Shows
Secret Magic TalkMein lieber Herr Clavello oder 3 Wege, wie man sich unnötig in Gefahr bringt.Secret Magic Store Michel Clavello LIVE (Penguin LIVE)The Invisible Hand (Device Only) | Michel The Invisible Hand SET (Device and DVD Set) | Michel Aleph Wallet | VernetAlles von Michel Clavello im Store Pierced | Simon Lipkin3-Way Ultimate Force Bag (Small Size) | Conan Liu & Royce Luo SOCKS | Michel Huot Socks Appeal | Bill Abbott
2025-05-0522 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogDec 26 Last day bonus – A wren medley Lyrics for final song belowThe songs:1. Wren songs John Neville and various wrens2. Hunting the wren medley compiled/arranged by Dave Townsend3. The St. Stephen’s Day Murders Elvis Costello and The ChieftainsThis is the last posting of my Bill’s Midwinter Music series for this year’s holiday season. Today is the second day of the traditional 12 Days of Christmas and its pagan predecessors, which was long celebrated as a topsy-turvy day when everything was reversed and rules could be broken.Following that tradition, I am breaking my own self-imposed rule by including t...
2022-12-2610 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogDec 25 Christmas piano playing Lyrics belowMerry Christmas!This is not the last songs-of-the day posting from me in this year’s series. There will be one more tomorrow. But for now, Christmas day can be rather frantic. Perhaps today you would appreciate some nice soothing piano music.The songs:1. Joy Boogie Chuck Leavell (2008)2. Lonely Shepherd Matt Andersen (2011)Joy Boogie is Chuck Leavell’s interpretation of the melody Antioch written in 1824 by American music educator and prolific hymn writer and compiler Lowell Mason for Isaac Watts’ poem Joy to the Earth, the title and lyrics of which soo...
2022-12-2507 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogDec 24 These Ornaments, and Congratulations (A Happy New Year Song)The Ornaments is by musician and singer-songwriter Craig Werth, who also home-recorded it. This is another track from Christine Lavin’s Just One Angel v.2.0 album compiled to provide a showcase for independent singer-songwriters. (See here for info about Christine.) Craig has since included this song on a self-published digital album called Sampler for the Season.Singing, song-writing and playing multiple instruments aren’t Craig’s only gigs. He also has a day-job as pastor of the Unitarian Universalist Nottingham Community Church in Newmarket, New Hampshire.Gong Xi Gong Xi, recorded here as Congrat...
2022-12-2406 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogDec 23 Caroling & Crumpets Lyrics below.Today’s song-of-the-day is a ballad. For folkies that means two things: First, ballads are story songs; and second, they are long.Caroling & Crumpets is performed by John Kirkpatrick, a renowned squeezebox player and one of Northern England’s strongest supporters of preserving the region’s musical heritage. But this isn’t an old ballad – Kirkpatrick wrote and composed it himself, and it is the titular song on a Christmas album that he released in 2006. While researching for this write-up I just discovered that he has released another Christmas album this year, making it his thir...
2022-12-2406 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogDec 22 The First Song; but actually this is a story, not a songI am following up on yesterday’s long essay about my conjecture that midwinter luck-visit customs and their associated music such as wassail songs may go back to the earliest of times. Here is a story about that very subject. The First Song is from a Winter Solstice pageant performed by MotherTongue. They were a performance group affiliated with the Massachusetts-based national pagan organization EarthSpirit. The pageant was called This Winter’s Night and this is from their album with that same name. EarthSpirit is still active but as far as I can tell MotherTongue is now...
2022-12-2207 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogDec 21 Four more wassailing songsThe songs:* Salut á la compagnie (Hello to this gathering) French part à Dieu song Malicorne (recorded 1976)* Legănelul lui Iisus (Jesus’s Little Cradle) Madrigal Chamber Choir (1980)* Iată vin colindătorii (Here come the Carol singers) ”* Gower Wassail Rasma Bertz & Salt Spring Island friends (2010)Today, at 4:01 Pacific Standard Time, is the Winter Solstice; the shortest day and the longest night of the year. In recognition of that, today’s songs are wassails, a type of song that I believe (as explained in way too much detail below) has a very long association with this...
2022-12-2106 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogDec 20 Are You Burning, Little Candle? Lyrics belowThis song was written by Canadian singer-songwriter Jane Siberry. It comes from her live concert album child, recorded in 1996 at the famous The Bottom Line jazz club in the Greenwich Village area of Manhattan, and released on her own Sheena Records label.Jane’s website is quite skimpy regarding biographical information. If you want to know more about her career I recommend this article or her Wikipedia entry.Here are the lyrics, from this site:Are You Burning, Little Candle? by Jane Sibbery, 1993Are you burning, little Candle?High upon the Christmas treeSymbol o...
2022-12-2006 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogDec 19 Singing in the LandBesides having a huge collections of Christmas and other seasonal recordings I have a fairly respectable reference library on the subject of our midwinter musical heritage and the history of its holidays. My most valued book in that collection is undoubtedly my hardcover first edition American Folk Songs for Christmas by Ruth Crawford Seeger, published by Doubleday & Company in 1953.I don’t mean that it is my most valued book in terms of money, although that might be true too. No, I value it because it is an incredible reference source for me, and with it...
