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-a large amount of the instruments used by Corvus Corax (especially the woodwinds like the bagpipes and shawms) are hand built by Venustus (Wim), one of the band�s founders and pipers. he has said he studies manuscripts and instruments of the time and his instruments are generally exact copies of original constructions -the band�s costumes are all self-created and are designed from stylized ideas culled from actual medieval pictures/artwork -prior to the reunification of Germany, Corvus Corax (in their earliest incarnations) were barred from performing in the East (where they originated from) because �they seem[ed] to destroy the Eastern German Folk scene� (or so they were accused...) -Corvus Corax has been removed by police on various occasions, as some cities (such as Munich, Vienna and Freiburg) still do not allow bagpipes or drums to be played in public places -many of Corvus Corax�s performances at medieval markets in the past featured puppetry/puppet shows, dancers, magic performances, fire eating/spitting, juggling and walking on/rolling in broken glass...mostly all performed by members of the band itself -through experimentation with the combining of both medieval and modern sounds, Corvus Corax gave birth to Tanzwut, their side project, which has released 4 albums to date and has collaborated with the band Umbra et Imago as well as the Mediaevel Baebes -from 1989-1998 Corvus Corax had a pet raven named Tippel which accompanied them to their various performances -since 1993 Corvus Corax has been performing at the Kaltenberg Knight�s Tournament (one of the biggest jousting competitions/festivals in the world.) in 2003 they composed �Hymnus Cantica,� the official hymn of the Knight�s Tournament and were thus dubbed the �official musicians of the knights of the round table of Kaltenberg� by Prince Luilpold of Bayern -the band has performed all across Europe, as well as in Japan, Jordan, Morocco and Mexico (where they performed atop one of the Mayan pyramids!) -Venustus (Wim) has a flute made out of the thighbone of a woman, which was apparently found at one of the castles they performed at...he can be seen playing it on their documentary on the Gaudia Vita dvd, and Teufel is also pictured playing it in the Seikilos cd packaging... -in 1989, Castus, Meister Selbfried (Koll) and Venustus (Wim) of Corvus Corax (then Tippelklimper) appeared in the DEFA film �The Goose Princess and her Faithful Horse Falada� which is based on a Brothers Grimm fairy tale (The Goose Maid), and is apparently still played yearly around Christmastime on German television -Corvus Corax appear in the 1995 BBC programme �Crusades� (hosted by Terry Jones, of Monty Python notoriety.) the footage was actually filmed at the Carnivale in Venice where they performed the previous year -over 50 different instruments can be heard on Corvus Corax�s various albums -the title track on Corvus Corax�s 2000 release �Mille Anni Passi Sunt� features guest vocals by Ottomar Rodolphe Vlad Dracula Prince Kretzulesco who is purported to be a descendant of Vlad Tepes (the infamous Wallachian prince who was the inspiration for Bram Stoker�s Dracula)...the cd also contains information about him in the packaging and a great little computer game featuring Prince Kretzulesco as well! |
