Eluveitie
Encyclopedia
Eluveitie is a folk metal
Folk metal
Folk metal is a sub-genre of heavy metal music that developed in Europe during the 1990s. As the name suggests, the genre is a fusion of heavy metal with traditional folk music...

 band from Winterthur
Winterthur
Winterthur is a city in the canton of Zurich in northern Switzerland. It has the country's sixth largest population with an estimate of more than 100,000 people. In the local dialect and by its inhabitants, it is usually abbreviated to Winti...

, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

. The band formed in 2002 and their first EP, Vên came out in 2003. The band then released a full-length album, Spirit
Spirit (Eluveitie album)
Spirit is the first full-length album by the Swiss folk metal band Eluveitie. It was released on June 1, 2006 by Fear Dark Records and re-released by Twilight Records in 2007.-Track listing:# "Spirit" – 2:32# "Uis Elveti" – 4:24...

in June 2006. In November 2007, Eluveitie was signed by Nuclear Blast
Nuclear Blast
Nuclear Blast is an independent record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The record label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label moved on to releasing albums by melodic...

.
The first product of the collaboration, Slania
Slania
Slania is the second full-length album by the Swiss folk metal band Eluveitie. It was released on February 15, 2008 through Nuclear Blast.-Track listing:# "Samon" – 1:48 # "Primordial Breath" – 4:19 # "Inis Mona" – 4:09...

, was released in February 2008. The album peaked at number 35 in the Swiss charts and number 72 in the German charts.

Eluveitie use traditional instruments amidst guitars and loud vocals. The lyrics are often in the extinct language Gaulish
Gaulish language
The Gaulish language is an extinct Celtic language that was spoken by the Gauls, a people who inhabited the region known as Gaul from the Iron Age through the Roman period...

. The name of the band comes from a graffito on a vessel from Mantua
Mantua
Mantua is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy and capital of the province of the same name. Mantua's historic power and influence under the Gonzaga family, made it one of the main artistic, cultural and notably musical hubs of Northern Italy and the country as a whole...

 (ca. 300 BC). The inscription
Epigraphy
Epigraphy Epigraphy Epigraphy (from the , literally "on-writing", is the study of inscriptions or epigraphs as writing; that is, the science of identifying the graphemes and of classifying their use as to cultural context and date, elucidating their meaning and assessing what conclusions can be...

 in Etruscan letters reads eluveitie, which has been interpreted as the Etruscan
Etruscan language
The Etruscan language was spoken and written by the Etruscan civilization, in what is present-day Italy, in the ancient region of Etruria and in parts of Lombardy, Veneto, and Emilia-Romagna...

 form of the Celtic (h)elvetios (“the Helvetian”), presumably referring to a man of Helvetian
Helvetii
The Helvetii were a Celtic tribe or tribal confederation occupying most of the Swiss plateau at the time of their contact with the Roman Republic in the 1st century BC...

 descent living in Mantua.

History

The band was founded in the winter of 2002 by Christian "Chrigel" Glanzmann as a studio project featuring different people on different tracks. October the following year saw the publication of the MCD Vên
Vên
Vên is the demo by the Swiss folk metal band Eluveitie. It was first released on October 18, 2003 as a self-financed project. In August 2004, its remastered version was released under contract with Fear Dark Records...

(Helvetian Gaulish for "wild joy" ). After Chrigel decided to make Eluveitie a real band instead of a studio project, he assembled nine other musicians, making it a full ten-piece band.

Shortly afterwards, the group performed its first shows, one including the Swiss metal festival Elements of Rock, and Eluveitie signed a contract with the Dutch record label Fear Dark which released a re-recorded Vên in 2004. Other live performances were played, such as on some events of "Fear Dark Festivals", and even as support for the established international pagan–folk metal acts such as Korpiklaani
Korpiklaani
Korpiklaani is a folk metal band from Finland who were formerly known as Shaman.-Biography:While other folk metal bands began with metal before adding folk music, Korpiklaani started with folk music before turning metal...

 and Cruachan
Cruachan (band)
Cruachan [kroo-a-khawn] is a Celtic metal band from Dublin, Ireland that has been active since the 1990s. They have been acclaimed as having "gone the greatest lengths of anyone in their attempts to expand" the genre of folk metal. They are recognised as one of the founders of the genre of folk metal...

