September
2008
The Celtic Music Show - Episode 11
This week we are featuring Celtic Music from around the world. We are featuring some traditional music and tunes, but we are also branching out into Celtic Rock from Brittany, France, Russia and the USA. We will be featuring: Bézèd’h, White Owl, Ceilli Moss, Shira Kammen, Sean Smith, Great Big Sea, and Green Man.
1. Bézèd’h by Bézèd’h
I discovered these folks looking around on Jamendo and really enjoy their music. They are from Brittany, Franch, a region that considers themselves Celtic and have distinctive music and traditions. Bézèd’h play great Celtic Rock, with the fiddler playing with the spirit of traditional Brittany fiddlers and blending in seamlessly with the rest of the band.
They have three albums and an EP available for free on Jamendo (Link below) and if you don’t mind everything being in French, they are worth downloading and burning to CD.
From their album “Les cent ciels”
Music available under the Creative Commons License, courtesy of jamendo.com
URLs: http://www.jamendo.com/en/artist/b.z.d.h [Their page is in French] http://www.bezedh.com/ [In French]
2. Lord of the Dance by White Owl
This song was originally a hymn written by the Shakers. a Christian sect from New England, USA that flourished in the late 1800s, early 1900s. There are still a few of them around in their communities, but since they believe in everyone being celebate, their numbers are dropping.
Lord of the Dance has been adopted by many folk musicians all over, and a version of it was used by Michael Flatley in his stage performance of the same name, and many people now believe it is acutally an Irish song.
White Owl is from Moscow, Russia. They take celtic folk music and plays it with somewhat of a Raggae/Rock beat, They call their music Folkcore. It’s somewhat frenzied and kind of wacky. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
From their album “Pepper”
Music available under the Creative Commons License, courtesy of jamendo.com
URL: http://www.jamendo.com/en/user/White%20Owl http://www.whiteowl.ru/eng/
3. The Maid on the Shore by Ceilli Moss
I firrst heard this song performed by the guy that taught me to play the fiddle and introduced me to celtic folk music. I believed then and still believe that his version is the best, but this one would be a close second.
It’s about a young lady that is kidnapped by a sea captain that saw her on the shore and fell in love with her right away. She came up with a very cleaver means of escape!
From their album “On the Shore”
Used courtesy of Podsafe Music Network
URL: http://www.ceilimoss.be/eng.htm
4. June Apple by Shira Kammen
June Apple is actually an American folk tune, but Shira Kammen plays a lot of Irish and Scottish folk music, so she does this one in a celtic style. The double-tracked fiddles sound very cool!
Shira has spent much of her life playing early music (Renaissance, etc.), Ethnic, Folk and Traditional music. She has released an amazing amount of recordings and is fun to listen to.
From her album: “The Almanac”
Music available under the Creative Commons License, courtesy of Mangatune
URL: http://www.magnatune.com/artists/shira_kammen http://www.shirakammen.com/
5. Bulls Head Bay Dawn/The Cat’s Bagpipes by Sean Smith
I met Sean on the internet in the alt.religion.kibology newgroup and we were both surprised we not only shared musical interests, but both played the bouzouki. What are the odds of that happening in a newsgroup where wacky jokesters hang out?
Sean wrote the first tune after being inspired by spending the night sleeping on a park bench near Bulls head Bay in Ireland. When he woke up a kind native treated him to tea and a bite to eat. The second is a traditional tune that he does a great job on!
He has a new CD EP available called “Only a Demonstration” that you can purchase from his web site.
Used with the permission of the artist.
URL: http://www.freewebs.com/seansmithmusic/
6. The Mermaid by Great Big Sea
I first heard this song performed by a Canadian group named Ryan’s Fancy, back in the mid-1970’s on a radio show. I have searched for a recording of it ever since. While gathering the music for this show I ran across it and was not only amazed I found it, but happy that it’s a good version.
It’s about a sailor that met a mermaid on his first journey out, fell in love and joined her to live under the sea. Listen for the fun twist in the end.
The members of Great Big Sea are from Newfoundland, Canada are are former members of Figgy Duff and Ryan’s Fancy. They list their influences as “Bob Marley, the Clash, Fergus O’Byrne, Ron Hynes, Johnny Cash, Donal Lunny, and who knows what else.”
From their album “The Easy and the Hard”
Used courtesy of Podsafe Music Network
URL: http://www.greatbigsea.com/
7. Banks of the Lee by Green Man
Green Man plays an interesting style of music. They call it a “cinematic soundscape ranging from Celtic to Appalachian to Arabic. Dark, beautiful, layered, hallucinogenic, and smart”. All I know it that on this song, they play it in a traditional style using extremely non-traditional instruments and it works extremely well.
The song is an old, traditional song about a couple who love each other deeply, but the man must leave and cross the sea. When he returns, he finds she has died and he must morn instead of have a loving reunioin.
It is representative of many of the older Irish songs, sad, but hauntingly beautiful. One big difference is that often in the old songs, the man is the one that causes the demise of his love.
From their album “lovedeathbeauty”
Music available under the Creative Commons License, courtesy of Garageband.com
URL: http://www.garageband.com/artist/green_man http://www.myspace.com/greenmanmusic
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