The Fellowship

The Fellowship

The Fellowship is an Italian group associated with folk, medieval, Celtic and Tolkien-related music. It is a collective of world-music artists, musicologists and early-music performers led by music director Carvin Knowles, and its recordings draw on J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth mythology. The group performs in Elvish dialects, Anglo-Saxon, English and modern English, and its work uses material inspired by Tolkien’s descriptions of music and culture in The Book of Lost Tales, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

Middle-earth project

One of the group’s main projects is In Elven Lands, described as a musicology experiment aimed at imagining what the music of Tolkien’s world may have sounded like. The group begins this project after years of research and starts recording at the end of 1998, with the process taking more than seven years. The resulting album is presented as an attempt to reconstruct the music of Tolkien’s ancient cultures.

The first edition of In Elven Lands features vocals by Jon Anderson. The digitally remastered second edition does not include him, but adds previously unreleased material and several new performances, including Tolkien’s own song “Namárië” and a new song with lyrics by Tolkien linguist Helge Kåre Fauskanger.

Instrumentation and personnel

The Fellowship performs with an all-acoustic range of ancient and modern instruments, including harp, lute, hurdy-gurdy, krumhorn and gong. The listed performers include Adam Pike, Eddie Freeman, Patrick Delaney, Caitlín Elizabeth, Stefan Kac, Carvin Knowles, Susan Skup, Kate St. Píerre, David Uebersax, Ethan James, Dennise Pehi, Stephen Diaz and Jon Anderson, with roles covering percussion, guitar, cello, tuba, flute, recorder, oud, clarinet, trumpet, viola and vocals.

Other uses of the name

Other acts have also used the name The Fellowship, including a hardcore and metal band from the Toronto area and a jazz-fusion band based in Chelmsford, Essex. These are separate from the Italian group.