. At this point, the band became full-time, and 7 of the 10 members left for various reasons, leaving Chrigel Glanzmann, Sevan Kirder
Sevan Kirder
Sevan Kirder is the flutist/bagpiper for the Swiss band Red Shamrock .- Career :He is best known for his work in Eluveitie which he left on June 4, 2008.- Privates :...

, and Meri Tadic to carry on with new members. They recruited six others, including Sevan Kirder
Sevan Kirder
Sevan Kirder is the flutist/bagpiper for the Swiss band Red Shamrock .- Career :He is best known for his work in Eluveitie which he left on June 4, 2008.- Privates :...

's brother Rafi
Rafi Kirder
Rafi Kirder is the bassist for the Swiss band Red Shamrock , he also plays slap bass and tic tac bass in Swiss outlaw country band Deathrope under his alter persona Richland K...

 to play bass, making Eluveitie a nine-piece band.

A limited edition tribute album to the German-Icelandic band Falkenbach
Falkenbach
Falkenbach is a Viking metal group from Germany that is currently signed to Prophecy Productions. The name means "Falconbrook" in German. The one permanent member is Vratyas Vakyas.-History:...

 was published in 2006 to celebrate their 15th anniversary. The album included Eluveitie's cover song, "Vanadis".

At the beginning of 2006, there was another change in the band's line-up. Sarah Kiener was replaced by Anna Murphy to play hurdy gurdy
Hurdy gurdy
The hurdy gurdy or hurdy-gurdy is a stringed musical instrument that produces sound by a crank-turned rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar to a violin...

 and Linda Suter was removed, trimming the band down to eight members.

In the second quarter of 2006, the album entitled Spirit
Spirit (Eluveitie album)
Spirit is the first full-length album by the Swiss folk metal band Eluveitie. It was released on June 1, 2006 by Fear Dark Records and re-released by Twilight Records in 2007.-Track listing:# "Spirit" – 2:32# "Uis Elveti" – 4:24...

was published on Fear Dark, and in September that same year Eluveitie toured Europe with the German band Odroerir. At the end of 2006, Eluveitie signed a new recording contract with the German label Twilight Records. In early 2007, they played at Ragnarök Festival
Ragnarök Festival
Ragnarök Festival is a pagan metal festival held annually in Germany since 2004 founded by Ivo Raab. It started out as a small one night festival with only regional bands in the town hall of Hollfeld. In 2005 it was decided to go for a festival featuring mostly Viking and pagan metal with the...

.

In November 2007, Eluveitie signed a contract with label Nuclear Blast. The new studio album Slania
Slania
Slania is the second full-length album by the Swiss folk metal band Eluveitie. It was released on February 15, 2008 through Nuclear Blast.-Track listing:# "Samon" – 1:48 # "Primordial Breath" – 4:19 # "Inis Mona" – 4:09...

(a girl's name that Chrigel saw on a 2500-year-old tombstone) was released on February 15, 2008.

On June 4, 2008, brothers Rafi Kirder
Rafi Kirder
Rafi Kirder is the bassist for the Swiss band Red Shamrock , he also plays slap bass and tic tac bass in Swiss outlaw country band Deathrope under his alter persona Richland K...

 and Sevan Kirder
Sevan Kirder
Sevan Kirder is the flutist/bagpiper for the Swiss band Red Shamrock .- Career :He is best known for his work in Eluveitie which he left on June 4, 2008.- Privates :...

 (bassist and bagpipe player, respectively) announced on their MySpace pages that they would leave Eluveitie following their concert at the Metal Camp Open Air in Slovenia on July 8, 2008.

