I recently received a Myspace friend request from a band that I had formerly never heard of called The Remus Lupins. I of course gave them a listen and discovered that I really like their music. This was the second Harry Potter related band I had heard of, the first being Harry and the Potters and I decided it was time to investigate this coincidence. Here is a little about what I found.

Both of these bands and many others are bands that fall under the fairly new genre of Wizard Rock. According to Wikipedia “Wizard Rock is a musical movement dating from 2002 that consists of a number of bands formed by young musicians playing songs about J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter literary phenomenon. The lyrics are usually humorous and simple, and many bands write songs from the point of view of a particular character in the books, usually the character who features in the band’s name.” To my surprise this is becoming a very popular genre. A quick Myspace search turns up dozens of Wizard Rock bands and you can even find the Wizard Rock groups page, which is a discussion board and forum for fans of the genre. This page includes links to many Wizard Rock band pages with streaming music. Many of these bands tend to go for a rock or indie sound but I have found some that lean toward electronica, folk, or just the simple sound of a singer-songwriter.

One of the aspects of Wizard Rock that I find most fascinating is how interested most of these bands are in promoting literacy. Almost every one of these bands on their Myspace or website mention that one of their goals is to promote literacy. Some even have links to sites or pdfs you can download explaining how to help promote literacy in your own area.

Also of note is the Wizard Rockumentary, a group who is filming a documentary about Wizard Rock. According to the website “ The Wizard Rockumentary is a feature length documentary exploring Harry Potter fandom, the Wizard Rock community, and the goals of these musicians to promote literacy. “ Production is currently underway for this documentary but there is already a fair amount of interesting material to view on both their website and their Myspace page.

These bands have some great possibilities for young adult librarians. Many of them will play in a library making for a great program. Given the proclivity of most of these bands to promote literacy why not find one nearby and work with them on some sort of literacy program or project. A viewing of the Wizard Rockumentary, once it is released, would also make for a fun program for the teens in your library. There are countless ways to tap into this as a young adult librarian, but simply as fans of young adult literature and in the case of most of us, fans of Harry Potter it seems important just to be aware that these bands are out there and some are becoming quite popular. Below is a list of a few of these bands with links to either their Websites and/or their Myspace pages.

 

Harry and the Potters – Website / Myspace

The Remus Lupins – Website / Myspace

Draco and the Malfoys – Website / Myspace

The Whomping Willows – Myspace

Dobby and the house Elves – Myspace

The Hermione Crookshanks Experience – Myspace