Will Tun and the Wasters & MC Amalgam – Raggamuffin MC

 

Will Tun and Aymeric Amalgam

This week, we are moving a bit away from the traditional /New Age flavor of this page to give way to a more pop rock oriented series of articles. It is after all summer is most parts of the world where most of my readers are. Live bands are playing in festivals and there are new releases from artists which will be featured here. You wont be disappointed that’s for sure!

I was totally stoked when these guys handed me their finished EP sometime ago. It is exciting to represent a young band that’s full of energy and looking good onstage. I think the onstage getups really represent their punk and zany musical personas. Who needs Prozac when you have Will Tun and the Wasters?

Hey Baxter! Hope you’re having a good summer! Thought you might be interested in the knowing the Wasters got a new tune out with our French rapper Mc Amalgam.. It’s a little far from the our pogues inspired roots, but what the hey… it’s summer and we were in the mood for some upbeat ska :)-Will Tun

The music video for Raggamuffin MC really say a lot about the spirit of summer in the vein of Irish music meets Rasta spirit. This track is going to be included in their new album ‘Unite and Charge’, release date TBA. I think they got what it takes to really court mainstream audience and play in big venues. Just help spread the music, blog about these guys and their fame will spread like virus. Oh and French rapper MC Amalgam really convinced me to listen to rap. Check him out and his solo work that, although not really Celtic but really fit the format if my other blog Sphere Music.

Additional info:

Taken from the upcoming release
To pre order/pledge go to http://www.pledgemusic.com/willtunand…

http://www.facebook.com/willtunandthe…
http://www.facebook.com/mcamalgam

Lyrics:

You’ve got nothing to say, from your writing it’s really perspiring
Is that only in your lyrics or does it extend toward you days?
You’ve got nothing to say in your rap so you’re only blabbering
Even though you should shut up you make 16 bars from dust
You speak into the void and even do it shamelessly
I almost got vertigo facing the emptiness that you just left
You even pretend to be giving a message
You’ve got nothing to say so you speak about a life that you fantasise
You’ve got nothing to say so you speak about the girls you pulled
Of the size of your penis and other lies you imagined
You’ve got nothing to say and what’s worse is that nobody’s forcing you to
You’ll always find an audience despite the lyrics that you have
You’ve got nothing to say so you speak about what you call batty boys
Of your LACOSTE tracksuits and the JD that you’re drinking
You’ve got nothing to say so you big-up, big up a lot
You’ve got nothing to say so you became Mc Jungle Ragga
—————————————-­—————————————-­—

Recorded at Downtown Digital Studios
Produced, engineered and mixed by Patch Harmonix
http://www.facebook.com/downtowndigit…

Video By EGOLIFE Productions
http://www.facebook.com/egolifeproduc…

Huzzah!

In keeping with the tradition of summer here are festivals you might want to check out:

The Whole Of The Moon(two versions with lyrics)

Today I have been listening to The Whole Of The Moon– two versions repeatedly. Someone posted this in Twitter and before I knew it I was hooked going back and forth like what you do in a seesaw. It s a boring Monday and I have been doing paper works with that song in the background. Oh and I have to tell you I am doing this on a break-not during work.

There’s something about the lyrics that captivated my imagination. It’s originally done by The Waterboys in 1985 from the album This Is The Sea. In the early 90’s, Irish singer Terry Reid covered this.  Enya collaborated with him on this track providing backing vocals and keyboards.

The Whole Of The Moon lyrics
Songwriters: Scott, Michael;

I pictured a rainbow, you held it in your hands
I had flashes but you saw then plan
I wandered out in the world for years while you just stayed in your room
I saw the crescent, you saw the whole of the moon
The whole of the moon

You were there in the turnstiles with the wind at your heels
You stretched for the starts and you know how it feels
To reach too high, too far, too soon
You saw the whole of the moon

I was grounded while you filled the skies
I was dumbfounded by truth, you cut through lies
I saw the rain dirty valley, you saw Brigadoon
I saw the crescent, you saw the whole of the moon

I spoke about wings you just flew
I wondered I guessed and I tried, you just knew
I sighed and you swooned
[ From: http://www.elyrics.net/read/w/waterboys-lyrics/the-whole-of-the-moon-lyrics.html ]
I saw the crescent, you saw the whole of the moon
The whole of the moon

With a torch in your pocket and the wind at your heels
You climbed on the ladder and you know how it feels
To get too high, too far, too soon
You saw the whole of the moon, the whole of the moon, hey yeah

Unicorns and cannonballs, palaces and piers
Trumpets, towers and tenements, wide oceans full of tears
Flags, rags, ferryboats, scimitars and scarves
Every precious dream and vision underneath the stars

Yes, you climbed on the ladder with the wind in your sails
You came like a comet, blazing your trail
Too high, too far, too soon
You saw the whole of the moon

Oh, how [Incomprehensible] did you see the whole of the moon

© DIZZY HEIGHTS MUSIC PUBLISHING LT;

According to GrecoCelt: On a less speculative note, Mike Scott (The Singer/Songwriter/Guitarist/Pianist of the Waterboys) has said that the song’s subject is “a composite of many people”, including C.S. Lewis.

from Song Meanings website.

