Musica Subterranea started in 1997, when a few historical dance enthusiasts in the Society for Creative Anachronism found themselves sitting around, complaining about how difficult it was to get quality, copyright-legal dance music. Suddenly, they realised, "Hey, why don't we fix this problems ourselves?" And thus was born a project that has grown larger than any of them could have predicted when they started.

The name actually refers to the SCA "Underground Dance Movement," which tries to get as many people dancing as possible by whatever means. However, when they try to describe this, they usually get blank looks. So it's easier to say, "We recorded our first album in a basement." Then everyone smiles and nods.

Musica Subterranea is a 6-piece medieval dance ensemble with instruments including violin, viola, cello, hammered dulcimer, mandolin, and recorder. To date, they have self-produced two albums and performed live throughout the Midwest.