Sekengard started in October 2012 as a collaboration between Sarah Stepanik (lead vocals/fiddle) and Dan Paytas (vocals/mandolin). Their love for folk metal and world music brought them together to create the new genre of World Fusion Folk Metal.
The name “Sekengard” has a very unique meaning and is very fitting for the genre. The suffix “gard” relates to Norse mythology and the names of Asgard and Midgard. “Gard” in this context means a land or world. “Seken” has two meanings. First, in Middle English it means “to seek” or “to journey”. Secondly, to quote Tomoko Kurihara,
“The Japanese script for seken combines the two Chinese characters meaning ‘world’ (pronounced as either yo or se) with ‘space-between’ (pronounced as either aida, ma, kan or ken)… Seken refers to the appearance of the total network of social relations that surround an individual; it conveys the corresponding cultural norms and values that function to regulate social behavior and hints at how such relations and behavior are manipulated.”
So overall, “Sekengard” means the exploration of the world and the people that are a part of it.
Their debut EP was released in 2015.
Discography/Reviews
A small sample of the Booty (Demo 2007)
The Legend of Salty Jim (2009)
An Oath Sworn on Broken Bones (2012)
Creation’s Veil (2023)