Drums and fun II

Yesterday I linked to Benjamin Bagby's essay on medieval music performance, quoting his list of diverse approaches to medieval concerts. Although not clearly included in Bagby's list  (perhaps beneath his notice?) I would say the dominant 'drums and fun' approach around today is exemplified by the many German 'medieval boy bands', such as Corvax Corax. I first saw Corvax Corax at a medieval fair in Germany about 20 years ago, when they were still more medieval than 'neo-medieval', e.g., the costumes had rather less fantasy (and leather), the performance was unamplified, with a relatively authentic ensemble of bagpipes, shawms and drums. And I have to say they made a very positive impression. The energy, communication with the crowd, ensemble playing, the feeling that they 'owned' the music (playing from memory, improvising) seemed to bring something much closer to a medieval experience than many supposedly 'historically informed' concerts I had seen, in which instrumentalists (performing the very same medieval dance tunes) had never raised their eyes from their music stands.

I agree with the general thrust of Bagby's essay that medieval music should be taken seriously, on its own terms, and deserves the same kind of in depth study as music of any other period. But treating it (for performance purposes) like classical music may sometimes be just as damaging to authenticity as 'drums and fun'.