Every Day is a Holiday: The Chieftains and "Brafferton Village/Walsh's Hornpipe"

Today's song is by The Chieftains, who are an Irish ensemble who introduced the wider world to Irish music. The Chieftains were formed in Dublin in 1962 and played their music primarily around the distinctive sound of uileann pipes. They took their name from the title of a novel by Irish author John Montague. Besides releasing several critically acclaimed albums, they are just as well known for their collaborations with such artists as Van Morrison, The Rolling Stones, Madonna, Sinead O'Connor and Roger Daltry. They have released 44 albums. Brafferton Village: Walsh's Hornpipe is from their holiday themed album The Bells of Dublin (1991), on which also appeared Jackson Browne, Elvis Costello, the McGarrigle sisters, Marianne Faithfull, Rickie Lee Jones, Nanci Griffith and Burgess Meredith.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chieftains; http://www.thechieftains.com

Early Christmas: The Chieftains with Renaissance Singers Belfast and "Ding Dong Merrily on High"

We're about a month away from the holidays, and the Global Music randomizer wants you to start getting in the mood, kind of like a department store after Halloween. Today's song is by The Chieftains with The Renaissance Singers Belfast, and is a holiday song called Ding Dong Merrily on High. The Chieftains are an Irish ensemble formed in Dublin in 1962, and they developed their music primarily around the distinctive sound of the uileann pipes. They took their name from the title of a novel by Irish author John Montague. Besides releasing several critically acclaimed albums, they are just as well known for their collaborations with such artists as Van Morrison, The Rolling Stones, Madonna, Sinead O'Connor and Roger Daltry. They have released 44 albums. Ding Dong Merrily on High is from their 1991 album The Bells of Dublin.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chieftains; http://www.thechieftains.com/main/

Hopefully No Chiggers: The Chieftains with "The Farewell: The Piper Through the Meadow Strayed/Tis the Season to be Merry"

Our random song, a kind of Christmas in August song, is performed by The Chieftains, an Irish ensemble formed in Dublin in 1962. The Chieftains developed their music primarily around the distinctive sound of the uileann pipes. They took their name from the title of a novel by Irish author John Montague. Besides releasing several critically acclaimed albums, they are just as well known for their collaborations with such artists as Van Morrison, The Rolling Stones, Madonna, Sinead O'Connor and Roger Daltry. They have released 44 albums. This song, The Farewell: The Piper Through the Meadow Strayed/Tis the Season to be Merry, is from their 1991 album The Bells of Dublin.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chieftains; http://www.thechieftains.com/main/

Put that Horn in your Pipe: The Chieftains and "Brafferton Village: Walsh's Hornpipe"

Today's song, randomly chosen, is from a holiday CD. I actually had second thoughts when it popped up as the random pick, but a couple of things swayed me to keep it as today's song and not randomly pick another. First, it doesn't sound like a holiday song. It's short, only 1 minute and 24 or so seconds, and it's a fast hornpipe, so fast that it almost sounds like a reel. Second, well, since Halloween is over I am just betting, though I haven't been to a store, that all of the shops and stores have taken down their Halloween stuff and have already put up Christmas decorations, put out Christmas goods, and are starting to play Christmas music. I find it difficult to stomach that crass commercialism means that we will be hearing Christmas carols in US stores and seeing holiday commercials on television for the next 2 months, but that's the way it is.

In the meantime, enjoy this song, from a holiday CD, that can really be played at any time of the year. The Chieftains are an Irish ensemble who introduced the wider world to Irish music. The Chieftains were formed in Dublin in 1962 and played their music primarily around the distinctive sound of uileann pipes. They took their name from the title of a novel by Irish author John Montague. Besides releasing several critically acclaimed albums, they are just as well known for their collaborations with such artists as Van Morrison, The Rolling Stones, Madonna, Sinead O'Connor and Roger Daltry. They have released 44 albums. Brafferton Village: Walsh's Hornpipe is from their holiday themed album The Bells of Dublin (1991), on which also appeared Jackson Browne, Elvis Costello, the McGarrigle sisters, Marianne Faithfull, Rickie Lee Jones, Nanci Griffith and Burgess Meredith.

