.My radio show from Saturday is now a podcast available in youtube and mixcloud. This is my first show in http://www.radio-happy.com which starts at 4pm German time. I linked the sites of the artists with the tracks of the show. There will be skype interviews soon so keep on listening. I haven’t given up on writing blogs because it’s my first love but radio is a great way to expand my creativity. I hope you enjoy the amazing tunes from these wonderful musicians! I feel so blessed knowing them. I couldn’t ask for more 🙂
Good day to subscribers of this page. I have my own radio show this weekend and it’s in http://www.radio-happy.com/. I am so excited because I am playing my favorite Celtic tunes in that show. The first part is devoted to the music of this blog. The second part is about my other blog. So expect eclectic music and future interviews..and even a possibility of an acoustic performance!
I got a message from one of our readers. her name is Geraldine McAuley. She’s the sister of the late Samuel Smith who was a huge fan of Breton harper Alan Stivell.
According to Geraldine:
” Samuel attended Alan’s last Concert when in Dublin on a trip from the States but did not take the opportunity
to go back stage to talk with him.
Samuel Passed away on the 12/07/2013 after a short period of 5 months from a Brain Tumor. It was heart breaking for us to watch him suffer and to say goodbye to him. Such a waste of a Talented Life. The one good thing was we got to take him back to Ireland from Arkansas before he passed away. His Funeral Service was full of his Beautiful Haunting Celtic Melodies both performed on CD by Samuel.”
I told Geraldine that I wish I could get in touch with Alan Stivell and tell him all about it but I don’t have the means. I asked her if there is a way I can listen to the songs that her late brother composed. She said:
“There is a lovely Lady named Charlie Doidge who met Samuel in a recording Studio in Brighton. She recorded and arranged some of Samuel’s Songs Shortly afterwards he went to live in Arkansas. I will attach now a Song entitled Song for Eire. There is some Photographs of Places Samuel visited when he was back home in Ireland. Hope you like it.http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=uGD3dRCvtK0&t=20”
Listening to all the demo tracks of Samuel Smith left me a feeling of great sadness. It is a feeling you get when a birthday cake is left in the open with no one to eat it…or that thought that this man could have given us more songs. Songs to take us into another reality. His music seems to have come from another world. Perhaps it really came from that place. Â I like to believe in that parallel universe where all our dreams that never came to be realize in this world actually happen there. Perhaps if we only have a glimpse this other reality then we don’t have to live in such quiet desperation.
I call the attention of record producers out there, or people involved in recording to take notice of Samuel’s wonderful music. You can contact germcauley@hotmail.com his sister. All Copyrights were signed over to  Sam’s Widow Tina in Arkansas. These are songs he was working on before he passed away due. He will sorely be missed.
Tracks:
Mystic Rover
Bantry Bay
Heathen Soldier
Niamh’s Lament
Return of the pilgrim
The Agony
Ballad of Oisin
It is amazing how we’ve come a long way. Before, we merely rely on the recommendations from friends, word of the mouth from experts and also through the whims of record execs. Finally, that dream album will happen. Â Now the power to put whatever music we want to the top has arrived. One of the common tools used by musicians to fund their new projects is kickstarter. I am sure you are familiar with this one.
Let me tell you. Singer/songwriter and vocal extraordinaire Kyle Carey is preparing to record her new album. North Star will be recorded in Scotland aound January, during Celtic Connections.  Seamus Egan will produce the album. Now expect nothing less from this project because I know it will be an amazing album!
Kyle Carey is based in New England. You know, that beautiful place in the East Coast where everything becomes colorful this time of the year. If you remember she released that amazing album called ‘Monongah‘ and it is one of those albums that occupies the top of my playlist.
