The 22nd of June has found us within the walls of the exceptional historical monument: the fortified evangelical church of Hărman, whose existence is attested since the 13th century — a time when this vast territory at the curvature of the Carpathian Mountains was but a large forest hiding small communities from the invasions of robbers. The passages through the mountains were the gateways to Transylvania („the land across the forest”) which belonged to the Hungarian Crown at the time. The Teutonic Knights were contracted by the Medieval Kingdom of Hungary to secure these passage points against invaders. To this aim, they spent 14 years (1211 - 1225) relocating entire villages from Western Europe to this Eastern region, one of which was the village of Hărman.
Our first performance in the Hărman Fort was in 2023 — and you can read about it here. We returned on the 22nd of June 2024 for another extraordinary experience. People usually connect first and foremost with the place they are in, because our link with the environment simultaneously provides grounding, predictability, creative challenge, inspiration and soothing. The premises of Hărman Fortress are like artistically written pages of a thick history book.
The patient silence before the show was pierced by Per Aspera Ad Astra as if a battle had just started with the roar of all the instruments and the determined announcement of an unexpected arrival: „Adesso sono qui!”. This is the inspirational power of the place — it induces a selective hearing of particular words and sounds from the musical pieces, according to their resonance with the stories of the settlement. This show was then a bit less about the astronomical advances of Galileo Galilei and transposed us instead into the hundreds of years of local resistance against invasions. The villagers of the Middle Ages who populated, developed and defended this area were frequently attacked and they gathered within the stone walls of the Hărman fortress, where they had also hidden their nourishment, their animals and seeds for the new beginnings. The rooms in these stone walls provide a constant temperature of 12-15 degrees Celsius throughout the seasons, making it a warm place in winter and a cool place in summer. The fortress enabled the villagers resistance for hundreds of years. And how beautiful it is that at some point we were spontaneously naming a likely prompt of their organisation process: „as dawn is weaving between fallen autumn leaves, the poor ones gather under naked trees asking how to survive as the winter breaks” — medieval Hărman inhabitants were gathering in Straßen Nachbarschaften to adequately respond together to their various necessities to develop as a community, to secure their collective protection and sometimes the reconstruction of their village.
The beginning whispers of The Observer acknowledging the gifts of God for the human race (sense, reason and intellect) carried our eyes towards the church tower, glimpsing through the leaves of the trees and surrounded by the late rays of the setting sun. The Himmel’s Zelt of Galileo’s parchments was being drawn over this impressive citadel as we were chanting Awaking the centuries. The German phrase „es passt” (meaning „it fits”) came to mind when the Moon made its way into the horizon precisely as the growler was saying „Der Mondenschein er leuchtet fahl, das Herz der Finsternis er stahl, nun Gleißend Lichte ihm umgibt und doch das Menschen hoffnung gibt”.
We „feed the spark” and so are the few local keepers of history and promoters of culture, those who look after this place as well as those who speak about it to those who do not know Hărman’s story of rapid growth, as well as the death in all the centuries left behind. When we finished De la Morte Noire, unconsciously mourning the deaths of those lying in the grounds under our feet and were just beginning In a Full Moon Procession, in which the lyrics depicted a convict’s last day alive before a gathered „crowd longing for a ritual burning” — it was such a relief to realize that the current crowd had gathered as a response to a different, more positive longing: gathering for a cultural performance is like an acceptance to listen. Historically the crowds of this place have usually gathered in a spirit of protection and care for the individual lives. As „the church bells chime” every 15 minutes, not only do they celebrate the community spirit, they also join the rest of our musical instruments, giving the songs a slightly new and particular spin. Suddenly, the „soul that’s coming out of darkness into light” is the avowal of an important insight into what represents the divine aspects of humanity.
Around the middle of our concert, between Origin of a Crystal Soul and Lost, the KDF Kronstadt performed a duelling moment according to their typical Kunst Des Fechtens.
The evocative sounds from their swords were accompanied by our drums, violins and cello, reenacting historical moments of training and battle. Life was in many ways more beautiful and yet more difficult in other times. Humanity has witnessed many shades of winter as well as many instances of friendship and love. We all carry some form of collective memory from the past that calls from deep within for forgiveness and repair, reconciliation and the mourning of the loved and lost, so that we may rest in the new life brought about by the understanding of what has happened. One may be tempted to devote oneself to unethical deeds, called by sentiments of fear, greed, sorrow and anger, to which one must learn to respond with kindness and yet with firmness. The highest principles, illustrated by the stars gazed at by astronomers and the many others in search for orientation, are to be our guide „all’infinito”.
The Hărman citadel hides many mysteries, some of which can be discovered and explored by oneself and others by the benevolence of the historians who work there and who are crafty storytellers, taking their interlocutors on a sensorial dream journey through thousands of years, witnessing the beauty of newborn centuries, so that we may remember, time and again, that by careful consideration of what was previously ignored, one becomes the privileged discoverer of “a new way things to see”.
This has been one of our most cherished locations to perform the Haggard compositions. Guided by gentle breezes of the wind and the inspiration provided to all eyes set on the mysterious details of the inner citadel, we finished with The Day as Heaven Wept and a peaceful crowning of the evening, settled among the gentle church bells’ chimes over this place of rest and authentic realignment.
Will you join our next show in Timișoara? We will be playing at the M2-Event Venue on Friday, the 26th of July. Book your place in the crowd! Or perhaps we will see you later this August at the Symphonic Metal Echoes Festival in Alba Iulia!
And please pass the info to those friends you care to share this beautiful evening with.