A little PS: Megan got this CD a long time ago. I had never heard Irish Christmas music before she introduced me to this album. The Christmas music I grew up with was the schmaltzy Christmas music of Bing Crosby and Andy Williams and Nat King Cole. This album opened me to different types of holiday music, and as a result we have a nice little collection of non-traditional holiday music, including some really interesting ones from all different genres. Thanks, Megan, for enlarging my world so long ago.

English Holiday: Paolo Conte and "Fuga all'Inglese"

I'm not exactly sure what today's song, Fuga all'Inglese, means. I took the lyrics in Italian and put it through Google Translate, and what came out leads me to believe that it is about a couple on a holiday or vacation in England. I'm going to go with that until someone who knows Italian tells me differently. And what is wrong with an English vacation? I would love to go on an English holiday. I have only been in England once, and that for only three days, just enough to get a very brief flavor of London. In fact, right now I would like to have a holiday anywhere. Given that the album that this song comes from is called Reveries, I believe that it paints a picture of an event in the past. What seems to be missing from my life right now is the opportunity to create those scenes that create reverie. You don't really get those scenes from an eight hour workday. You do get those kinds of scenes from a holiday somewhere, particularly somewhere exotic or even pastoral and outside of your daily norm.

The musician who brings this song to us is Paolo Conte, who is no stranger to painting these types of soundscapes. A singer, pianist, composer and lawyer, Conte was born in Asti, in the Piedmont region of Italy. He began his music career as a vibraphone player traveling in local and touring bands. He started writing songs early on in his career with his brother Giorgio but eventually began writing on his own. His star rose in the 60s and 70s as he was the main creative songwriter behind hits of other well-known Italian artists. His solo career commenced in 1974. His songs are known for being evocative of colorful and dreamy Italian and Mediterranean sounds. His music is often jazzy, reminiscent of South America and French singers, and filled with a wistful melancholy. His music has also been used in many movies. Fuga All'Inglese can be found on his 2003 album Reveries.

Going Mediaeval: The Mediaeval Baebes and "Quan Vey la Lauzeta"

Space and time are a funny thing, especially when they intersect and intermingle. Today's song, Quan Vey la Lauzeta by The Mediaeval Baebes, is an example of how global music can bend the rules of space-time as well as anything else in the world.

A French song from the middle ages, it is sung in mediaeval French. The lyrics are sung from the perspective of a person who has lost his love and still burns with desire for her. For an example of how music transcends time and space, yesterday's song by Ebo Taylor of Ghana, Love and Death, explores a similar theme - how loving can lead to pain and broken-heartedness. Here we see a similar theme from almost a thousand years ago in a culture and world vastly different.

When I see the lark beating

Its wings for joy against the sun's rays,

Until it forgets to fly and allows itself to fall

For the sweetness that goes to its heart,

Alas! such envy comes over me

Of those I see filled with happiness

I marvel that my heart

Does not melt from desire

Alas, how much I thought I knew about love

And how little I really know.

For I cannot keep myself from loving

Her from whom I will gain nothing.

She has taken all my heart, my soul,

Herself and all the world.

And when she left, she left me nothing

But desire and a longing heart.

I have not had control over myself

Or belonged to myself from the hour

When she let me gaze into her eyes -

In a mirror that pleases me so much.

Mirror, since I saw myself reflected in you

Deep sighs have been slaying me.

Translation found at lyricsmode.com

Formed in 1996 when a group of friends broke into a North London cemetery and sang together in flowing white gowns and ivy garlands, the Mediaeval Baebes were conceived by Katharine Blake of the band Miranda Sex Garden and initially was made up of members of that band and other women with a love for mediaeval music. Their music consists of mediaeval poetry set to original music and sung in a variety of languages from the time period - French, Italian, Middle English, Spanish, Latin and regional or forgotten languages. Sometimes their sound is expressly traditional and performed with mediaeval instruments, and at other times modern instrumentation and electronic sounds are blended in with traditional harmonies. As such, they are not an "authentic" mediaeval group but interpreters that stretch bounds through creativity. They have toured extensively throughout Europe, Canada and the US, and have performed in Lilith Fair. It can be found on their album Undrentide (2000) and also on their 2003 holiday album Mistletoe and Wine.