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If you are in Cornwall and looking for a place to hang out for some Celtic music, then try Rule 7 Bar try this link for a complete info: http://www.folkmusicfestivalsandsessions.com/2011/02/friendly-traditional-english-irish.html

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Now for some Scottish Puirt a Beul is Sileas.

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Fisherman’s Friends from Port Isaac Cornwall will receive BBC Radio 2 Folk Award for Good Tradition .

From  http://www.independent.co.uk:

Once known as a safe haven for fishermen and sailors on the merciless north Cornish coast, Port Isaac, with its typical whitewashed cottages and cobbled lanes, is now a place more recognisable as the setting for television dramas such as Doc Martin and films such as Nigel Cole’s Saving Grace.

However, the Fisherman’s Friends have proved that home-grown talent can grab the headlines, too. The choir, who have sung together for 16 years, first came to critical attention when they released their first album, Port Isaac’s Fisherman’s Friends, on Universal Records at the end of April 2010. Since then, they have performed at Glastonbury, the Cambridge Folk Festival, the Royal Festival Hall, Union Chapel and, slightly closer to home, the Boardmasters Festival in Newquay and the Falmouth Sea Shanty Festival.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/ship-comes-in-at-last-for-cornish-folk-singers-2206359.html

News: Moya Brennan, Jenne Lennon, Luka Bloom, Brian Kennedy and Solas

You can now get a copy of the fantastic PBS show hosted by Moya Brennan.  The Music of Ireland (Welcome Home) is now available exclusively at Barnes and Nobles. You can see snippets of this video of you co to http://www.moyabrennan.com/ ….Jenne Lennon is in studio working on he new album. Her moving rendition of “Bonny Portmore” is for sale at I-Tunes, Amazon.com, Rhapsody , and all other online stores!  Download the single that’s making all of the buzz in Scotland and the U.K.! The single is featured on the “Going Back Home V.11” Compilation Album through Quickstar/Sony Productions according to her website: Jenne Lennon is hard at work on a new performance schedule for the spring and her debut solo album! Keep checking the sites for more updates on all of Jenne’s endeavors! http://www.jennelennon.com/music.htmlLuka Bloom is one of the important international artists to head the 20th Caribana Festival. Experience diversity and  a kind of music that pushes the limits of what’s mainstream and what’ ‘alternative’ http://www.caribana-festival.ch/en/2010/artists/…. Albums, news and interviews of Irish Balladeer Brian Kennedy can now be seen when you go to http://www.briankennedy.co.uk/ also watch out for new up-coming autobiography!…For the month of June, Solas has the following tour dates:

Venue City Date Time
Worcester Hibernian Cultural Center Worcester, MA 06/11/10 8:00pm
Worcester Hibernian Cultural Center Worcester, MA 06/12/10 6:00pm
Music and Wine Festival – Fort Hunter Park Harrisburg, PA 06/13/10 7:30pm
Madison Square Park New York, NY 06/23/10 7:00pm
Tupelo Music Hall Londonderry, NH 06/25/10 8:00pm
Celtic Fling Manheim, PA 06/26/10 TBD

For the entire tour dates please visit the official site’s tour schedule: http://www.solasmusic.com/?page_id=9

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Lyrics in focus:

The House Carpenter

What do you think the song is about? Don’t you think it presents a disturbing and tragic meaning?

Note: Mick McAuley has a different rendition of this especially in the 7th stanza which goes

“Are you weeping for your house and your home

is that where you longed to be,

Though I am not weeping for my house carpenter

I am weeping for my babies three”

Well met, well met, my own true love
Well met, well met, cried she
I’ve just returned from the salt, salt sea
And it’s all for the love of thee

I could have married a King’s daughter there
She would have married me
But I have forsaken my King’s daughter there
It’s all for the love of thee

Well, if you could have married a King’s daughter there
I’m sure you’re the one to blame
For I am married to a house carpenter
And I’m sure he’s a fine young man

Forsake, forsake your house carpenter
And come away with me
I’ll take you where the green grass grows
On the shores of sunny Italy

So up she picked her babies three
And gave them kisses, one, two, three
Saying “take good care of your daddy while I’m gone
And keep him good company.”

Well, they were sailin’ about two weeks
I’m sure it was not three
When the younger of the girls, she came on deck
Sayin’ she wants company

“Well, are you weepin’ for your house and home?
Or are you weepin’ for your babies three?”
“Well, I’m not weepin’ for my house carpenter
I’m weepin’ for my babies three.”

Oh what are those hills yonder, my love
They look as white as snow
Those are the hill of heaven, my love
You and I’ll never know

Oh what are those hills yonder, my love
They look as dark as night
Those are the hills of hell-fire my love
Where you and I will unite

Oh twice around went the gallant ship
I’m sure it was not three
When the ship all of a sudden, it sprung a leak
And it drifted to the bottom of the sea