Haggard (band)

For the American country music artist, see Merle Haggard.
Haggard

Haggard at Global East Rock Festival 2010
Background information
Origin Germany
Genres Neo-classical metal, symphonic metal, doom metal, Progressive metal, death metal[1]
Years active 1989[2]–present
Website www.haggard.de
Members Asis Nasseri
Giacomo Astorri
Janika Groß
Martin Florestan
Fiffi Fuhrmann
Catalina Popa
Stefana Sabau
Aline Deinert
Cosmin Nechita
Anne Eberlein
Ivica Kramheller
Lisa Hellmich
Johannes Schleiermacher
Florinda Hoffmann
Claudio Quarta
Hans Wolf
Maurizio Guolo
Ingrid Nietzer
Past members Susanne Ehlers
Linda Antonetti
Nicoló Bartoli
Steffi Hertz
Luz Marsen
Michael Stapf
Michael Schumm
Veronika Kramheller
Gaby Koss
Andi Nad
Manuela Kraller
Patricia Krug
Andreas Fuchs

Haggard (/ˈhæɡərd/) is a German neo-classical metal musical group founded in 1989.[3] The group combines classical music and early music with death metal.

Haggard playing at Global East Rock Festival 2010

Background

Haggard was founded in 1991 and originally played death metal.[1] They changed their musical style after their first demo tape, Introduction in 1992, becoming a band with symphonic melodies and classical instruments but folk themes. The album And Thou Shalt Trust... the Seer marked their breakthrough in 1997. After their second album Awaking the Centuries (the life of the prophet Nostradamus), they toured through Mexico twice. In 2004, they released their third album Eppur Si Muove which is about the life of Italian scholar, Galileo Galilei, sentenced to house arrest for heresy by the Catholic Church for supporting Copernicus' claim that the Earth revolved around the sun.

Just before their album Awaking The Centuries was released, the group had its highest number of musicians at 21. All their songs are written by vocalist and guitarist, Asis Nasseri.

Haggard playing at Global East Rock Festival 2010

The fourth album, Tales of Ithiria, was released in 2008 and is based on a fantasy story.

In 2010, the band had its first concert along with a symphonic orchestra. Haggard played together with the philharmonic orchestra of Plovdiv in the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv on April 19, 2010.

The next album will be about the tales of the brothers Grimm.

Discography

Demos

Studio albums

Year Title Peak positions
GER[4] SWI[5]
1997 And Thou Shalt Trust... the Seer
2000 Awaking the Centuries 64
2004 Eppur Si Muove 47
2008 Tales of Ithiria 37 89

Live

DVDs and videos

Members

Current members


Past members

In addition to the 16 band members, more than 10 guest artists and musicians were involved in the making of the album, Eppur Si Muove.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 True, Chris. "Haggard Biography". Allmusic. Retrieved 2011-04-04.
  2. http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Haggard/63
  3. http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Haggard/63
  4. "Chartverfolgung / Haggard / Longplay". musicline.de (in German). PHONONET GmbH. Retrieved 2011-04-01.
  5. "Discographie Alben - Studio". hitparade.ch (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 2011-04-01.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Haggard.