Zanda Myrande

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(December 19, 1955 -- July 24, 2019)

British filker, known before 2016 as Zander Nyrond and under the mundane name Jonathan Waite, who was active since 1988 if not earlier. Describing herself in the third person, she wrote, "Zanda Myrande is still recovering from the trauma of being Zander Nyrond for several decades... She proudly embraces her trans identity while still giving house room to Zander."

She was primarily a skilled filksong writer. Co-chaired Pentatonic in 1993 and HarmonIX in 1997, on the concom of Conthirteena in 1991, member of the filk group Cosmic Trifle, wrote for WiGGLe and Filklore, wrote self-published fiction, and published Zander's Little Book of Filks.

Zanda Myrande and Soren Nyrond wrote "Sam's Song", perhaps the most beloved filk song ever written. For many years it was sung at the end of every British filk convention. The annual British filk awards have been known since 1999 as the Sams, in honour of "Sam's Song". Songs by Zanda that won Sams include:

  • "The Old Ones" (Best New Song, 1990; Best Humorous Song, 1994)
  • "Sam's Song", co-written with Soren Nyrond (All-Time Great, 1994)
  • "Mina's Song" (Best Serious, 2001; Filk Gold, 2011)
  • "Arden", co-written with Chris O'Shea (Filk Gold, 2003)
  • "Song of the Women", co-written with Janet Waite (Filk Gold, 2013)
  • "British 101" (Best Silly, 2014)
  • "Don't Push Rob into the Euphonium", co-written with Mich Sampson (Best Silly, 2017)

Zanda was the first person other than Mike Whitaker to write a song in Mike's "Before the Dawn" universe. Thanks to Zanda's example, "Before the Dawn" became a group effort of the British filk community.

For years, Zanda and her wife Janet Waite hosted weekend filk gatherings, known as Nycons, at their home.


Albums

  • The Filk of Human Kindness (1991)
  • The Toad and other Strangenesses (1993)
  • Made by Magic (1994) with Kathy Mar
  • Wassaliens (1999)
  • To The Landing (2010)
  • Blow For Freedom (2011)
  • The Filk Of Human Kindness - Futeurised (2011) The songs of The Filk of Human Kindness, re-recorded
  • Coming To A Theatre Near You (2017)
  • Return To Argenthome - The Rough Cuts (2018)
  • Lighthouse (2019)
  • On The Battlements (2019)
  • OWLS (2019) Perhaps this was released only on Patreon, as it does not appear on Bandcamp.


'Books

  • Three Windows
  • Two Magicians
  • Three and Two (includes Three Windows, Two Magicians, and Tension)
  • Passionate and Confused
  • Tetrad
  • Oonaverse
  • Return to Argenthome
  • The Lost Goats and Other Tales of the Nyrond, with co-author Sam Armitage
  • The Overly Obnoxious OIK Operation, with co-author Sam Armitage
  • The Eight-Man Austin, with co-author Sam Armitage


Awards, Honors and GoHships:


Person 19552019
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