Ulfilas' Alphabet

Album: Ulfilas' Alphabet (2019)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Ulfilas (c.311–383) was a missionary bishop to the Goths. It was much because of his efforts that the Germanic language began to get written down.

    The Goths in Germany were first introduced to Christianity by Roman prisoners, whom they had taken captive during raids into the Empire. Ulfilas undertook to give the Goths the Bible in their own language. The translation of the Holy Scriptures into their everyday speech was a monumental task as in order to achieve this, Ulfilas had to first devise a Gothic alphabet to capture accurately the sounds of spoken Gothic. The bishop used a total of 27 letters adapted from examples in the Greek and Roman alphabets.
  • This is the title track of Sundaras Karma's second album. Vocalist Oscar Pollock explained the record's name to NME: "There's a whole backstory to Ufilas, which ties in to the album's themes of lack of faith, knowing what not to believe in. But also, we really liked the words 'Ufilas Alphabet' together. The aesthetic of those words is very appealing."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eat World

Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eat WorldSongwriter Interviews

Jim talks about the impact of "The Middle" and uses a tree metaphor to describe his songwriting philosophy.

Song Titles That Inspired Movies

Song Titles That Inspired MoviesSong Writing

Famous songs that lent their titles - and in some cases storylines - to movies.

Jim McCarty of The Yardbirds

Jim McCarty of The YardbirdsSongwriter Interviews

The Yardbirds drummer explains how they created their sound and talks about working with their famous guitarists.

Ian Gillan of Deep Purple

Ian Gillan of Deep PurpleSongwriter Interviews

Deep Purple frontman Ian Gillan explains the "few red lights" in "Smoke On The Water" and talks about songs from their 2020 album Whoosh!

Superman in Song

Superman in SongSong Writing

Not everyone can be a superhero, but that hasn't stopped generations of musicians from trying to be Superman.

Rick Astley

Rick AstleySongwriter Interviews

Rick Astley on "Never Gonna Give You Up," "Cry For Help," and his remarkable resurgence that gave him another #1 UK album.