I featured an e book about learning how to play the tin whistle by Stephen Ducke. I told you how amazing that book is. It has 430 MB of files containing music, texts and illustrations will be enough to give you all that you need to get you started. Well, this guy doesn’t just teach one instrument. He teaches a LOT of instruments including the wooden flute. He makes amazing music too. Just take a listen to his myspace page and it will give you a good impression if not tell you EVERYTHING you need to know about Irish maestro Stephen Ducke. He now lives in France. He also runs www.tradschool.com which I posted here from my previous article but didn’t realize who the man behind the site is.
If you think Norway is just about melancholic Scandinavian music then you are wrong. The Greenland Whalefishers not just ruins the stereotypes, they also bring a kick…yeah more like a kick in the eye with their brand of Irish music or Paddy
Greenland Whalefishers
rock. Whoa! And check this out, this guys have been on the road for 16 years! They love what they do, they don’t apologize for the awesome music and they are performing live in the Czech Republic this week. Yes get your socks rocked with the Greenland Whalefishers!
Don’t let their wacky pictures and band bio fool you. These guys are SERIOUS about their music. I was impressed by the amount of craft they put on every recordings. They are Will Tun and the Wasters, a young, fiery and energetic 7 piece folk punk-ska band from Reading, England. They occasionally add in a bit of gypsy to their song repertoire as well as collaborating with a French Rapper called MC Amalgam! These 3 tracks are from our latest release “Time is a Bastard”.
Deep in the winter of ’09 a lonely group of introspective alcoholics (AKA The Wasters) who were sick of having nothing to show for their drinking, decided to legitimise their actions by forming a band. Naturally this was to be a folk-punk band. One fateful night at a party after a few, the ebbullient Burmese violin/guitar maestro Will Tun steps on to the scene and a union is formed. The only trouble is he doesn’t know how to drink and he likes coldplay. Thus begins the fusion of two opposing worlds into the weird, smorgas board band dynamic of Will Tun and the Wasters. The Wasters learn to play music properly (kind of), Will Tun learns about punk rock and cider and somewhere in that process some songs got written.
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Featured Video:Kathryn Tickell – ‘Lads of Alnwick’
Kathryn Tickell and band (Peter Tickell – fiddles, Joss Clapp – guitars, Julian Sutton – melodeon). Song taken from a live set recorded at The Zodiac, Oxford. 8th September 2004
Prior to hearing her through The Sky Didn’t Fall with Corrina Hewat, I already posted a video about her. But you don’t really get to know an artist’s music unless you listen to an entire album. The northumbrian smallpipes are really great to hear and no one plays it like the way she does.
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Today in pictures: Eva McCauley
Have you seen the works of Eva McCauley before? If you haven’t check them out. Intense stuff. She is a painter and print artist. Well, it was a surprise to know that he is also the mother of famous bodhran player Jacob McCauley. I never realized Jacob has an awesome mom! Eva is the Founder & Director of Riverside Celtic College, in Guelph, Ontario. These images are about her latest exhibit.
Noah Smulkis and I have been in contact through the years because we’re both fans of Celtic music and we both like Clannad. He is a musician based in Chicago IL and plays the bodhran. His passion however is directed towards promoting Celtic music to a wider audience and that is how Ceolwind Productions was founded. The company overview says:
Ceolwind Productions is a booking and promotions company based out of Chicago, IL and was created to help promote Celtic, Folk, and Roots music and bring you the finest quality of concerts and musicians from around the globe.
Here’s the company outline and also the artists it represents right now:
Booking, Promoting, Social Media, Online Music Distribution, and Webdesign for innovative and ground breaking traditional Celtic/Folk/Roots music.
Here is what Ceolwind is bringing you:
Friday, September 7th:
Olov Johansson and Catriona McKay
Kicking off their US tour together here in Chicago at:
Ceolwind Productions welcomes the traditional music of Scotland and Sweden, woven together by these two highly acclaimed and talented musicians: Olov Johansson and Catriona McKay – Swedish Nyckelharpa & Scottish Harp
Both traditional as well as newly composed music from Scotland and Sweden,
Olov Johansson & Catriona McKay at Chief O’Neill’s Public event · By Ceolwind Productions
performed beautifully in this new unique harp-duo by these awarded harpers. Catriona was appointed “Instrumentalist of the year” at “Scots Trad Music Awards 2007” Olov became “World champion in Nyckelharpa” in Österbybruk 1990. Olov is also a founding member in the Swedish folk band “Väsen”. The duo met in Stockholm at a concert they shared with their bands, Väsen from Sweden and the Shetland-based Fiddlers Bid.