Eluveitie's next project, Evocation, was announced in 2008. The first part of the album, Evocation I: The Arcane Dominion, was released in April 2009. The band released an official special edition of this new album as Slania / Evocation I - The Arcane Metal Hammer Edition
Slania / Evocation I - The Arcane Metal Hammer Edition
Slania / Evocation I - The Arcane Metal Hammer Edition is an album by the Swiss folk metal band Eluveitie.- History :It was released in Germany on April 15, 2009 through Nuclear Blast as bonus of the May Edition from the Metal Hammer magazine...

 on the May Edition from the Metal Hammer
Metal Hammer
Metal Hammer is a monthly heavy metal music magazine published in the United Kingdom by Future Publishing, and in several other countries by different publishers. Metal Hammer articles feature both mainstream bands and more unusual acts from the whole spectrum of heavy metal music...

, the magazine was released on 15 April 2009 with six songs from Evocation I - The Arcane Dominion
Evocation I - The Arcane Dominion
Evocation I: The Arcane Dominion is the third full-length album by the Swiss folk metal band Eluveitie. It was released on April 17, 2009 through Nuclear Blast. Contrary to their previous works, this album is almost entirely acoustic. The vocals are primarily handled by hurdy gurdist Anna Murphy...

 and six from Slania
Slania
Slania is the second full-length album by the Swiss folk metal band Eluveitie. It was released on February 15, 2008 through Nuclear Blast.-Track listing:# "Samon" – 1:48 # "Primordial Breath" – 4:19 # "Inis Mona" – 4:09...

 album.

Eluveitie announced via their website on 17 September 2009 that they were working on a new album titled Everything Remains (As It Never Was). The entire album was made available for "full prelistening" through the band's MySpace page on 12 February, to remain available until the album's European release. The album was released 19 February 2010.

Eluveitie toured Europe and North America extensively in 2010 and also visited India in February 2010 when they played at the college campus of Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati
Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati
Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati is an autonomous engineering and technology-oriented institute of higher education established by the Government of India, located in Guwahati, in the state of Assam in India...

, Assam
Assam
Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...

, India. As of late January 2011, the band are touring Brazil before moving on to a North American tour planned for February, and are scheduled to play many European festivals in 2011.

In August 2010 they were awarded the Metal Hammer
Metal Hammer
Metal Hammer is a monthly heavy metal music magazine published in the United Kingdom by Future Publishing, and in several other countries by different publishers. Metal Hammer articles feature both mainstream bands and more unusual acts from the whole spectrum of heavy metal music...

 "Up and Coming 2010" title at the Wacken Open Air
Wacken Open Air
Wacken Open Air is a summer open air heavy metal music festival. It takes place annually in the small town of Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany...

.

Eluveitie has decided that they will record another metal album, and then work on their next acoustic album, Evocation II.

Characteristics

Eluveitie infuses traditional Celtic folk melodies with Gothenburg
Gothenburg
Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...

-styled melodic death metal
Melodic death metal
Melodic death metal is a heavy metal music style that combines elements from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal with elements of death metal. The style was developed during the early and mid-1990s, primarily in England and Scandinavia...

. Eluveitie uses traditional folk instruments in their music, such as fiddles
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

, tin whistles and flutes, bag pipes and hurdy gurdies
Hurdy gurdy
The hurdy gurdy or hurdy-gurdy is a stringed musical instrument that produces sound by a crank-turned rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar to a violin...

. The traditional folk tunes in their songs have been drawn from various sources, such as traditional Irish reels. While many of their lyrics are in English, some are in the ancient extinct Gaulish language. All of the lyrics on their 2009 release Evocation I - The Arcane Dominion
Evocation I - The Arcane Dominion
Evocation I: The Arcane Dominion is the third full-length album by the Swiss folk metal band Eluveitie. It was released on April 17, 2009 through Nuclear Blast. Contrary to their previous works, this album is almost entirely acoustic. The vocals are primarily handled by hurdy gurdist Anna Murphy...

are in Gaulish (except the first song "Sacrapos - At First Glance"). Their lyrics are based on texts written in Gaulish such as prayers, invocations of the gods and other spirits.

