Three Decades of Enchantment

BY ZACK SLATER

Katharine Blake marks 30 years of the Mediaeval Baebes with a spectacular Christmas tour of music, theatre and torchlit processions.

Imagine Christmas hundreds of years ago: townspeople gathering in winter, singing, playing and worshipping as songs passed down through generations echo into the night. Torches flicker in the darkness, musicians strike up their instruments and a procession winds its way towards the church.

It is this sense of spectacle that Katharine Blake, founder of the Mediaeval Baebes, hopes to recreate when the group heads out on its 30th anniversary tour this winter.

“We start the evening with a torchlit procession,” she says.

This December, that procession will make its way through towns and cities across the country as part of what Katharine describes as the group’s “biggest tour ever”. The northern tour dates include Whitby Pavilion on Tuesday, December 8, Bolton Parish Church on Thursday, December 10, and Leeds Minster on Friday, December 11.

And the audience does not necessarily have to remain on the sidelines. Families, musicians and reenactors are invited to join the procession, carrying lanterns, dressing up or even bringing a drum before the concert begins.

“We’re pulling out all the stops this year,” Katharine says.

For the Mediaeval Baebes, though, creating a show that feels far removed from an ordinary concert is hardly new. The group combines the choral sounds of the church with medieval folk, poetry, ancient texts and original compositions, creating music that feels rooted in the past while remaining unmistakably their own.

Founded in 1996, the group began in suitably unconventional fashion when Katharine and a group of friends slipped into London’s Abney Park Cemetery at midnight to sing madrigals. From that spontaneous gathering came one of Britain’s most distinctive vocal ensembles.

That instinct for mixing old and new still sits at the heart of the Mediaeval Baebes.

Their anniversary concerts will bring together music, theatre and dance, with traditional folk songs and Christmas carols appearing alongside material from their latest album, The Spinning Wheel. The 12-track record is inspired by the months of the year, journeying through the seasons from winter laments to the warmth and longing of summer.

“It normally takes a year to write an album,” she says. “It’s a long process.”

Much of that work still takes place at home, and often late at night, when she can escape the interruptions of everyday life.

“I like working at night, because it’s the only time you get left alone. I can really get in the zone.”

The industry around her, however, looks very different from the one the Mediaeval Baebes entered 30 years ago.

“In the olden days it was a lot harder to get your music out there until you got a record deal,” Katharine says.

“Technology has since made it easier for musicians to record and release music independently, but that freedom comes with its own demands.”

Whatever the changes around them, the Mediaeval Baebes have built a remarkably enduring following. Across 12 studio albums, they have attracted audiences in the UK and internationally, while their music has also reached television audiences. The ensemble won an Ivor Novello Award for their performance on the BBC’s The Virgin Queen and received two Emmy nominations, as well as a Royal Television Society award for their work alongside composer Martin Phipps on ITV’s Victoria.

Katharine is keen, however, not to present the Mediaeval Baebes as a historical reconstruction.Fantasy is every bit as important as authenticity.

“If you like Game of Thrones, maybe you’ll like Mediaeval Baebes,” she laughs.

For Katharine, escapism is a large part of it. “People have always been into fantasy,” she says. “Our show is another-worldly experience for a lot of people to come outside of the mundane and be transported to another universe.”