Heilung – A Hypnotic Trio From Denmark

Kai Uwe Faust, Christopher Juul and Maria Franz form Heilung: an immersive project producing music described as “amplified history.” Their music offers more than entertainment; rather it becomes a spiritual experience.

Each live appearance by this legendary group is an eventful spectacle where musical performance and ancient pagan rituals collide seamlessly in an impressive display of magic and spectacle.

Origins

Heilung’s music conjures up images of ancient rituals or simply presents their vision of them, transporting listeners back through time. I saw them live for the first time this past August – both physically and temporally!

Costumes and tribal-sized lineups add an air of engagement and curiosity to their performances, where bowed lyres, frame drums and body sounds form the core of their sound – with Hindu ritual bells, buffalo horn rattlers and bones supplementing this soundscape further.

Hymn to Nikkal utilizes Hurrian language to retell an ancient Mesopotamian queen’s story with haunting and hypnotic lyrics and melody, perfectly complimented by deep sonorous sounds from their bowed lyres – it truly left us wanting it never end; these musicians truly know their craft; this new album stands as their finest work to date.

Music

Heilung’s three members hail from different corners of Europe: Christopher Juul is a Danish business owner; Kai Uwe Faust hails from Germany while Maria Franz hails from Norway. Their music draws its inspiration from rune stones, ancient texts and rune inscriptions; their style can be classified as experimental folk, pagan metal and Viking-age old Norse.

Ofnir, their debut album released in 2015, includes songs sung in Danish, Icelandic and Old Norse languages. Traditional instruments, including one painted with blood on goatskin drums are used by the band as is Faust’s throat singing style similar to Tibetan or Mongolian styles.

Their concerts are highly dramatic. They create the impression of an immersive ritualistic experience to reconnect the audience to its roots, ancestors and the earth. Their performers wear elaborate costumes while using instruments like buffalo horn rattles, clay rattles with human ashes in them and bone-based rhythm instruments known as Ravanahathas to perform.

Vocals

Since releasing their debut album Ofnir in 2013, Heilung have set new records on YouTube with videos like Krigsgaldr and the full-length film Lifa being watched over 23 Million times!

Elizabeth Zharoff, a vocal coach who reviews bands on YouTube, loves how Heilung’s music creates an air of timeless wonder. “Their combination of drums, instruments, animal hides and bones evokes feelings of the supernatural,” according to Elizabeth.

Heilung’s mission is to “amplify history.” They do this using traditional instruments like goat skin drums, Hindu ritual bells, buffalo horn rattles and bones. When performing live shows they wear handmade traditional costumes before using throat singing and chants to produce an otherworldly soundscape.

Symbolism

Symbolism is an integral component of Heilung’s music. They employ ancient runes (such as those seen on the track ‘Norupo’) as lyrics that symbolize power and wisdom from their history.

The band uses animal hides as drum skins, bones for percussion instruments, and horns fashioned from bull lungs as part of its ritualistic show to give an air of primitiveness and nature connection that adds to its ritualistic show.

Heilung’s live show transports audiences both physically and temporally back in time to the pre-Christian Northern Europe pagan beliefs of prehistoric Europe, leaving their performance feeling like taking part in an intense ritual or ceremony. Their costuming resembles that of Siberian or Sami shamans and thus conjures an image of feminine energy not simply defined by contemporary Western women but as something primordial and primal as seen during birthing or defense of cubs from predators.