Come catch this one-of-a-kind performance: the very first stop on their tour of the states together!
They are touring in support of their first album collaboration: Foogy
Darhaou is a band very well-known in the fez-noz festivals. Their music celebrates Breton dancing and these guys not only rock onstage, they also put out quality music as you can hear in their myspace page. I want to mention my appreciation to Eliaz P for introducing me to this wonderful band from Brittany and the rest of the artists from that region. There’s a huge wealth of music over there and this site will showcase them here one by one. More about Darhaou’s music here: http://www.myspace.com/darhaou
Members: Ronan Bléjean, Christophe Le Menn, Ronan Le Dissez, Erwan Volant, Pierrick Tardivel, Olivier Urvoy
Bio:
Founded in 1998, the group Darhaou fest-noz animates and manages the challenge of satisfying both music lovers the best dancers. Olivier Urvoy and Ronan Le Dissez made a collaboration forging a sound both wild and precise. The ensemble isn’t complete without the participation of other musicians including soloists and dancers. There are two members from Jazz background that provide the rhythm section, Pierrick Tardivel Steering and Erwan. They are soloists known for their energy and sobriety, providing the groove yet with nuance. Ronan Bléjean the bi-chromatic accordion provides the “Irish” feel. His instinctive playing combined with his technique and sensitivity provide a distinct style in Breton music. Both the melody to the accompaniment, make the link between the rhythm section and soloists. After two albums and 10 years of instrumental music, Darhaou includes the young and talented singer kan ha diskan Christophe Le Menn. His presence leads to other tones, another total energy and thus requiring the orchestration. After two years of planning and work, the conclusion is unanimous: Darhaou acquired a new maturity and freshness that justify the need and desire to share their music to more listeners. A new album is being prepared in the excitement of novelty and looks in the minds of its creators, as a major event in the history of Darhaou.
Darhaou Photo: Sylvain Rocaboy
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Featured Trad: The Jig Set – Winnie Haye’s/Pat Walsh’s – The Fuchsia Band
Mick Heffernan – Whistle Brian McGillicuddy – Whistle Karl Nesbitt – Bodhran, Bouzoukis
Recorded and mixed by Donncha Moynihan Produced by Karl Nesbitt
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Picture of the day: The Lyre Dragon with 15 stings
Lyre Dragon 15 cordes , petit DeLyre elctro-acoustique
Singer/songwriter Slim took time between gigs to discuss his new album “ Gallows Tree Tales.”
Gallows Tree Tales is an album that will dance around your head for days. I know because I have the album and I play it every day. Whether you are using high quality headphones or huge speakers, this is a must have for audiophiles.
Slim is our artist of the week.This is our second ‘meeting’. I discovered his music a year ago through TradConnect, a social network for lovers of traditional Irish music. He was networking with trad. performers who played on the album. He shared the rough mixes of the tracks to potential fans through his Soundcloud account. Now the album is finished. It promises to please many listeners. Gallows Tree Tales has epic hooks, catchy melodies, and a mastering done with impeccable taste and precision. This is a great addition one’s music library – a timeless album to listen to again and again across generations. Here is our interview.
Slim at last the album Gallows Tree Tales is out! Now tell us about your memorable experiences recording these wonderful tracks.
Yep, the album’s out – after over three years of hard graft, it’s here. There’ve been so many magical experiences, – getting the bones together of the first track I wrote (‘Til My Dying Day), and releasing a rough demo of that to my fans on Facebook, and getting just the most beautiful feedback from it, and realizing right at that very point that this project had LEGS! Also with this project, although I didn’t have a working band when I started it, I really didn’t want it to read like ‘Slim plays all the instruments’ – I wanted it to be a classic folk-rock record, with loads of different artists on board, lots of different sounds and talents.
So as I was developing each song, I was adding session players to the mixes, and before we even get on to the gospel choir, there’s getting on for seven musicians on most of the tracks. Dan Clark plays some beautiful lead guitars, there are some stunning bits of Celtic pipes, flutes, and whistles, some beautiful backing vocals, and since I record everything myself, those ‘lightbulb’ moments when each player started up recording for the first time brought many shivers down my spine – I hope everyone else hears and feels these too.
Tell us about the choir. The choir appeared in the album giving it a gospel feel.
