Arcana is a Swedish neoclassical group, whose music is marked by Eastern and Medieval melodies and sophisticated harmonies.
The group was formed in 1993, by multi-instrumentalist Peter Bjärgö. He and vocalist Ida Bengtsson recorded a tape, which led them to feature in a Cold Meat Industry label compilation, and in sequence, they released two albums through it.
With 10 albums released, the box set Arcana - The First Era 1996-2002 is their latest release, Arcana’s line-up currently consists of Peter Bjärgö (guitar), Ann-Mari Thim (vocals), Ia Bjärgö (vocals) and Mattias Borgh (drums).
Bjärgö defined Arcana as being “kind of introvert, because I’ve never done music for other people, I don’t try to make a statement or anything for others, I do everything for myself and am very very happy that people appreciate it and like it but I only do it because I want to do it [...]
“I want to keep it as honest as possible, otherwise if it will be too big and almost depending on selling a lot of CDs and making it more commercial, then I wouldn’t be satisfied with it. It’s better for me to just keep it like this.”
Bjärgö also commented that each Arcana song has a unique creative process, adding that “sometimes I have a clear idea about what to do and then I call Matthias and say “I need percussion, come over” and then we record the percussion, and choirs with Stefan and Ia, and the vocal parts with Anne-Mari, but sometimes I want to try and experiment, I don’t have a clear idea, and then its easier to just try some idea myself, because sometimes by chance you end up with something that’s really really good.”
The band is also supportive of environmental protection initiatives, even raising awareness of it in their lyrics. Bjärgö said that, “I don’t consider that to think about environmental problems is being political, I mean, we don’t take political sides but this is something that everyone should be aware of.” [1]
Visit their Myspace profile to listen to their songs and buy their CD’s. I’ve selected two videos of Arcana’s great live performances. Enjoy!
Arcana's official site # Myspace profile
