Interview with KELTANIA (1/2)

We talk to Johanna and Vika about how Keltania came to be, their latest single “Helden der Zeit” and the power women’s band’s plans for the future.

Orkus: Let’s start at the beginning. How and when was Keltania founded in the first place?
Johanna Jeschonek: We already knew each other from the Kreismusikschule Erding and we shared a love of Celtic music as well as an interest in fantasy films and, of course, we were also fascinated by medieval markets. After a few sporadic activities, we started performing regularly at the end of 2022.

O: Was the name found quickly?
Veronika Haubrich: With Celtic music, the name Keltania was of course obvious, but the fact that there wasn’t yet a band with this name really surprised us and so we found our band name.

O: Where does your fascination for the Middle Ages and fantasy come from?
JJ: Of course, we’ve all seen “The Lord of the Rings” or “Harry Potter” and these films offer the opportunity to escape reality for a while. The same goes for medieval and fantasy music.

O: What would you do first if you arrived in the Middle Ages through a time machine?
VH: Explore castle ruins and other medieval places and find out what it really looked like back then and how people lived at that time.

O: Your latest single is called “Helden der Zeit”. Was there a particular source of inspiration for the song?
JJ: The source of inspiration was old heroic stories that we still know today, although the heroes themselves have long since ceased to exist, but their deeds made them immortal.

O: If you can say that in general. How is a piece of Keltania generally created?
VH: We musicians in Keltania are not songwriters and that’s why we’ve had a songwriting team with us ever since we started, who realize our ideas perfectly.

O: There is also a very elaborate video for “Helden der Zeit”. Can you estimate how long it took to shoot?
JJ: It was three days of filming with outdoor shots in a forest and studio shots in a castle setting.

O: What were the particular challenges?
VH: The biggest house challenges were building the set, the Iron Devil fight scenes and the fact that the wind always blew our fog in the wrong direction during the outdoor shots.

We will continue our conversation shortly.

Claudia Zinn-Zinnenburg

Line-up:
Johanna Jeschonek – vocals
Christine Bauer – guitar
Linda Mützel – violin
Veronika Haubrich – drums

Watch the interview on “Heroes of Time”: