iamamiwhoami: Huldra + Mandragora
February 24th, 2010 by Forest
I have to thank ReMyky22 for the heads up on an iamamiwhoami Twitter account this morning. You can find it over at twitter.com/iamitsme, where the user has protected his or her tweets.
Still, according to ReMyky22, it’s mostly just been stills from the video releases. As you’ll see if you visit the Twitter account, the name given is “Huldra Mandragora” and, as ReMyky22 points out, Huldra seems an apt description of the creature in the video.
AP pulled this description of the Huldra, which has its origins in Scandinavian folklore:
… a stunningly beautiful, sometimes naked woman with long hair; though from behind she is hollow like an old tree trunk, and has an animal’s tail. In Norway, she has a cow’s tail, and in Sweden she may have that of a cow or a fox. Further in the north of Sweden, the tail can be entirely omitted in favor of her hollow or bark-covered back …
And he concurs with ReMyky22 in that this description seems pretty accurate.
Here’s the problem I’m looking at, though – what the hell does a mythical Norse creature have to do with the Mandragora, especially since Mandragora Officinarum is native to southern Europe? So much for my geographic argument in yesterday’s iamamiwhoami post.
In fact, the farther you dig into the mythology behind Huldra and Mandragora, the less clear things become. The ties just don’t seem to be there … but let’s go back to The Round Table’s first iamamiwhoami post. As I wrote then, “In addition to designating certain, mischievous demons, Mandragora is also a genus of plant – historically linked to fertility, which would explain all the “foetus, natal, nourish, etc.” keywords on the iamamiwhoami videos.”
At the time, this didn’t seem like a huge deal, but fit with the animal totem theory I was working on and the whole idea of an artist launch. But Huldra + Mandragora? Lo que?
Try this one on – from Monsterpedia, Huldra is derived from the Norwegian root for “covered” or “secret.” Let’s go back to Mandragora, which we’ll assume stands for “birth.”
Huldra Mandragora = Secret Birth?
This doesn’t really go too far in telling us who this artist is, though I think ReMyky22 might be right in guessing Scandinavian origins. However, if this is the significance of these two elements, then it allows us to stop trying to figure out how they relate to each other and concentrate on other aspects of the videos.
i.e. figuring out what the hell Vanuatu has to do with anything …
Tags: huldra, iamamiwhoami, mandragora, mystery, vanuatu
February 24th, 2010 at 10:49 am
Hm… how about The Knife? Kinda reminds me of Karin Drejer Andersson – And she’d fit the Scandinavian theory (Swedish)…
February 24th, 2010 at 12:57 pm
Thanks for mentioning me in your post!
Don’t forget – The twitter account might be fake. There were few more opened month ago and turned out to have nothing to do with this.
I think that the next video could point more (or less) towards Huldra. You already know that Huldra is portrayed with tail of a cow or fox. In next video there will be another animal, and if it’s cow or fox… Well, we’ll see.
I was thinking about videos in chronological order… In first video, we see distorted nature and Huldra (I think that first one is showing her as fetus). In second one, we see her licking the tree, I think it could stand for getting food, or even have some sexual meaning, like ejaculation. In third video, we can see her swimming. In fourth, we see that landscape changed (Snow, black dogs, little cottage) and she’s biting the tree until it falls down. Like second video, it could also have sexual meaning. And in fourth one, we can see her near the tree (Maybe climbing?) and holding fish eggs which turn to strawberries later. And in the final scene, it seems that she’s in front of cottage finally.
So I think it could stand for something like this…
Huldra wakes up in the nature, swims over the ocean to new, snowy location (Could be Vanuatu, it’s island) and she’s trying to get to the cottage guarded by dogs
We’ll see more in the next video
February 24th, 2010 at 1:18 pm
it’s Heather Marlatt from S4lem !
HM
February 24th, 2010 at 1:24 pm
Anyway, did someone take a look on the “Voluspa” album from The Golden Filter, about a ancient scandinavian myth?
February 24th, 2010 at 1:30 pm
Totally! I didn’t even know they had a Twitter account, so that whole side of it was new to me.
Let me know if you want me to replace your handle with a name – ha, felt kind of bad just using the handle.
We should get some sort roundtable (ba-da-ch) going on this.
February 24th, 2010 at 1:30 pm
Hey Sammy, never heard of Heather Marlatt – going to look into it.
February 24th, 2010 at 3:01 pm
No problem, you don’t have to replace anything.
By the way, I think that we can 100% count out The Golden Filter and Goldfrapp.