Current members

  • Chrigel Glanzmann
    Chrigel Glanzmann
    Christian "Chrigel" Glanzmann is a vocalist in the folk metal band Eluveitie. He also plays mandola, whistles and bagpipes in Branâ Keternâ.-Equipment:*Throat/Shure SM58*Mandola *Tin & low whistles *Uilleann pipes*Gaita*Acoustic guitar...

     – vocals
    Singing
    Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...

    , mandola
    Mandola
    The mandola or tenor mandola is a fretted, stringed musical instrument. It is to the mandolin what the viola is to the violin: the four double courses of strings tuned in fifths to the same pitches as the viola , a fifth lower than a mandolin...

    , whistle
    Whistle
    A whistle or call is a simple aerophone, an instrument which produces sound from a stream of forced air. It may be mouth-operated, or powered by air pressure, steam, or other means...

    s, pipes
    Pipe (instrument)
    Pipe describes a number of musical instruments, historically referring to perforated wind instruments. The word is an onomatopoeia, and comes from the tone which can resemble that of a bird chirping.-Folk pipe:...

    , gaita
    Gaita
    Gaita may refer to:Musical instruments*Various types of bagpipes common to Spain and Portugal such as:** Gaita asturiana, a bagpipe used in the Spanish provinces of Asturias, northern León and western Cantabria...

    , acoustic guitar
    Acoustic guitar
    An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...

    , bodhrán
    Bodhrán
    The bodhrán is an Irish frame drum ranging from 25 to 65 cm in diameter, with most drums measuring 35 to 45 cm . The sides of the drum are 9 to 20 cm deep. A goatskin head is tacked to one side...

     (2002–present)
  • Meri Tadić – violin
    Violin
    The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

    , vocals (2003–present)
  • Merlin Sutter – drums
    Drum kit
    A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....

     (2004–present)
  • Simeon Koch – lead guitar
    Lead guitar
    Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...

    , vocals (2004–present)
  • Ivo Henzi – rhythm guitar
    Rhythm guitar
    Rhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...

     (2004–present)
  • Anna Murphy – hurdy gurdy
    Hurdy gurdy
    The hurdy gurdy or hurdy-gurdy is a stringed musical instrument that produces sound by a crank-turned rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar to a violin...

    , vocals (2006–present)
  • Kay Brem – bass guitar
    Bass guitar
    The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

     (2008–present)
  • Patrick Kistler – bagpipes, whistles (2008–present)

Former members

  • Sevan Kirder
    Sevan Kirder
    Sevan Kirder is the flutist/bagpiper for the Swiss band Red Shamrock .- Career :He is best known for his work in Eluveitie which he left on June 4, 2008.- Privates :...

     – bagpipes
    Bagpipes
    Bagpipes are a class of musical instrument, aerophones, using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. Though the Scottish Great Highland Bagpipe and Irish uilleann pipes have the greatest international visibility, bagpipes of many different types come from...

    , flute
    Flute
    The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...

    s, whistles, vocals (2003–2008)
  • Rafi Kirder
    Rafi Kirder
    Rafi Kirder is the bassist for the Swiss band Red Shamrock , he also plays slap bass and tic tac bass in Swiss outlaw country band Deathrope under his alter persona Richland K...

     – bass guitar, vocals (2004–2008)
  • Severin Binder – bagpipes, flutes, whistles, vocals (2004–2006)
  • Linda Suter – fiddle
    Fiddle
    The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...

    , vocals (2003–2004)
  • Sarah Kiener – hurdy gurdy
    Hurdy gurdy
    The hurdy gurdy or hurdy-gurdy is a stringed musical instrument that produces sound by a crank-turned rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar to a violin...

    , crumhorn
    Crumhorn
    The crumhorn is a musical instrument of the woodwind family, most commonly used during the Renaissance period. In modern times, there has been a revival of interest in Early Music, and crumhorns are being played again....

    , accordion
    Accordion
    The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....

