In my previous posting I told about Lady Maisery and the three women that make up the band: https://norbert-knape.de/?p=309
That was kind of a preparation for my radio special. In this posting I filed up the songs I intend to play and some about them (not in my own words but taken from internet sites – the urls are added as well. Youtube for those who wish to hear the songs.
But of course you’re invited to tune in to the radio show.
| Askew Sisters: Georgie (Enclosure) | https://mainlynorfolk.info/lloyd/songs/geordie.html |
| The Askew Sisters strength is the combination of old songs with new ideas of climate change and biodiversity. „We’ve heard many versions of this well-known ballad over the years and felt moved to make our own when creating this album. Outwardly, it’s the story of Georgie’s condemnation to die after stealing six of the Kings deer, but the last line reveals a much deeper story about class and the consequences of overstepping your place. The image of the woman crying out on London Bridge in the mist of an early morning is so poignant, and upon putting together this version we also found ourselves thinking about what it would be like to stand up and protest as the sole woman in a courtroom full of men.“ When they add the following line „He courted a noble lady“ they talk about the more severe crime: -goes where he wasn’t supposed to go – crossing class barriers in good old England. | https://youtu.be/VbwCz4-0-BM |
| Hannah James and Sam Sweeney: William Taylor ( State and ancientry) | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Taylor_(folk_song) |
| On the morning of the wedding, the groom William Taylor (Billy in some versions) is pressed into service. The bride searches for him, disguising herself as a man to become a soldier[3] or sailor.[4] When her true gender is revealed (usually in an incident involving accidental exposure of her breasts), the captain points her in the direction of her beloved, but mentions that he now has a new suitor. When she finds him, she shoots him and sometimes also his new bride. In some versions, she is then rewarded by the captain with command of her own ship. | https://youtu.be/_Ih3xOCxyrA |
| Hannah James & JigDoll Ensemble: Hush now (The woman and her words) | https://folking.com/tag/tuulikkis-tune/ |
| ‘Hush Now’, meanwhile, comes from a very specific impetus, that of the recent spate of mass shootings in America, particularly those in Florida last year, its commentary in the country’s gun laws couched as an accordion-led lullaby, an indictment of how “the banners are hanging at half mast today/While men in high towers do nothing but pray”, concluding with the bitter irony that “He entered your body with fire and with lead/So we’ll fight for his freedom as we lay your head”. | https://youtu.be/8R8HUQhO628 |
| Lady Maisery & Jimmy Aldridge & Sid Goldsmith: Hope is before us (Awake Arise) | https://www.folkradio.co.uk/2019/12/lady-maisery-jimmy-aldridge-sid-goldsmith-awake-arise/ |
| Last verse: Come, shoulder to shoulder ere earth grows older The Cause spreads over land and sea; Now the world shaketh, and fear awaketh And joy at last for thee and me. https://www.marxists.org/archive/morris/works/1894/chants.htm Its closing bookend is something of a masterstroke, a suitably rousing anthem finale (Hope Is before Us) where Hazel sets words by William Morris from his Chants For Socialists, here transcending any issue of political persuasion in reaffirming the initial clarion-call and the central Awake Arise message of resilience and hope | https://youtu.be/HODTRAiTACU Live video: https://youtu.be/ltoTSvvfnT0 |
| Jimmy Aldridge & Sid Goldsmith: Hawk’s call (Many a thousand) | https://www.folkradio.co.uk/2018/08/jimmy-aldridge-sid-goldsmith-many-a-thousand/ |
| Hawks Call is a rewrite of the spiritual No More Auction Block, famously performed by Bob Dylan and Odetta, amongst many others. In this new version, the theme of the original (the end of slavery) is replaced by an imagined world in which war has been eradicated. Its simplicity only goes to strengthen its impact – it becomes a thing of grave sadness and infinite hope. | https://youtu.be/ja8sLoLuVjo |
| Rheingans Sisters: This forest (Bright field) | https://www.folkradio.co.uk/2018/06/video-premiere-feature-the-rheingans-sisters-this-forest/ |
| This particular forest is near the village of Trellech, in the Welsh borders. And the mist lay so thickly on the morning I found it that it was only possible to see the trees, grasses, ferns, anthills and mosses where they grew directly in front and around me. For a few hours, I moved through the soggy green cathedral, muddy underfoot; my trainers eventually so full of water I had to take them off and pour it all out. | https://youtu.be/DgVi4YXq6q8 |
| Rowan Rheingans: What birds are (The lines we draw together) | https://www.folkradio.co.uk/2019/08/rowan-rheingans-the-lines-we-draw-together/ |