The choir (Singology Gospel Choir) are actually only on one song – ‘Peggy Gordon’ – which was one of the last songs that we cut for the record. It was a dear friend of mine, JR who suggested a gospel choir for that track. Since I’ve been doing the Gallows Tree Tales record for a fair while, I’ve been bouncing rough mixes, sketches and the like off my friends and family for so long – and probably ad nauseum in some cases – to get their take on things. These people should get credits really for all the ‘it needs a middle eight!’ / ‘you can sing that better!’ / ‘let me do some harmony vocals on that one!’ comments that I’ve got over time! Anyhow – Singology are one of my friend Reese Robinson’s community choir that she runs in London. And I just asked if they’d be up for doing a track. Very simple really.
The logistical side was a bit tricky – there were getting on for twenty of them, and my studio’s in the loft conversion in my house in Hackney. So we had the lounge as the green room, where they rehearsed, and then we got them up in groups of three or four to record the parts and sent them down again, while I plied them with pizza, and then we crammed them all into the loft for a final ensemble piece with claps and the works. Toni’s arrangement of the parts was spine tingling, and we doubled everyone’s parts so in effect you have about thirty people singing on the final mix. They graced me with their singing at the launch gig in August at Proud Galleries Camden, and we’re using that video footage to make a promo video which will be stunning. We’ll definitely get them on board for more than one track on the next record – Celtic gospel folk-rock – we’ve invented a new genre I reckon!
The songs are very catchy, adult alternative radio oriented but also very Irish. How did you come up with these songs?
I wanted this record to be like one of the classic seventies rock records. Not just a couple of singles and some filler, but a journey record crammed full of hooks and moments. And I didn’t just hole up in the studio for two months and rush through writing eleven songs, as I’ve had to spend a good chunk of the last three and a half years working (running my home studio, playing session guitar, getting drunk!).
So every song has had to pass through a lot of stages before it made the cut. And I made a conscious effort to give EVERY song a massive hook, a chorus melody that you could sing. ‘Til My Dying Day was the germ of the project, and that came from a great trip to Cork to see some friends back in November 2009, and when I got back to London with Irish airs bouncing around my head (mainly from my mate Donie who’s always singing after a few ales), that kind of informed the whole enterprise.
I got Orlaith McAuliffe and Colman Connolly on the record to give some real Celtic flavours later on which just blew me away – the Uilleann pipes that Colman plays at the start of ‘Til My Dying Day were actually just him checking his tuning and warming up, and it was one of those ‘stop! – we’re using that for the intro!’ moments right away. That first song was like an old yarn that I made up, and I thought, why not do a whole record of tales, which is what we’ve got now. I’m actually as proud of the lyrics as the melodies on this record – I think it all holds together really well.
I like the play of tempo in your track arrangement. The album starts with a ballad then ends with a ballad. In between are energetic tracks that will sure to get people up their feet. Who worked with you in the track order?
Well the last track (‘Reason And Rhyme’) was the first to place. My best mate Jim Gipson wrote the lyrics, and the sentiment of that song is just perfect for the end – ‘We’ve had our time, we’ve had our reason and rhyme’ – a positive break-up tune. I wanted a big Beatlesy singalong chorus to tower off into oblivion, and it’s the only track on the record with a fade-out. We did it live at the launch gig with the choir, with each band member leaving the stage ‘til there was just Singology Gospel Choir onstage singing their hearts out. Perfect.
As for sorting the order of the rest of the tracks, I actually bestowed that honour upon Andy Adams, my drummer. He’s been a tower of strength on this record – I bounce most everything I do off him. He’s fiercely opinionated, and I like people with something to say. So I just told him to go away and order the record, and there you have it. When you’re a solo artist it’s nice to offload some of the weight of responsibility for things!
Your songs have universal appeal. They all talk about the human condition but not confined to personal issues alone. There are also songs about history and places. Was the inclusion of these ideas intentional?
Some of the tales are fictional stories about the usual suspects (love, loss, booze, madness, drugs and the like). Jim Gipson wrote the lyrics to the two most personal love and break-up songs – Heart And Soul, and Reason And Rhyme – he writes in a very direct way, in a style that I don’t, and it’s great to carry that emotional burden for a moment when you’re singing them. There’s actually only one true story there – Cadogan 129, about the very first murder on Britain’s railways in 1864, which is focused on a pub round the corner from me in Hackney, London, which my mate Frank told me about as he lives next door to it.
The great thing about the interweb is once you’ve found a yarn, you can Google it to death, trawl Wikipedia and before you know it you’ve fleshed out a whole web of lives from the past. The middle eight of that song is the actual poem they’d read to the condemned murderer on the day of his hanging, ending with ‘May the lord have mercy on your soul!’, which was a nice touch. I’ll definitely revisit this technique of tale-telling for the next LP.
How do you see yourself 10 years from now as a musician?
