1) Arcana is a neoclassical d… Read Full Bio ↴There are five artists with this name:
1) Arcana is a neoclassical darkwave band from Sweden, formed in 1993. They merged classically- and medievally-inspired instrumental music with occasional vocals to arrive at a richly atmospheric and dark musical tapestry. Previously signed to the Cold Meat Industry label, the original line-up consisted of Peter Bjärgö and Ida Bengtsson, but since 2002 it changed and featured Peter Bjärgö, Ann-Mari Thim, Stefan Eriksson, Cecilia Bjärgö and Mattias Borgh. Due to personal issues with Cold Meat Industry Peter dropped from the label and created his own label and mailorder called Erebus Odora. The label no longer exists, but the same Erebus Odora still exists as the studio where he is still active making his own music.
Arcana's last live performance for a long time, probably for a year at first, took place on the 11th of December 2010 at the Dark Bombastic Evening II festival in Bucharest, Romania.
Official website: http://www.erebusodora.net/arcana
Since 1996, Arcana have been one of the leading bands in its genre. Peter Bjärgö (then Pettersson) started creating the music of Arcana after years of playing different kinds of music. The early idea of the music was based on the romantic image around the middle ages, through Peter’s own personal view. For the first three releases Ida Bengtsson joined Peter as the lead female vocal, and the band grew its fan base all over the world. In 2001 Ann-Mari Thim replaced Ida bengtsson as the new lead female vocalist along with Stefan Eriksson on keyboard and additional instruments. After the fourth release Peter Bjärgö left Cold Meat Industry, the first label of Arcana, to start an own label. The main reason was to preserve the personal touch of the music, Peter’s own sound and feelings, his creative independence.
In 2003 Peter's wife, Cecilia Bjärgö, also joined the band on vocals and in 2006 Mattias Borgh entered the band as percussionist. In 2010 the band expanded in live situations when Núria Luis and Sergio Gamez Martinez (Narsilion, Der Blaue Reiter, Endless Asylum) joined Arcana on stage and since then the music is pure authentic with no backtracks. The contribution of Sergio and Núria has been so productive as they are now consider full members of the band. The difficulties of rehearsing is though an issue, since two members live in Spain. But with the musicality and experiences of live performances, this is nothing that holds us back.
The man behind it all is still Peter Bjärgö, the composer and producer of the music. The music has changed from album to album and today you can hear sounds from all parts of the world since the instruments Peter use are global.
Arcana is in 2012:
Peter Bjärgö
Ann-Mari Thim
Cecilia Bjärgö
Mattias Borgh
Núria Luis
Sergio Gamez Martinez
2) Arcana was a side project of bassist Bill Laswell’s. On "The Last Wave" Laswell joins his deep-bass to free music pioneer and guitar legend Derek Bailey together with drumming demigod Tony Williams to create the ultimate freely improvising power trio. The other album put out under this group name as a Laswell project was Arc of the Testimony, one of the last projects drummer Tony Williams would record before his untimely death. Instead of the trio format, Laswell adds guitarists Buckethead and Nicky Skopelitis, Graham Haynes on cornet, and saxophonists Byard Lancaster and Pharoah Sanders. Where The Last Wave harkens to Laswell's work in Last Exit, Arc of the Testimony is more along the lines of Ekstasis or some of the instrumental Material work, such as "Hallucination Engine".
3) Arcana was a Peruvian rock band who released 4 albums until they disbanded in 2007: a live demo called Demo/Vivo; their first studio album Trágalo in 2000, Virgen in 2003 and their last album Al Olvido in 2005. Their musical style was rock but had a similarity with Nirvana’s style (gaining with this being called “Nircana” or “Arvana” by close friends as as joke). Their last album featured another style, totally experimental and hard to define. In the lineup there was some changes but two of the founding members never changed Markko Kruz in the guitars/vocals and Micky Bane as a bassist. Drummer changed for each album: Italo Quintanilla on Tragalo, Giancarlo Cordiglia on Virgen and Daniel Limaco on Al Olvido.
Official myspace: http://www.myspace.com/arcanaperu
4) Arcana is a Belgian female DJ. More info: http://www.myspace.com/djarcana.
5) Arcana is a Canadian videogame music remixer from the OverClocked ReMix community.
Abrakt
Arcana Lyrics
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one last time
As ashes fell down to earth
Could we see all the signs
Or did we just close our eyes
We watched the stars
just one last time
As our bodies fell
to the ground
Could we have done more
Or were we committed
Limited by greed
Well, now it's too late for our sons and daughters
Can we look upon ourselves with pride
Now it's too late for the earth to recover
Our guilt we can no longer hide
In "Abrakt", Arcana paints a vivid image of a dystopian world that is facing the consequences of man's greed and lack of responsibility towards the environment. The lyrics speak of a moment of realisation that comes too late, as the singer and others gaze at the sun one final time as ashes fall to the ground. They wonder whether they had seen the signs but chose to ignore them, blinded by their own desires. As they watch the stars one final time and their bodies fall to the ground, they question whether they could have done more, or whether their actions were dictated by a sense of inevitability that was rooted in greed.
Finally, the lyrics crystallise into a heartrending call to action, as the singer reflects that it is too late for their children, and for the earth to be repaired. The guilt is all-consuming, and the singer wonders if they can look upon themselves with pride. The song is a poignant reminder that our actions have consequences, and that we must be mindful of the world we are leaving behind for future generations.
Line by Line Meaning
We gazed at the sun
We looked up towards our bright future
one last time
with the knowledge we will never see it again
As ashes fell down to earth
Our dreams and ambitions crumbled to the ground
Could we see all the signs
Were we aware of the impending doom we brought upon ourselves
Or did we just close our eyes
Did we ignore the warning signs and continue blindly
We watched the stars
We studied celestial objects as a means of hope
just one last time
Knowing that soon they too will disappear
As our bodies fell
Our mortal selves could not withstand the damage we have caused
to the ground
The very thing we tried to protect couldn't keep us safe anymore
Could we have done more
Could we have acted sooner and prevented the destruction
Or were we committed
Were we too far in to turn back and change our ways
Limited by greed
Our selfish desires led to our own downfall
Well, now it's too late for our sons and daughters
Future generations will suffer the consequences of our actions
Can we look upon ourselves with pride
Did we do all that we could, and can we live with the results
Now it's too late for the earth to recover
Our planet is beyond repair and will continue to suffer
Our guilt we can no longer hide
We must face the consequences of our actions and take responsibility
Contributed by Joshua D. Suggest a correction in the comments below.