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Mediaeval Baebes
Young Singers Add Spice to Middle Ages
 Listen to John Nielsen's conversation with the Baebes
May 19, 2002 --When they debuted in 1998, the Mediaeval Baebes were dubbed "Ye Olde Spice Girls" by one observer, and if you believed some of the drubbing they got from the critics, the label wasn't far off.
But this group of young women, which puts music to lyrics that were written a long time ago -- sometimes hundreds of years -- has come a long way. And for the most part, the critics have come with them.
Their fourth album, The Rose, takes them further along the path. Two of the Baebes, Rachel Van Asch and leader Katherine Blake, chatted about their progress with guest host John Nielsen for Weekend Edition Sunday.
The idea for the group, which consists of nine ethereal-voiced women decked out in Renaissance Faire garb, "came from my deranged imagination," says Blake, formerly of the alterna-goth band Miranda Sex Garden.
She says she met "this fabulous woman called Dorothy (Carter)" who sang medieval songs and played instruments such as the hurdy-gurdy and the dulcimer.
Blake says she loved "the cranky, organic sounds of these instruments," and thought she should put them to use. She formed the group partly because her "desire to hang out with my female friends and do something other than just drink."
The group sings in nearly a dozen different languages, such as Old French, Old English, German, Latin and Spanish. Songs are often based on scales -- such as the Dorian scale -- that aren't used much these days, certainly not in modern popular music.
Works are chosen because of "the fact that no one knows who wrote these poems," Blake says. "I like the enigma of that."
Other Resources
 The Baebes' official Web site.
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