In a very similar place to now I’d hope, as I really couldn’t improve upon these Gallows Tree Tales, how we wrote it, how it was recorded, the beautiful people who helped craft it – I’m just so proud of it. I’d definitely like to do more with trad. players from Celtic shores, and more work with the gospel choir, and I think there’s some more acoustic and pastoral places that I could go, but for now, I wanted to make this big, bold, technicolour folk record, that makes you laugh, cry, dance, and who knows what else all at once. I think we nailed it. The big job for the start of the next ten years is getting it out there.
Are you planning an album tour and where?
The next stage is getting this out there so absolutely yeah we’re gonna take this out on the road. London is the focus of course, but the tunes will travel. Definitely we’re talking festivals next summer and hopefully a good support slot or two. I’m gonna get the gospel choir thing rolling too, and the idea of having a collective of musicians that can come in and out and give their flavours. We’ll be doing another big night at Proud Galleries in Camden towards the end of 2012 with a bit more of an industry and press focus, and we’ve got a warm-up on October 7th at the Old Queen’s Head in Islington. Watch this space I guess. I’m off on a road trip from New York to New Orleans in September, so we’ll definitely try for some guerrilla gigs across the pond!
When you are not doing music, what are the other things you are passionate about?
Music’s pretty much the big deal for me – it’s all I do, and what I was born to do. I’ve got about a hundred other projects on the burner at any one time, and don’t devote nearly enough time to any of them. I do balearic electro stuff with one of me best mates Steve Lee (The Project Club), I play guitar with Reese Robinson who runs Singology, and we do kinda nu-soul acoustic tunes. It’s all about collaboration in my book – I met a great MC called Cozmost at Burning Man festival in Nevada last summer, and we’re gonna do a remote hip-hop-folk collaborative thing when I get time. This music thing is really all I live and breathe.
This is the second time we met in this interview and I don’t want to repeat myself. What are the other things you want to tell your listener that you think we haven’t covered yet?
The only thing I have to say to everyone is please get online and buy the record. I’m insanely proud of how Gallows Tree Tales turned out – and it’ll dance around your head for days and days if you let it! So go to www.slim-music.com and get on it, and of course befriend the Facebook band page by ‘liking’ it! www.facebook.com/gallowstreetales. And come and see us live!
Listening to the entire album echoes the passages in Dante’s The Divine Comedy. You travel through the depths of the human experience and you’re purged. Gallows Tree Tales has the larger than life themes that resonate through your soul. You just have to be prepared and you’ll come out of it more human, more honest and healed.
Sampler:
The Gallows Tree artwork courtesy of Slim\s official website
Slim’s band personnel:
Slim – vocals and guitar Andy Adams – drums Benn Cordrey – bass jh – keyboards Sam Kimmins – harmonica and percussion Dan Clark – electric guitar Seb Wesson – electric guitar Emma Bowles – backing vocals The Singology Gospel Choir conducted by Reese Robinson
To buy physical and digital copies (via Itunes) of Slim’s Gallows Tree Tales, get involved, and find out more, visit Slim’s official website www.slim-music.com
Teaser for the rest of the album tracks
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Misc
The Celtic Music Fan would like to greet Baz Mcsherry a Happy birthday. You are now older and wiser Baz! Here you are with your great song:
Introducing an amazing Canadian artist, A German record label, Album Review, Loreena McKennitt and Picture of the day.
“It was kind of cool to work the sound board for him, because my dad said that when he was in university Terry used to play upstairs in the student union building. Another really cool thing is that the choir I sang in, did one of his songs a few years ago but I didn’t know who he was so I didn’t realize it until he started playing the song. He sounded so good live.”-Layne Greene
Ever wonder how I got my fresh ideas for this site? Yes, I have good friends whom I spend hours and hours discussing musical stuff. So, apart from getting direct messages from bands themselves, I also get word of the mouth from this or that who knows this or that.
After one song I warmed up to Terry Kelly right away. Fans of Dave Gunning will love his music and yes he is also Canadian! You hear different influences in his music ranging from Bluegrass, Irish to Pop rock. In My Father’s House (the video you see above) has an amazing fiddle part and the video is also well done. His voice combines strength and tenderness. The music lifts the soul, casting your burdens aside. So, to all of you who are having a hard time, those who are trying to heal from a broken heart or a terrible situation, the music of Terry Kelly is a perfect remedy. Not too heavy on the sugar, good calorie count and full of goodness.
