Celtic harp, whistles and hurdy gurdy style instruments.
The main aim of the genre is to provide music with that 5th Century to 15th Century AD vibe.
Musicians around the world have been creating covers of pop hits from the ’60s to 2020, as medieval ballads. If you can think of a song, it has mostly been created in the style. There are even playlists of bardcore songs on platforms such as YouTube or Spotify.
The likes of Dolly Parton’s ‘Jolene’, Foster The Peopel’s ‘Pumped Up Kicks’, and ‘Somebody That I Used to Know by Gotye, have all been rearranged and performed in Bardcore style by Hildegard von Blingin‘ via their YouTube page.
The music is incredibly fun to listen to and history lovers are absolutely loving the fun, unique historical twist on some of the best known modern music. Non history lovers are also engaged within the style.
The music style is certainly intriguing as the amalgamation of historical and cultural differences has created something truly bizarre and innovative that everyone can seemingly enjoy.
Where did it come from?
Bardcore really began to fascinate people during the isolation period of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. People found themselves with more time on their hands due to needing to stay at home during this period and this is how many people discovered Bardcore.
Bardcore was by no means created in 2020 as Wikipedia suggest that it has been around in some sense since 2010 – and again, let’s be honest Sting has been all over this for a while now.
But with the likes of TikTok fuelling our days an influx of videos which fit the genre largely came between 2020 and 2021 as most people had a larger amount of spare time during this time period.
Romanticising the past
Another reason for the success of Bardcore is romanticisation; as a society we love to romanticise historical eras particularly medieval eras.
This desire to create romance around everything stems from a desire to feel connected to the past and a desire to immerse ourselves within a fantasy world. Bardcore meets both of these points due to the cross over nature of the music. The cover art for songs is an obvious way to visually see this crossover.
People enjoy bardcore because it is unique and celebrates differences. Due to the wide range of modern songs which have been produced in the Bardcore style there is a modern medieval song out there for most people.