Amongst a wealth of folk music from the past, this week’s show features a number of new and forthcoming releases from Sam Lee whose soulful voice opens the show with Lay This Body Down from Old Wow, an album dedicated to the natural world and one that aims to inspire others to protect it, possibly his best yet.
Making his debut mark is West Wales native, Owen Shiers, who, under the guise of Cynefin (pronounced kuh-neh-vin), dips into his own rich cultural heritage of song and storytelling which in turn draws a light upon some of our modern-day issues of disconnection and rootlessness. He has an unforgettable voice and as you can hear on Dole Teifi/Lliw’r Heulwen, he is also an exceptional guitarist.
Sairie are Emma Morton (vocals, autoharp), Jon Griffin (vocals, guitar) and Andy Thomas (bass). We recently premiered their video for their new single Scarlet and Blue, the title track from their forthcoming EP. Jon and Emma actually met through playing in Lutine together, whose 2014 album White Flowers we reviewed here. They’re from East Sussex and have a shared love of folklore, dark tales, mystery and nature. We’ll have more news on them soon.
BlackBird and Crow are a Donegal duo featuring Maighread Ni Ghrasta and Stephen Doohan and their album Ailm is out this week on 24 January via German label MIG. We recently premiered their video for the track A Pox on You but I couldn’t resist this gutsy sounding spoken word intro-track for the album.
The final selection of forthcoming new releases is from Yorkston/Thorne/Khan, taken from Navarasa : Nine Emotions which is out tomorrow on Domino Records. YTK keep the life-destroying Act I of Robert Burns’ poem ‘Now Westlin Winds, (And Slaught’ring Guns)’ and deliciously transplants its disjoined, nature-extolling and life-affirming Act II onto Indian soil with a composition “in Purbi, a specific dialect of old Hindi, also known as Hinduvi” set in the seasonal raga, the springtime Bahar. “I learnt the song,” says Suhail, “by listening to various qawwali [Muslim devotional song] singers singing at Hazrat Nizammuddin’s dargah [shrine] [in Delhi]. Its source is Hazrat Amir Khusrau.” Thus YTK unite one of the key spiritual visionaries and architects of Hindustani art music, the poet-philosopher Hazrat Amir Khusrau with the key literary visionary of Scottish and Scots-language culture, Robert Burns. A tour-de-force emerges.
Post-Editorial Note: The final song reflects outdated attitudes and contains offensive language.
Music Played
00:00 Sam Lee – Lay This Body Down
from Old Wow, Cooking Vinyl (31 January 2020)
04:34 Cynefin – Dole Teifi/Lliw’r Heulwen
from Dilyn Afon (Following a River), Astar Artes Recordings (27 January 2020)
09:02 Sairie – Scarlet and Blue
from Scarlet and Blue, Self Released (28 February 2020)
11:59 The Owl Service – Katie Cruel
from Garland Sessions, Rif Mountain (2012)
15:04 The FLK – Bedlam
from Mummers, MuMusic (2015)
18:44 Blackbird and Crow – Harlot on Holy Hill
from Ailm, M.I.G. Music, (24 January 2020)
19:58 Bird In The Belly – All You Females
from Neighbours and Sisters, GF*M Records (2019)
24:12 Stick In The Wheel – As I Roved Out
from Follow Them True, From Here Records (2017)
27:14 Voice Of The Seven Woods – Sayat Nova
from Voice of The Seven Woods, Twisted Nerve (2007)
29:56 Maarja Nuut – Hobusemäng
from Une Meeles, Self Released (2016)
34:09 Yorkston/Thorne/Khan – Westlin Winds
from Navarasa : Nine Emotions, Domino (24 January 2020)
43:53 M.Cambridge – How Far To Go?
from Sea Songs: Anatomy of a Drowning Man, Kirkinriola Records (2019)
48:28 Seamus Ennis – A Little Bench Of Rushes
from The Bonnie Bunch of Roses, Tradition (1958)
51:07 Maggy Murphy – Clinking O’er The Lea
from Voice of the People 07: First I’m Going to Sing You A Ditty, Topic (1998)
54:25 Planxty – Junior Crehan’s Favourite – Corney Is Coming
from Planxty, Polydor (1973)
56:58 The Deadlians – Hot Asphalt
from Ruskavellas, Self Released (2018)
01:00:54 Christy Moore – Rambling Robin
from Prosperous, Tara (1972)
01:03:09 Mary-Ann Carolan – Young Bob Ridley
from Voice of the People 07: First I’m Going to Sing You A Ditty, Topic (1998)
Photo Credit: Alex Gallacher (Quantock Hills, Somerset, taken on a Zeiss Ikon Super Ikonta medium format film camera)