The Golden Filter – They already have viral campaign promoting their album (Video titled “Open your eyes” on their youtube account), and I don’t see the point in making 2 parallel viral campaigns + they are new artists and surely don’t have enough budget for something like that
Goldfrapp – Already told totally different story about their album, 2 tracks we heard are more different than anything in those videos and Alison told that all tracks are positive and optimistic. And their album cover, promo shoot and everything about it is different
February 24th, 2010 at 5:02 pm
Little Boots?
Lykke Li?
Still think Fever Ray has a huge chance of hitting the mark.
February 24th, 2010 at 5:34 pm
Fever Ray just seems too obvious, but maybe you’re right. I mean, if it was Fever Ray, it’d be almost like an anti-climax … we already knew she was weird as hell, right?
And yes, this is DEFINITELY not Goldfrapp. If it’s Goldfrapp, I will paint a unicorn on my car. That’s how sure I am.
February 24th, 2010 at 5:59 pm
with this latest updated, i’m thinking it’s a relative unknown, with Margaret Berger in the lead…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Berger
February 24th, 2010 at 6:57 pm
I also thought of Margaret berger…..Regarding Heather, just listen to the music of Salem (Frost especially),it’s quite similar, even her voice…….and i agree to rule out the Golden Filter (i saw their Voluspa trailer) but who knows………maybe M. Berger & Aphex Twin (who lives in Norway now! )?
February 24th, 2010 at 7:47 pm
Dude, Margaret Berger! I could totally see that. Also, this is definitely messed up enough to be an Aphex Twin video, but without Richard James’ face superimposed on something … still, wouldn’t be much of a secret if that were floating around.
Plus, I don’t know how badly I want to see James’ face on a puppy … I have to sleep at night …
February 24th, 2010 at 9:17 pm
Finally… Something to blog about
Humeur actuelle : tranquille
Hi everybody, everywhere.
You patient people, you.
Ok. Two things are happening.
Hopefully soon, a new single is gonna be released. It’s called Fridays. Or.. you make me wanna cry on fridays.. You choose. It doesn’t matter really. And I have to warn you, it’s a bit different then my previous stuff. More organic. But this is one of thoose songs that just popped down in my head, and it’s a great song, and it just had to be allowed to be the best it could be. So this doesn’t mean that my sound is completely different now. The song is coming soon to a computer near you. Maybe a month or something.
…and the other thing: I’m working with this great great great producer, that by some lucky chance moved to Trondheim about two years ago. I have to be a bit more mysterious about this.. This is a side-project, and were making an album. It’s a lot more to the left then PSSF, but still pop-music. But I think you can handle it. It’s gonna get dark..
from Margaret Berger’s myspace
February 25th, 2010 at 1:01 am
i still personally wish it had been christina.
that would’ve been fucking rad.
perfect timing too.
alas…
February 25th, 2010 at 2:10 am
You are aware that the twitter page is quite obviously fake right? Someone with photoshop made a freaky berry picture and has just been reposting stuff we already have seen while making remarks on there that are not in line with what has been reviled so far. Someone is having a little bit of fun on your expense, don’t play into it…
February 25th, 2010 at 9:36 am
It’s possible … I just got approved as a follower and the whole condescending “pity the fool” attitude of the Twitter account is a little lame.
Still … meh, I don’t know – anyone else have an opinion on the Twitter account? All that time looking into Huldra ..
February 25th, 2010 at 9:52 am
I don’t think Margaret Berger could pull out something like this. Also, I don’t think she’s got enough budget for something like this.
My first pick is Xtina, just cause I want it to be her. My second pick is Royksopp. Music in videos sound just like they described their sound for Senior. Also, it wouldn’t surprise me if they hired Lykke Li or Fever Ray to appear in their videos, they are always sticking together
February 25th, 2010 at 11:52 am
Wow, check this out… Seems like it really IS Christina.
“These videos are based on the mythological huldra from scandinavian folklore. When the female huldra is discovered, the glamour masking her true identity vanishes. Glamour. Glam. Glam is only a mask, a prelude to Bionic.”
Also, there are 6 girls:
http://i50.tinypic.com/34ezx8z.jpg
Which explains why girl in every video is different. The girl in second video looks like Xtina.
February 26th, 2010 at 11:51 pm
I’m not sure I can see Royksopp … this would be a total departure from their previous stuff, in my opinion.
What’s that quote from? Is that a release from the Xtina team?
February 27th, 2010 at 6:27 am
Not really, it’s quote from some person that connected everything about this. Anyway, I think that in next video we’ll see Huldra getting in the cottage, eating strawberries and getting out of the cottage, but with her identity unrevealed.
February 27th, 2010 at 6:33 am
Sorry for multiple comments again… I just found out that people apparently tracked the IP of the Youtube channel and that it’s located in California. Her husband is also her marketing executive. Christina could have gone off with a small team of people and shot the videos and have her husband uploading videos for her. It could also explain connection between cake T-shirt and third video.
