The Festival of Song
The fey are very fond of music of all kinds and singing in particular. They often hold small gatherings to perform and to listen to each other, but the one they simply call the Festival of Song is the greatest of these with a tradition that stretches all the way back to the Age of Wandering.
As a broad generalisation, most fey tend to favour simple accoustic music accompanied only by instruments which the singer can play themselves, but with endless and sometime baroque variations. They also enjoy a wider variety of styles, however, which come and go in cycles of fashion like those on mortal worlds although over longer timescales. These styles are reflective of styles in mortal evolutions and may influence them or be influenced by them, in complex feedback loops that include the transmission in some cases, of whole songs, relatively unchanged from realm to realm. Because of this borrowing, there are occasions when it can be hard to know where a particular song even originated in the first place.
As a broad generalisation, most fey tend to favour simple accoustic music accompanied only by instruments which the singer can play themselves, but with endless and sometime baroque variations. They also enjoy a wider variety of styles, however, which come and go in cycles of fashion like those on mortal worlds although over longer timescales. These styles are reflective of styles in mortal evolutions and may influence them or be influenced by them, in complex feedback loops that include the transmission in some cases, of whole songs, relatively unchanged from realm to realm. Because of this borrowing, there are occasions when it can be hard to know where a particular song even originated in the first place.
History
The first Festival of Song was the idea of Telynor Melysaf , who organised it in the Age of Wandering at least partly as a way to unify the scattered and often isolated travelling fey of the time. Despite all the great and important things Telynor went on to achieve, it is a tribute to her and to the interests of the fey that she remains most associated with this Festival in the minds of fey today and most loved for creating it.
Famous Performers
The folk singer, Karavas was a notable early performer in the Age of Wandering and the first to win five consecutive competitions at the Festival of Song. He liked to accompany himself on a specially tuned double string lyre which he had made himself and which gave him a unique sound rather like an accoustic guitar but capable of a greater range of volume when augmented with magic. His style was that of a wandering troubador with a mix of love ballads and some more rousing political songs which called for a permanent home for the fey. He was at least partially responsible for establishing the mood that led to the settlement of the Fey Court. In the Age of the First Wars, Marissa Moulin was a wildly popular singer with a style of smoky, even husky low key vocal and an ability to compose and sing torch songs that moved all her listeners. Some of her songs have passed down to our current age and are covered by contemporary artists from time to time. The entire population was devastated when she was slain by Glass Monsters in a random raid during the First Rift War. Near the beginning of the Age of Lost Memory, the artist Laulun Liekki brought a new energy to the festival with a focus on the important symbiosis between dance and music. Her upbeat and spectacular shows established a trend which has waxed and waned in fashion but never quite died out. Most fey think she has never been equalled in her chosen style. Later in the Age of Lost Memory, the singer Tal Zachron enjoyed a long period of popularity with a series of ballads and dance tunes, which, whilst not universally admired, had many fans. Moving forward to the current age, in the reign of queen Iceina Lanti, there was a vogue for the songs and musical aesthetic delivered by a singer who called herself Cyllell Cariad, the Love Knife. Her style had a sweet gothic melancholy which played upon a curious mood of forboding abroad in the realm at that time. Most likely this originated from the psychic miasma of royal seers who forsaw the fate that awaited their current queen. When Iceina Lanti, died from rapid onset Fade, Cyllell Cariad took her own life. It later emerged that she had been engaged in a secret passionate relationship with the queen and was unable to face the loss of her lover. Bringing things right up to date, at the last Festival a remarkable performance left the assembled fey shocked and amazed. A "contest of acclamation" had been publicised as the highlight of the final day. This form of entertainment sets two singers against one another, offering alternate songs throughout the evening until the acclamation vote, a magically mediated sound and light show, in which the crowd determine the winner by arcane means too complex to discuss here. The contestants were two bright new stars and here is how the contest was dramatised on the night in a broadcast to the crowd.On the red stage and representing the shadow forest lands west of Bravadelth, here she is, smoothly sophisticated yet edgy. We know she likes to engage in some subtle and not so subtle mockery of the Fey Court, mixed with high energy trance music. She's renowned for her clever lyrics and caustic wit and has gained a huge following over the last three years. It's her first time in a headlining role at the Festival and you've all been waiting eagerly for it. Give it up for Ehinosen! On the blue stage, representing the heartlands of the Fey Court, the freshest daisy in the field, the youngest immortal to ever sing at a Festival, the bright eyed innocent with the silver spoon and the golden tongue, direct from her humble dwelling on the banks of the river Shall with a cottage core aesthetic here's the sweetest ingénue in the Great Circle Wood. It's Klara Shall!It has to be said that in recent years the Festival of Song is wallowing in vulgar populism at the expense of art, but like everything else in the Fey Court it's hard to be sure how seriously the fey take their own entertainments and how much they simply enjoy parody, irony and a well enacted joke at their own expense and the expense of the evolutions. At any rate, the culmination of this latest Festival should have been a competitive sing off, but without warning Ehinosen and Klara Shall suddenly combined forces in a final extravaganza of a duet, obviously pre-planned and carefully choreographed in which the risqué dancing made the crowd go wild. When it later emerged that the pair had become lovers, splitting from their former male partners no one who was there could have been entirely surprised, although naturally there was much public outrage and professed shock which has now turned into excitable speculation about the implications for the forthcoming Dance of the Silver Tide. Commenting on this story in a lecture at the Stability Council agent training centre on the Underdown South campus, Dr. Cygnus Quinn said with a weary sigh. "This kind of frivolity is entirely typical of the fey. On the one hand they make great play of their undoubtedly long and serious history as the beating heart of the archetypes and ancient defenders of the realms. On the other hand, when it comes to questions of practical alliance, they are more interested in gossip about the sex lives of their latest celebrities and in generating drama and scoring points off one another than they are in the serious questions of what to do about the rise of the Proton King, or the machinations of the Limit Princes. It's next to impossible to get them to take these matters seriously. Truly, the fey are the original and best drama queens!"
Execution
The organisers arrange a running order for the most popular singers which is declared at the start of spring in the year of the festival, but some slots are left open for late entries into the event. Currently, Churai Alen, an influential sculptor and aristocrat, heads the comittee responsible for selecting the singers and determining the structure of the festival.
Observance
The Festival of Song takes place every five years at varying locations and times but always close to midsummer. Whilst it is usually held on the open fields of Tân y Gwanwyn, sometimes it has been held in the Great Circle Woods. The format is not always the same to keep it fresh. In some years there are competitions whilst other events are less structured. There is usually poetry and always instrumental music of various kinds and group singing and dancing. Participation amongst all the attendees is actively encouraged.
Festival Favourites
Karavas
Marissa Moulin
Laulun Liekki
Tal Zachron
Cyllell Cariad
Ehinosen
Klara Shall
Primary Related Location
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