Merlin’s Nose records giving you ambient, pagan folk and other interesting releases
Those who love ambient sound with something medieval and folk then Merlin’s Nose Records have great stuff for you. The company is based in Germany and it sells records in various format. These tracks you hear are just samplers of the great things to come. Visit their site to browse through the catalog. http://www.merlins-nose.com/index_1.htm
Music sampler:
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Album Review: Mickey Harte: Forward to Reality
The music of Mickey Harte is easy to the ears and it goes down smoothly. There are enough hooks to appeal to both pop and rock listeners. His voice has the characteristics as Rod Stewart and Sting or a combination of both. The album booklet has a nice biography that will explain how this recording came into reality. It also shows black and white photos of the studio with the artist and crew during recording sessions. The album has 13 catchy pop rock songs , artfully crafted but they also made sure to retain that raw energy courtesy of sound Engineer Dave Hill.
The songs are typical adult alternative music that talks about relationships, the tragedy, redemption of love and things in between. There are folksy sensibilities in songs like Bordertown, Living in our town,Unstoppable train and my personal favorite Broken Love. Mickey Harte has a voice possessing a wide range of expression and layers. In I like the way you think, his voice go really deep and sensual in a Chris Isaak croon.
So what about the instruments? Expect to hear Hanson guitars, alto trombone and the usual mix of keys, bass and drums. The recording and mastering took place inside 1 Bit Studio in Chicago IL. Interesting results happen when artists from the Emerald Isle let American sound engineers do the final touches. All in all Forward to Reality is one strong album that is poised to satisfy a wide range of listeners from the musical spectrum.
Featuring:Layne Greene, Coda, Mickey Harte, Andrew Slim Black, Dan Aston and James M Law!
Good day folks. I spent the whole day listening and uploading songs. This happened because I received recordings from the following artists and it is nice to credit their work as well as getting you to know them one by one. Music helps us remember and it eases our pains and anger. I love the fact that music is my substitute for tons and tons of chocolate I could have swallowed trying to ease the blues of the past few weeks. I am glad to tell you that I am ok now. It could have been difficult without music. I am featuring one by one. I have CDs on my shelf right now but I can’t cram them all here. Instead, I will take it one at a time. I am giving you a sampler at the end of this article. That way you will decide what artist you are going to pick up when you start shopping for records.
Pre release : Layne Greene EP
A new EP by Canadian folk musician Layne Greene (who is based in Nova Scotia) is in the works for final release. There are four tracks in the EP : Break, Iron Town, Winter Song and Working Man. Some of these tracks have been uploaded via his youtube, soundcloud and myspace pages. The only difference is that he actually made modifications and worked with jazz guitarist Alex MacNeil. Alex has a friend by the name of Shawn Bisson. Shawn did all the mixing/engineering for the session. He’s an actual sound engineer, and he just happened to be around and tagged along for the session. The artwork will be done by graphic artist Julie Meyer. For the sample of Iron Town please refer to the bottom of this article where I posted all the sound samples for your listening pleasure.
Lyrics of Iron Town:
Words and music by Layne Greene
We built this town on island waters we wear ourselves down with ropes and shovels
while days go by and we sleep away our time
we’ll wake to find a restless state of mind and all our thoughts are leaving this place behind
while days go by and sleep away our lies
and we build the round this iron town and we’ll sit around in our iron town in our town
Lyrics printed with permission to the composer.
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Featured Videos: Coda-The Briar & The Rose/Elsafty, Armstrong & Browne in Concert
I like Tom Waits and when my friend Jimmy sent me a link to this video I was pleasantly surprised. I was hooked. I keep on looking and listening. These guys gave me goosebumps! The second video is interesting in a sense that it is the most ‘traditional’ of all my post.
Róisín Elsafty — vocal Siobhán Armstrong — early Irish harp Ronan Browne — Union pipes, bansuri, tin whistle
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Our pic of the Day: Moya Brennan and Family
Moya Brennan: Going to Glastonbury with the family. We’ll all be performing the Croissant Neuf Stage Saturday afternoon. Maybe see you there? 3 June 2011 Tim , Moya, Paul and Aisling Jarvis. The reason why I found this photo fascinating is because it tells us that Irish music will always be a family affair. It is nice to see Moya and family looking relaxed and ready for musical action.
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Listening To: Mickey Harte-Forward to reality
I got a big surprise when I received a complimentary CD in the mail.
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Featured MP3s
Iron Town is taken from an upcoming EP. Title is in the works.
Bordertown is taken from an album Forward to Reality to be officially launched on September 16.
Peggy Gordon is taken from the new album of Andrew “Slim” Black called Gallows Tree Tales.
Way Home by Dan Aston. He is a singer/songwriter based in Cornwall. He is working on a debut CD which will be out in 2013.
Celtic Music Fan 