And it’s no accident that this selection of the best poems from three decades begins with the word “between,” for Heaney was a poet of the in-between (as his friend Helen Vendler has observed), writing from a zone somewhere between north and south, between Catholic and Protestant, between Ireland, England, and America, between formal and free verse, between public and private, between realism and allegory, and between plain speech and loading “every rift with oar,” while also balancing the gravitas of his subject matter with the frolic and grace of poetic language. As Heaney said, “The point is to fly under or out and beyond those radar systems.” SEAMUS HEANEY: A POET OF IN-BETWEEN POSTED BY HENRI COLE (The New Yorker)
It’s everywhere. People in my stream have been posting about the passing away of the late great Seamus Heaney. His story is everywhere: The Guardian, NY Times etc.  It’s like a big hole has been punched into our collective consciousness. What is death? Why such disbelief? Perhaps we always think that great minds would never die. We feel the same way to those we love: our parents and close friends. Something in us  finds it hard to let go, as such soul has already nourished the umbilical cords of our creativity, our joys, our very lives. It is a symbiotic relationship that feeds poets, musicians, painters- to create. Where do we go without the beacon of light?
I don’t claim expertise to his works as I Â only stumbled upon his works in the course of my music blogging. I don’t think that those in love with Irish music could divorce themselves from the culture and history ; the things that feed Irishness. So yes today I am one of those rediscovering the works of this great mind. He is gone but the memory will always remain stronger with years. For those of us who feel that being alive is a burden to carry, we find comfort in the poems of this poet. It’s like his words form this umbrella to protect us from the harsh glare of the sun and the unforgiving storms of reality.
I think being from Northern Ireland made Seamus feel that sense of being in two worlds at the same time. Your reality shapes your soul. I guess that is why we always long to find a soul mate because we have different souls inside.
1. Whiskey in the Jar
2. Dicey Riley
3. Tae the Begging
4. Kilkelly, Ireland (Steven and Peter Jones)
5. Rising of the Moon (John Keegan Casey)
6. Nancy Whiskey
7. Rocky Road to Dublin
8. Old Fenian Gun (P. O’Neill)
9. The Alcoholic (Hugh Scanlen, Marc Gunn)
10. Minstrel Boy (Thomas Moore)
11. Danny Boy (Frederic Weatherly)
12. Drunken Sailor
13. Wild Colonial Boy
14. Big Strong Man
15. An Irish Lullaby (James Royce Shannon)
16. Henry Martin
17. May Morning Dew
18. A Drop of Nelson’s Blood
19. Arthur McBride
20. Old Dun Cow (Harry Wincott, Brad Howard)
Musicians
Marc Gunn: autoharp, vocals
Kenzie Gunn(his daughter): percussive
Daniel I. Briggs: bkg vocals, acoustic Bass, acoustic Guitar, octave mandolin
Jon Richardson: bkg vocals, English concertina
Jody Richardson: bkg vocals, violin
Jamie Haeuser: bkg vocals on “Minstrel Boy”
I don’t know if there is another artist who gives so much to the Celtic music community like Marc Gunn. If you browse through his Celtic music podcast/ reviews, you’d realize that this man is a walking encyclopedia of the genre. He is also a performing artist and has written and performed many songs on the genre. This is a long shot from his days as a lead vocalist of a grunge band. Perhaps you might have noticed that tilt towards a more rock oriented performance in his youtube videos. His podcast and mp3 reviews helped other musicians get the exposure they deserve. That’s how he got his title The Celtfather.
This year, he serenades us with Not Every Day is St Patrick’s Day. I like the album cover. I have my favorite which I featured in my recent podcast. That song is called Tae the Begging.  I am impressed by his delivery especially the expressiveness he gives to his autoharp. It’s an instrument like no other. He also gives tips about the instrument to aspiring learners.
Not to stray too much from the main topic which is the album Not Every Day Is St. Patrick’s Day,I want to recommend this album for those who love traditional as well as original tunes. This album is also attended by amazing musicians like his daughter Kenzie Gunn ( According to him: “She was barely a year old and I used to pat her back to help her sleep. I recorded that back patting while I was working on the album”). Sounds cute eh?
I say I really enjoyed listening to this album. I am also surprised to find an old favorite An Irish Lullaby  which I heard from Kenny Loggins in his Return to Pooh Corner album. This interpretation sounds magical and Marc’s voice has taken that soothing quality.
Celtic Music Fan 