    , vocals (2005–2006, guest 2009)
  • Dani Fürer – lead guitar (2003–2004)
  • Dide Marfurt – hurdy gurdy, bagpipes (2003–2004)
  • Gian Albertin – bass, vocals, sound effects (2003–2004)
  • Dario Hofstetter – drums (2003–2004)
  • Yves Tribelhorn – rhythm guitar (2003–2004)
  • Philipp Reinmann – Irish bouzouki
    Irish bouzouki
    The Irish bouzouki is a development of the octave mandolin adapted for Irish traditional and other folk music from the late 1960s onward.-Adoption for Celtic music:...

     (2003–2004)
  • Mattu Ackerman – fiddle
    Fiddle
    The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...

     (2003–2004)

Guest musicians

  • Fredy Schnyder – guitar (2009)
  • Mina the Fiddler – fiddle (2009)
  • Oliver Sa Tyr – nyckelharpa
    Nyckelharpa
    A nyckelharpa , sometimes called a keyed fiddle, is a traditional Swedish musical instrument. It is a string instrument or chordophone. Its keys are attached to tangents which, when a key is depressed, serve as frets to change the pitch of the string.The nyckelharpa is similar in appearance to a...

     (2009)
  • Alan Averill
    Alan Averill
    Alan Averill is an Irish musician most notable for his vocal duties for the folk/black metal band Primordial. Averill joined Primordial in 1991, thus being a founding member of that band...

     – vocals (2009)
  • Torbjörn "Thebon" Schei – vocals (2010)
  • Brendan Wade – uilleann pipes
    Uilleann pipes
    The uilleann pipes or //; ) are the characteristic national bagpipe of Ireland, their current name, earlier known in English as "union pipes", is a part translation of the Irish-language term píobaí uilleann , from their method of inflation.The bag of the uilleann pipes is inflated by means of a...

     (2010)
  • Dannii Young – spoken voice (2010)

Discography

"—" denotes a release that did not chart>
Year Title Label Chart peaks
CH
Swiss Music Charts
The Swiss Music Charts are Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland.The Swiss Charts include:* Singles Top 75...


DE
Media Control Charts
The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie...


FI
GR
IFPI Greece
International Federation of the Phonographic Industry Greece or IFPI Greece is the Greek branch of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and is the official charts provider and recording sales certification body for Greece. Currently two charts are compiled, one for sales of...

FR
Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique
The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry...


2008 Slania
Slania
Slania is the second full-length album by the Swiss folk metal band Eluveitie. It was released on February 15, 2008 through Nuclear Blast.-Track listing:# "Samon" – 1:48 # "Primordial Breath" – 4:19 # "Inis Mona" – 4:09...

Nuclear Blast
Nuclear Blast
Nuclear Blast is an independent record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The record label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label moved on to releasing albums by melodic...

35 72
2009 Evocation I: The Arcane Dominion Nuclear Blast
Nuclear Blast
Nuclear Blast is an independent record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The record label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label moved on to releasing albums by melodic...

20 60
2010 Everything Remains (As It Never Was) Nuclear Blast
Nuclear Blast
Nuclear Blast is an independent record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The record label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label moved on to releasing albums by melodic...

8 19 31 24 110

Studio albums

  • Spirit
    Spirit (Eluveitie album)
    Spirit is the first full-length album by the Swiss folk metal band Eluveitie. It was released on June 1, 2006 by Fear Dark Records and re-released by Twilight Records in 2007.-Track listing:# "Spirit" – 2:32# "Uis Elveti" – 4:24...

    (2006)
  • Slania
    Slania
    Slania is the second full-length album by the Swiss folk metal band Eluveitie. It was released on February 15, 2008 through Nuclear Blast.-Track listing:# "Samon" – 1:48 # "Primordial Breath" – 4:19 # "Inis Mona" – 4:09...

    (2008)
  • Evocation I: The Arcane Dominion (2009)
  • Everything Remains (As It Never Was) (2010)
  • Helvetios (2012)

Videos


External links

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