February 27th, 2010 at 7:18 am
What if the Golden Filer’s trailer would be the end of the story? She’s getting out and climbs that ùud mountain….a new world emerges.
February 28th, 2010 at 2:22 am
Sorry, but that last comment made me wish it was Elizabeth Berkley. Maybe the word “emerges” sparked it, but I want to see her morph into another species at the end and say, “The caterpillar emerges from the cocoon.”
February 28th, 2010 at 10:00 pm
This isn’t a band. TGF already have their official youtube channel where they post their virals. This channel is talking about a solo artist: *I* AM WHO AM *I*. If it was a band the name would be “WE ARE ARE WE WHO ARE WE” or something like that. It’s not Lykki, she hasn’t even started recording her album. Why release a viral this early on? I don’t think she has the budget to this either. Little Boots is still promoting her first album, it comes out in the US soon and really doesn’t seem like her style of music.
March 1st, 2010 at 5:19 am
@ReMyky22: You can not get any information from a Youtube IP, because the IP is that of the Youtube servers, not the person who created the channel.
Anyways, I’m completely convinced it is Lykke Li in these videos so I made a video superimposing the mouth of iamamiwhoami onto Lykke Li’s to show why. The bottom three teeth match up perfectly (the top teeth don’t because of her mouth being wider open in the magazine shot).
http://screencast.com/t/YThjMTI0Y2I
It also makes sense because she’s Swedish and as has been pointed out these videos are distinctly Scandinavian. I don’t think it’s just her though, and it may not even be something she is a major part of, but she is in the video. Could be for Royksopp or The Knife or something new altogether. It would not be entirely out of character with the way Royksopp has described their new album.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senior_(album)
March 1st, 2010 at 5:26 am
Sorry I don’t know why that URL didn’t work, here’s a working one.
http://bit.ly/dCG8Pc
March 1st, 2010 at 9:06 am
Ha! Holy crap, that crooked bottom tooth seems like a dead giveaway. I’m not as familiar with Lykke Li – is this the type of music she’d be putting out?
I still don’t think Royksopp has anything to do with this, but I could be totally wrong.
March 1st, 2010 at 4:29 pm
Nah. Lykke Li said that she just began working on new album and that was few days ago. Anyway, new video is up. Forest, check it out and do a post. I think it shows much more than previous ones, but didn’t realized everything yet.
March 1st, 2010 at 5:16 pm
And also, don’t forget that this video was not real sixth video! It’s fifth, if we discount Prelude. So the next video could be a big reveal
March 1st, 2010 at 7:28 pm
Ok so I know it’s probably a coincidence, but has anyone noticed that Trent @nin.com seems to post a pic on the same day that a video is uploaded? I doubt it’s Mariqueen, but still the sound has a nin feel to it at times. A bit more electronic than his usual stuff, but the idea that Trent is currently puzzling his fans and “she” is too, is blowing my tiny wittle mind! I hope we figure this out before 2012!
March 1st, 2010 at 11:05 pm
I wouldn’t be surprised if this was NIN, but I’m not sure it’s in the stars … being said, and unable to give any good reasons why it shouldn’t be NIN, it could – indeed – be Trent.
And I’ll be crazy long before 2012 if this thing isn’t wrapped up …
March 2nd, 2010 at 9:12 am
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March 2nd, 2010 at 4:27 pm
I think it may be a Röyksopp collaboration, it’s certainly happening in the appropriate window of time to be a run-up to their album release in April. Here’s why I think so: I’m buying that match-up of Lykke Li’s teeth. Lykke Li and Karin Dreijer from The Knife/Fever Ray have both worked with Röyksopp previously (Dreijer twice) and the video for her first track with them, What Else Is There?, is plenty weird: http://vimeo.com/2355334
The new album, Senior, is described as a an “autumn” follow-up to the “spring” of Junior, which featured Dreijer, Li, and Robyn. All of these people are Scandinavian, and yes, these videos are DEFINITELY shot in Norway or Sweden, or maybe Finland – the light and the aesthetic are dead giveaways, to my eye. I also don’t think this is Fever Ray on her own, there’s something a little bit too sweet about it (the strawberries and dogs). Her stuff is just plain creepier. I also don’t see this being Gaga, Goldfrapp or any of the other possible contenders, they all feel aesthetically wrong, or a stretch (Xtina?). If it’s not Röyksopp, I’m going with someone relatively unknown or a new side project.
March 4th, 2010 at 1:05 pm
Motoko, I totally agree – right now, Royksopp seems the most feasible. (Even though I say it’s not them two times above this … whoops)
If it’s not them, yeah – I think you’re right. Something new and unknown – or a new collaboration we haven’t yet heard about.
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