With immersive songs Sowulo celebrates our great pagan legacy and takes an inner spiritual journey. The lyrics and the music, created with (early) medieval and contemporary instruments combined with cinematic sounds and voice, invoke archetypical wisdom and express the cyclical nature of existence.
Would you like to tell us a about Sowulo and what kind of music you play?
Sowulo is a music project that is inspired by Anglo-Saxon and Viking-age mysticism and philosophy. I’ve been captivated by the cyclical nature of existence for many years now and in 2012 I felt the need to express my spiritual path through my music. So in that year I started building on the fundamental ideas for the entire project, and I released the debut concept album entitled ‘Alvenrad’. Since then I’ve composed and produced 4 full-length concept albums and several EPs and Singles. They are all completely different. Some are instrumental but most are with lyrics in Anglo-Saxon. The lyrics are spiritual in nature and are always about the cyclical nature of our existence, in one way or another. The music is made with historical instruments like the Carnyx, Jouhikko/Tagelharpa, Blowhorns, Nyckelharpa, Shamanic drums, Celtic Harp, Irish Bouzouki, in combination with a string-section and otherworldly vocal techniques.
“Sowulo” what does that mean? And does it have a special meaning for you?
Sowulo is the proto-Germanic name of the rune-s and means ‘Sun’ on a symbolic level. The cyclical nature of the Sun is the very central point of our lives on this planet and not only on a symbolic level. You see Sun-cults all around the world, and especially from the Neolithic period, Bronze-age until the Dark-ages. It is so strongly intertwined with our existence and our spiritual nature that it was reason for me to devote my music to it.
How many are you in Sowulo normally?
As the owner and founder, I always see myself as the father of Sowulo. I’ve been composing the music, creating the lyrics, playing the majority of the instruments, recording and producing the albums, and doing all other artistic aspects of Sowulo. But there are more people interacting with ‘my offspring’. At the moment I have an awesome live band to do my live shows with, but most of them can also be heard on my last album ‘Wurdiz’ and my latest released singles about the Moon. The live band consists nine amazing musicians, so you can imagine that the live show has a lot of power. I sometimes say that I have my own Viking orchestra.
How long time have you played together as a band?
I started forming my Viking orchestra in 2020-2021. Before the pandemic I was constantly on tour with Heilung, as one of the Harri Warriors, but that came to a hold because of the pandemic. So suddenly I had all the time to focus on my own project; Sowulo. In 2019 I released my popular album ‘MANN’, so festivals started to get really interested in booking me, but I had no band. So I felt that I needed to use the years of Covid to form a live group. We rehearsed for many months and when festivals finally could happen again we were well prepared. So our first show together was at Castlefest 2022 and after that many shows followed..
What music inspired you?
The All mix of ‘’neo-folk’’ bands like Garmarna, Gjallarhorn, Faun and Irfan. But most of all; in 2008 I heard Wardruna for the first time and that gave my interest in Nordic mythology a big boost. After a couple of years reading a combination of books about mythology, history, spirituality I started to give shape on a more practice-based learning within the esoteric realm. Nowadays I am more and more devoted to develop my connection with nature, shamanism, music and the cosmos. And this truly became a way of living for me.
Have any of you played anything else than dark pagan neo folk music?
I started playing the piano when I was 10 years old, and I played mostly classical music. But in my teenage years I had a longing for something louder and heavier, so I started playing the electric guitar. After that I bought a drum kit just because I loved being loud. So these three different instruments gave me a broad understanding and skill in music. After that I just started playing every instrument I came across.
Have you played in other bands?
Oh yes, my first band was called ‘Myrkvar’, a folk-metal band which I joined when I was 18 years old, and I played with them for about 10 years. After that we stopped the band because everyone was busy with their jobs and getting children and so on. But we played as support-act for Turisas, Fintroll, Korpiklaani and many others. I also played in a neo-folk band called Cesair for a short of time. And I was part of Heilung from the very first show back in 2017 until the pandemic. That was truly an amazing adventure. But like I told before, in the years of the pandemic we couldn’t tour so I started focusing on Sowulo and that became a point of no return. So after the pandemic I didn’t go back to Heilung. It was a big sacrifice not to be touring with them anymore but otherwise Sowulo would not be so successful as it is now.
