Featuring Duo Ruut, Mànran, Rab Noakes, Willie Watson, Samuel Beer, Jacob & Drinkwater, The Wooden Sky, Karine Polwart & Dave Milligan, Ye Vagabonds, Hartwin Dhoore Trio, Rubus, Trù, Tissø Lake, Nick Jonah Davis, Alela Diane, Thisell, The Story Song Scientists.
We open this week’s Folk Show to Estonian duo Ann-Lisett Rebane and Katariina Kivi, better known as Duo Ruut. They are followed by the equally dynamic sounding Mànran with a track from their latest album Ùrar, one of our Featured Albums of the Month (reviewed here). In his review, Johnny Whalley was very praising of this new release:
By enthusiastically embracing the myriad, exciting opportunities presented by the new line-up, they’ve produced an album that sets a fresh benchmark against which to judge contemporary Gaelic music.
We also have another track from Karine Polwart & Dave Milligan’s new album ‘Still As Your Sleeping’. In his review of the album, Billy Rough described Siccar Point as a song with a fragile message, but an eternal one too: Karine Polwart states, “Only one thing is sure”, before whispering, “Everything dissolves and disappears.” They are also our Artists of the Month, and you can read our review of the album here, as well as an in-depth interview with them both.
Karine pops up again later in the show with Lucky Money, a track from The Radio Ballads: Swings and Roustabouts (2006), which shone a light on the travelling showmen and women who run Britain’s fairgrounds. Producer John Leonard commissioned the song on the spot after Karine sang the opening bars to him down the phone. The song tells how the first money taken on a new ride is then nailed or screwed to it to bring luck, and that money stays on the ride throughout its life, being passed to a new owner if it is sold.
Another new release that received plenty of praise this week was the new album from Jacob & Drinkwater titled “More Notes From The Field” (reviewed here) – described by Peter Shaw as “wide-reaching, timeless and masterful. Jacob & Drinkwater are at the high-water mark of contemporary folk music and this is a simply brilliant album.”
Earlier this week, we premiered the video for The Blacksmith, taken from TRÚ’s debut album ‘No Fixed Abode’, which has been short-listed for Best Album at this year’s Northern Ireland Music Prize. You can hear Dúlamán from the album on the show this week on which band member Dónal Kearney told us:
In the 18th century, vendors of seaweed (dúlamán) farmed the shores of Dundalk Bay and Carlingford Lough, gathering dulce in fishing villages like Omeath. Known as the ‘seaweed men’ (na dúlamáin), they used to bring their wares to the markets of Belfast and Newry. Newry (An Iúir) was one of the biggest market towns in 18th century Ireland.
When they arrived to the market, they would keep an eye out for local farmers likely to purchase their goods. They would keep the other eye out for the farmer’s daughters. It was not unusual for a seaweed merchant to blackmail local farmers into buying seaweed with the threat of eloping back to the coast with his daughter. Unfortunately, this was a threat bold enough to guarantee seaweed sales.
This disgusting behaviour was all too common, and the behaviour of the song’s eponymous villains is certainly nothing to be proud of. It is worth remembering, though. Thanks to the phenomenal research of Pádraigín Ní Uallacháin, so many songs like this have survived. May it live on for centuries to come. DK
“Valge Valgus” is a collaboration between Belgian accordionist Hartwin Dhoore and Estonian musicians Carlos Liiv and Sofia-Liis Kose that I reviewed earlier this week – Intuitive musicianship effortlessly transports the listener on what is a deeply rewarding album.
From Nick Jonah Davis’ album When the Sun Came (reviewed here), we have Goodfellow of the Riverside, a complex and layered tune with dark undertones. Glenn Kimpton told us it was his favourite NJD album, describing it as surprising, patient, spacious and quite mesmerising.
We end on The Story Song Scientists featuring Findlay Napier and Megan Henwood, who have struck gold with their new EP Quantum Lyrics, reviewed here. It’s a masterful stroke of lyrical genius from a very gifted duo. I can’t recommend it enough.
Then throughout the show are some older favourites from the likes of Rab Noakes, The Wooden Sky, Ye Vagabonds, Rubus (featuring Emily Portman), Tissø Lake (Ian Humberstone), Alela Diane and Thisell.
Music Played
Duo Ruut – Nightingale
Mànran – Ailean
Rab Noakes – Slippin’ Away
Willie Watson Feat. The Fairfield Four – On The Road Again
Samuel Beer – Evening Song
Jacob & Drinkwater – Sargasso Sea
The Wooden Sky – Child Of The Valley
Karine Polwart & Dave Milligan – Siccar Point
Ye Vagabonds – Dá Mbeinn I Mo Bhádóir
Hartwin Dhoore Trio – Algus – Beginning
Rubus – Golden Ball
Trù – Dúlamán
Tissø Lake – Carnival
Nick Jonah Davis – Goodfellow of the Riverside
Alela Diane – How Can We Hang Onto A Dream
Karine Polwart – Luck Money
Thisell – The Sun Sets In The Weeds
The Story Song Scientists – Clouds
The Story Song Scientists – Specimen 5: Cloud Appreciation Society Manifesto
Photo Credit: Sebastian Unrau