Electronically enhanced medieval music
QNTAL are all about reinterpreting medieval poetry and music from a modern vantage point. Keyboardist Ernst Horn, fiedel player Michael Popp and vocalist Sigrid Hausen joined forces in 1992 to record several unique reworkings of classical medieval pieces, such as "Palestinalied" by composer Walther von der Vogelweide (1170-1230 A.D.), as well as many original accompaniments to the poetry of Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179 A.D), Arnaut Daniel, (twelfth century A.D.) and many others.
What sets QNTAL apart from a great number of pseudo-medieval goth bands is not only their use of authentic scores, instruments and lyrics sung in Old French, Latin and Middle-high German, but also their musical craftmanship. Both Popp and Hausen have gathered critical acclaim for their more historically correct restaurations of compositions from the same era with the Estampie project and Horn is known for his strange experimental pop music with Deine Lakaien.
Another interesting aspect of their music is that they manage to adress many modern political and cultural topics, like the L.A. riots by picking applicable texts from the 11th and 12th centuries. Their seasoned professionalism on the instruments of yore as well as modern day studio equipment, combined with the classically trained voice of Hausen, makes their take on both pop music and classical music quite refreshing.
The name QNTAL (pronounced: cantal) is an imaginary word that came to Hausen during a lucid dream. The project ended in 1999 when Horn called it quits. He continued more or less along the same lines with the Helium Volta project.
QNTAL reformed in late 2003.
Discography:
The first two albums were released on the German label Gymnastix Records. Subsequent albums were released on Noir Records.