Big band brouhaha

The Mediaeval Baebes

The Mediaeval Baebes are twelve young women who dress like fairy-tale damsels and have been described in the British press as "the classical music world's riposte to the Spice Girls." The group, which includes a former stripper and a convicted drug dealer, is the truly subversive face of girl power. Merry olde girl power, that is. In Britain last November, the Baebes put out an album of plainsong, called Salva Nos, on Virgin Records. The label - clearly hoping to capitalize on the commercial success of sexy classical musicians like violinists Vanessa-Mae and Linda Lampenius - has blessed the Mediaeval Baebes with one of its largest marketing budgets ever for an unknown classical group.

So why twelve members? Because, explains Baebes leader Katharine Blake (of Miranda Sex Garden), if you know your fairy tales, you know that princesses always, always, come in dozens.

TRACEY PEPPER: YOU put this group together by teaching your friends to sing medieval songs to amuse yourselves. Did any of them have a previous interest in medieval music?

KATHARINE BLAKE: They had a fascination with the era because it's a romantic time and they're all real romantics. None of us has ever outgrown the fantasy of wanting to be a princess.

TP: Were you surprised you got a record deal?

KB: No, because I think the whole concept is charming.

TP: Do you think the group would have been signed if you didn't have major sex appeal?

KB: Music is about fantasy, so anything you can do to take that fantasy further is better. Taking it to a theatrical level makes it visual as well as aural, which excites people. Though sometimes the TV appearances and photo sessions can seem like a frivolous pile of bollocks.

TP: Then why sign with a record company? Why not just carry on singing for the fun of it?

KB: For the last few years, I've worked as a stripper to supplement my income as a musician. I don't want to do that anymore. I feel I've learned everything I can from it. I'm glad I did it, but frankly I'd just like to be a musician now.

TP: What exactly did you learn?

KB: If you can be confident while naked in a pub full of strangers, you can be confident anywhere. If you can keep your self-respect in a situation where most people would feel degraded, it makes you strong. It also gave me a sense of showbiz, which I use as a singer.

TP: What is the benefit of working with women who aren't professional singers?

KB: The approach is very spirited, as opposed to the emphasis being on perfection. We sound like real people because we are. The music would have sounded a bit rough in medieval times - no one was actually trained. The secular music was just people having a singsong. The sacred music would've been sung by nuns. That's probably the only time they had any release. They'd be bored out of their minds - eating boring food, not getting laid - then they'd get to have a singsong. If we had been born seven hundred years ago, we might well have been nuns because of the limited options for women. Or maybe we would have been burned as witches.

TP: Have you come across any early-music enthusiasts who are offended by a bunch of tattooed women in see-through dresses singing religious songs?

KB: I don't see why spirituality has to exclude sexuality. I mean, God made tits and asses; God gave us the sex drive. How can that be unholy?

TP: How deliberate is the Mediaeval Baebes' look?

KB: We didn't sit down and say, "How can we sell this record?" We've always worn long white dresses, because we're all drama queens. We like the symbolism of vestal virgins, princesses, and angels.

TP: I do think it's kind of cynical for Virgin Records to sign a group that it clearly sees as the medieval Spice Girls.

KB: Obviously, comparisons can be drawn to the Spice Girls in that we're signed to the same record label and we're sexy ladies who sing. But that's where the similarities end. We're into fantasy, not getting our faces on crisps packets.

COPYRIGHT 1998 Brant Publications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning