Silent Lion as Four: John Saunders on Irish Bouzouki, Barbiel Matthews-Saunders, guitar and vocals, plus Michael Manderen on viola da gamba and Rio Blue on cajon. The Minstrel Stage at the Great Lakes Medieval Faire.
Silent Lion has been performing and writing music since 1995 when John Saunders and Barbiel formed the original duo of the group. They started out calling themselves Sassafras, but changed to Silent Lion after their second CD, Convivium was published. (By the way, all their CDs can be ordered from the To Have and To Hold page in this website.)
As much of their original music was Celtic and blended a Medieval mysticism with other more modern musical styles, gravitating toward the Medieval and renaissance festivals was a natural progression. For the last twenty years they’ve expanded their authentic and ancient repertoire, performing 12th and 15th century favorites along with jigs and reels and their originals inspired by Medieval literature.
And there’s still jazz….
They are joined by the third SL, Michael Manderen, lutenist and viola da gamba master, at their favorite faires.
Enjoy our site, check schedules, and browse the photos, listen to our music, and look at our cds. (Yes! Available for purchasing!) Silent Lion music can be heard on Amazon, i-Tunes, You Tube, Spotify, Slacker and many internet sites.
Over the years Silent Lion has performed everywhere from folk festivals to bookstores to concert venues, including Severance Hall in Cleveland. We’ve performed for Akron First Night for many years, and for medieval dinner theaters, church concerts, and arts festivals, headlined at the Kent State Folk Festival and various state parks and concert stages.
Silent Lion at the Great Lakes Medieval Faire’s Minstrel Manor, with Chris Puente on cajon, and Barbiel, John and Michael
