The Imaginary Song Hunt – Details, episodes & analysis

Gather every Wednesday to rummage through music history’s wondrous, mystical, and neglected corners, unearthing forgotten stories, strange texts, and enchanted fragments of song with Stef Conner.

The Imaginary Song Hunt is a monthly adventure into the lost, half-remembered, and beautifully mysterious corners of music history. Much of the music we explore survives only in fragments – cryptic manuscripts, patchy evidence, inherited traditions, and folklore. We often can’t know exactly how the old songs sounded… but it’s great fun to make an educated, imaginative guess.

That’s what the Hunt is all about: using real historical clues to spark creative reconstructions, new performances, and playful musical detective work.

Each month unfolds across four or five Wednesday sessions:

Week 1 – Main Episode (YouTube & Podcast):
Interviews with experts, manuscript deep-dives, and my own attempts at wrestling ancient evidence into fresh musical ideas.

Week 2 – Bonus Content:
Extra context, clues, translations, commentary, and behind-the-scenes materials to help fellow Song Hunters on their own creative paths.

Week 3 – Live Zoom Singing Session:
Open to all voices, no experience required. Learn by doing, and feel ancient song in your body through guided communal singing.

Week 4 – New Creative Release:
A music video or brand-new piece inspired by the month’s mystery.

Bonus Weeks – When there's a 5th Wednesday

Extra goodies: mini episodes, medieval weirdness, manuscript surprises. Something different every time.

Along the way, Song Hunters encounter:
mystical incantations, strange notations, beautiful manuscripts, ancient instruments, tragic ballads, songs for forgotten saints, tavern tunes, musical riddles, heart-piercing laments, creepy curses, and wonderfully odd modern songs with ancient or folk twists. Our explorations are rooted in evidence, but always leave space for imagination, intuition, and delight.

If you love singing, stories, folklore, history, ancient magic, ritual, creative experimentation, or the joy of making something new from something old, this is absolutely for you!