The Brobdingnagian Bards are Marc Gunn on autoharp and vocals and Andrew Mckee on recorder, mandolin and vocals. They play Celtic, Renaissance and Classical music at faires, parties and on the UT Campus.
In spite of the fact that this group's genre is not exactly mainstream pop, they got a gig in the 2002 SXSW Music Conference and Festival. Since 1999, they have made several full length CD's including A Faire to Remember and Songs of the Muse, both released in 2001. Their popularity exploded and crossed genres, partly due to the comedy they include in their songs and performance. In 2002 they released Songs of Ireland, a 19 song CD, containing songs expressing the joy and sorrow of the Irish and Irish Americans.
The Brobdingnagian Bards first released their original instrumental Tolkien (The Hobbit & Lord of the Rings) on the late MP3.com several years ago. The single quickly dominated the charts and subsequently earned over one million mp3 downloads.
The success of that single prompted the duo to record an entire album of music inspired by JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings entitled Memories of Middle Earth. This CD has earned continual praise from fans and critics alike for its unique sound and stirring Celtic and folk-influenced music.
Brobdingnagian means "marked by great size" and is pronounced "BRahB DING NahG EE EN" It's from "Gulliver's Travels" by Johnathan Swift. The Brobdingnagian Bards perform an exciting blend of Celtic and Renaissance-style music that has earned them notice as "a kind of Renaissance version of They Might Be Giants."
Their web site contains sound clips and an ezine called "TheBards Crier." It's a free weekly guerrilla music marketing ezine for the working musician. Brobdingnagian Bards' music is available from amazon.com (see below for amazon search).
Marc Gunn's Other Work
Marc Gunn has worked with Austin rock groups 3 Penny Opera, and Megalo. He recently started a new Celtic group devoted to cats and Celtic drinking songs called The Dubliners Tabby Cats. Between all his bands and activities, he still has time to create several podcast programs each month.
His solo album Soul of a Harper, was released in 2004. Gunn's web site for his solo efforts is at marcgunn.com. Soul of a Harper was chosen by Austin radio's Celtic Storm as one of the best Celtic albums of the year. The album contains many original pieces by Gunn with a mix of instrumentals, vocals and humor that creates a delightful album of both Scottish and Irish music. Listen to Marc Gunn's sound clips.
Music is available from amazon or CDBaby.