What instruments do you play in the bands?
In Sowulo I’m the composer and I play a wide variety of instruments, like the bouzouki, nyckelharpa, various shamanic drums, jouhikko, and I sing. In Myrkvar I did the vocals and synths, and I composed most of the music. In Cesair I played Nyckelharpa and Piano. And in Heilung I was part of the Harri Warrior, aka: the screaming choir.
Does Sowulo play on festivals and other live arrangements?
Yes, we played many amazing festivals like: Castlefest, Midgardsblot, Motocultor, Roadburn, Wave-Gotik-Treffen, Echoes and Merveilles, Trolls and Legends, Cernunnos Pagan Fest, just to name a few. But we also do clubshows as a headliner, and sometimes also as a support act. For example last summer we played a headline show in a church, which was sold out and packed with more than 600 people. That one was pure magic.
Have you as an artist done any collabs with others?
I’ve helped the folk-metal band ‘Heidevolk’ with composing a lot of ‘folk arrangements’ for their album called ‘Vuur Van Verzet’ back in 2018. You can hear me playing some Irish Bouzouki parts and you can hear Chloe Bakker (‘Sowulo’s harpist’) play Celtic Harp on some of the tracks. I also helped them on their latest album “Wederkeer”. Also in 2018 I played Nyckelharpa on a track called ‘Golden Thrones’ by Kingfisher Sky and last but not least in 2022 I sang on a track called ‘Far Vel’ by the band Waldkauz.
Would you do any collabs?
Yes, I’m always open to collaborate! It’s fun!
Where do you typically get your inspiration to compose/ produce music?
I always work on concept albums and the inspiration is always something that is happening in my life. It start with the question; ‘What is happing now on my spiritual path?’. When that is clear, and I can see it more in an archetypical way automatically I start to create music that translates that feeling.
Is there only one that writes your lyrics in Sowulo?
Yes, but because I write my lyrics in Anglo-Saxon (Old-English) it’s extremely difficult and time consuming. After I’ve written the lyrics to the best of my ability, I send them to a friend of mine who is a linguist. After she corrects it I make a second version. Then I send that version to a Professor in Old-English who teaches at the University of Leiden. He and some of his students help me in the final corrections.
Are you a believer of the Nordic/old ways or finding the history interesting??
For many years now I’m always discovering new insights and teachings, mainly within the realm of Shamanism en Druidism. These teachings have a deep impact on my life and my spiritual path. And in essence my music with Sowulo is a way for me to express this journey. Since my childhood I’ve always felt really connected to nature and all its beings. It was, and still is, strange to me that we don’t live in the forest. But instead society choses to live life in concrete jungles removed from nature. When I was a teenager I came across books about Wicca en Druids which I was very fond of. In my early twenties I started to read the Scandinavian mythology and the Edda and that made me dig deep into what I like to call Germanic-mysticism & -shamanism over the years. Because of feeling a strong connection to the old sources from the Viking age I also started to get an interest in the archeological and historical aspect of the early medieval times. That lead me into Viking-reenactment and creating a group for early medieval martial arts. So yes ‘the old ways’ and (pre-)history is totally my thing.
Any new releases of tracks or albums soon?
At the moment I’m working on new material for the upcoming album. The instrumental demos are already done, and I think they sound very promising. Last week I sent the lyrics to the University of Leiden to correct them and the ideas and visions for the artwork are getting clearer every day, so it’s going well. But still a lot has to be done before this album will see the light of day. My wish is to release some singles in the first half of 2025 and then release the complete album in the second half of 2025.
Where can we see Sowulo live next year or maybe before?
Soon we will announce our European tour dates for the spring of 2025. In the summer we are going to do some amazing festivals: One of them will be Castlefest in the Netherlands and we expect that one is going to be one of many highlights this year. After the summer we will do a second tour, hopefully to promote our new album! So I really hope we will see lots of familiar and new faces!
We would like to thank you for answering our questions,
and glad we could do this written interview, and it was interesting to get to know you better….