| The circuitous nature of Rheingans’ musical path has helped to create a piece of work that sounds both fresh and full of experience. From the first verse of the first song – What Birds Are – we are made aware of a rare songwriting talent. Even a cursory glance through the lyrics gives you a clue to the author’s innate grasp of the subtler points of prosody. The first four lines each end in unstressed syllables (the ‘feminine ending’, to give it its literary definition). Within the song, it gives the impression of growth and movement, of melodic malleability. And there is poetry in the meaning as well as in the metrical structure. That opening verse is a pastoral vision of dewy grass and rustling olive trees, and then the peace is shattered: we learn that the trees shake because of approaching planes, and bombs fill the air. It is worth noting that the first line that doesn’t end in an unstressed syllable is the first line to directly mention war. It is blunt and unavoidable and hits you with the full force of surprise. Already the themes of conflict and beauty are being examined in detail. Later on, in the same song, the planes depart and the birds return: a sign of hope, or the realisation that the non-human world continues on its course regardless of our wars. Rheingans’ voice builds up to a repeated phrase – ‘birds being doing what birds are’ – whose intentionally wonky syntax has something of E.E. Cummings about it (so it comes as no surprise that it is taken from a poem by acclaimed writer Joey Connolly). It also has the feel of a ritual cry to the air, a rallying call to appreciate the natural world. Rowan Rheingans’ new album is dedicated to her two grandmothers, whose memories and experiences helped shape many of these songs. In her liner notes, Rheingans also pays tribute to the writers John Berger, Mary Oliver and Etty Hillesum. This combination of the personal and the poetic (which, when explored more deeply in the context of the album’s lyrics, contains within it an implied connection between suffering and beauty) is important: it provides clues to Rheingans’ unique way of working, which itself draws as much from poetry, drama and appreciation of place as it does from songwriting as we know it. | https://youtu.be/vMXaRVj4oEA |
https://www.youtube.com/embed?listType=playlist&list=OLAK5uy_kOfIXlHHblBj0emIw9AHgKsXrefcdrIKw
| Lady Maisery: Diggers‘ song (Cycle) | https://www.folkradio.co.uk/2016/11/lady-maisery-cycle-artist-month/ |
| Diggers’ Song is a rousing homage to the proto-anarchists of the seventeenth century, whose agrarian socialism chimes in neatly with Cycle’s William Morris-inspired artwork. |
| Rowan Rheingans: Sky (The lines we draw together) | |
| Despite being the album’s most minimal song, Sky is one of its most affecting. With the sparest of musical backing, it echoes the opening track’s imagery of birds. This time, the images are darker and more ambiguous, directly inspired by the final journal entries of the visionary Dutch diarist Etty Hillesum, who was killed in Auschwitz in 1943. Hillesum’s writing is notable for its conflation of rapture and hardship, its immense compassion in the midst of terror, and this is the message that Rheingans gets across throughout the album. Rowan Rheingans’ new album is dedicated to her two grandmothers, whose memories and experiences helped shape many of these songs. In her liner notes, Rheingans also pays tribute to the writers John Berger, Mary Oliver and Etty Hillesum. This combination of the personal and the poetic (which, when explored more deeply in the context of the album’s lyrics, contains within it an implied connection between suffering and beauty) is important: it provides clues to Rheingans’ unique way of working, which itself draws as much from poetry, drama and appreciation of place as it does from songwriting as we know it. | https://youtu.be/ZfEwTMine_Q |
| Song: Poor Man’s Lamentation (Songs of seperation: Reflections on the parting of ways) | http://shedancesinthemind.blogspot.com/2015/12/songs-of-seperation-review.html https://mainlynorfolk.info/folk/records/songsofseparation.html https://www.songsofseparation.co.uk/ |
| Poor Man’s Lamentation is a multi-stringed, punchy wonder of such musical legs that the disc is at this point at risk of dancing out of your audio equipment. Hannah James‘ voice is equal part intrigue and quiet strength and the song has the depth and mix of body and sound not unlike a 1970s Antiquary whisky, a fine blend of several tasty elements. Jenny Hill’s bass playing is a powerful accompaniment as the haunting boom which the song plays around as it talks of heaven and earth as a musical odyssey, „The earth would be a holy place, as paradise above, could we but teach the human race equality and love“. Simply put, it is a masterpiece in execution and adaptation from James, probably my favourite track on the album. |
| Lady Maisery: Nottamun Fair (Weave and spin) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nottamun_Town |
| Maddy Prior, Hannah James & Giles Lewin: The Lucky Blackbird – House Of White Roses (Shortwinger) | https://www.folkradio.co.uk/2018/05/maddy-prior-with-hannah-james-giles-lewin-shortwinger/ |
| The third instrumental item is a pair of charming tunes by Hannah: The Lucky Blackbird (inspired by an unexpected encounter with a baby bird) and House Of White Roses (written to commemorate the wedding of two friends). |
https://www.youtube.com/embed?listType=playlist&list=PL1xFRNHzGQv1NDa_jNX82M9qRIPIrBMSZ