2022-12-1905 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogDec 18 The first night of HanukkahThe songs: 1. Judah Maccabee written and performed by Rabbi Joe Black 2. Honeyky Hanuka words - Woody Guthie; music and performed by The KlezmaticsCelebration of the eight-day Jewish festival of Hanukkah mostly takes place in the evenings. In the Jewish calendar, at this time of year a new day begins at 18 minutes before sunset of what most of us would think of as the previous day. Thus, this year the first day of Hanukkah is tomorrow but the first night is tonight. Got it? I won’t try to explain how they calculate on their l...
2022-12-1806 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogDec 17 Snow Lyrics belowMy brother Paul just sent me this photo that he took of the current view across his backyard. It inspired me to choose today’s songThe lyrics of today’s song, Snow, are a poem by Canadian Poet Archibald Lampman (1861-1899). Poetry is not a lucrative profession. Although he had graduated from Trinity College in Port Hope, Ontario (now part of the University of Toronto) after a brief ill-fated attempt at teaching he settled into a job as a low-paid clerk in the Ottawa Post Office Department, a position he held for the rest of his short life. He hated the job but n...
2022-12-1705 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music Blog16. Time to Remember the PoorThe Songs: 1. The Snow is on the Ground Eleazor Tillett (1951) 2. The Snow is on the Ground Jeff Warner and Barbara Benn (2005)From 1938 to 1975 Anne and Frank Warner collected authentic folk music from old-timers in Greenwich Village in New York City where they lived, and from remote communities along the Southern US Eastern Seaboard, especially North and South Carolina. They were not academic collectors earning a living through research grants. According to Alan Lomax: "For many years the Warners spent every vacation and every scrap of spare cash on their recording trips. It was a continuous...
2022-12-1605 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogDec 15 Soul ChristmasI got Soul Christmas from a compilation of Christmas music that my daughter Gillian put together mostly from YouTube and other internet sources. The singers are Graham Parker and Nona Hendyx. For a well-done slide-show presentation of this song check out this YouTube video.Singer-songwriter Graham Parker has been a fixture on the British rock music scene for over 40 years, most famously for his hits with The Rumour. This song is from his 1994 CD Christmas Cracker.Nona Hendryx has been around even longer: In 1961, she along with Patti LaBelle, Cindy Birdsong and Sarah Dash formed a d...
2022-12-1604 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogDec 14 More Bells – All RingersThe songs:* Great Tom is Cast (17th century round) Magpie Lane* Carol of the Bells with new lyrics by Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks* Old Tom of Oxford (Morris tune) Magpie Lane* Bonny Christ Church Bells (17th century round) Magpie Lane music & lyrics below* Julian of Norwich Kellie White with The Albion Christmas BandThese songs and a tune all have two things in common; all of them are about bells, and none of them is about Christmas. In other words, I have slipped them into this Ch...
2022-12-1509 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogDec 13 History of recording, with a Christmas bells themeThe tunes and songs:1. How Brightly Shines the Morning Star Dutch table clock made in 17502. Sleigh Ride Party–Jingle Bells Edison Male Quartette 1899 wax cylinder3. Christmas Bells at Eventide Gracie Fields, recorded in 1933This melody for the Lutheran hymn How Brightly Shines the Morning Star (Wie herrlich strahlt der Morgenstern) was written in 1597 by Philipp Nicolai (1556-1608). If you accept that music boxes, automatons, and other mechanical devices are a form of recording technology, this is the oldest recording of a Christmas song in my collection (although I got it 2nd generation from a CD.) That is not...
2022-12-1406 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogDec 12 Little Christmas Song / Spotlight on ChristmasThe songs:* Little Christmas Song written and sung by David Roth (2003)* Spotlight on Christmas written and sung by Rufus Wainwright (2005)Little Christmas Song was the lead song on a Christmas music sampler CD compiled by Christine Lavin in 2013 called Just One Angel v2.0. Besides being a fine singer-songwriter herself, and one of the founding members of the Four Bitchin’ Babes, Christine is like the a godmother to the New York City contemporary folk music community. Her two Christmas music samplers (available here) have certainly led me to buy a lot of CDs from East...
2022-12-1306 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogDec 11 An old song and a fairly new tune Lyrics below.Nowell: Dieu vous garde is found in in a late 15th century English choir-book known as the Ritson Manuscript that was compiled over a long time and is the product of five distinct hands. It is one of the most important archival sources for authentic medieval English carols. Although this song’s authorship is not given, many scholars of music from that time period, including the editors of the definitive New Oxford Book of Carols, believe that it was written by Rev. Richard Smart (or Smert or Smerte) who was rector of Plymtree in Devon fr...
2022-12-1105 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogDec 10 A Nordic Midwinter Music MedleyThe tunes and songs:1. Hambo in the Snow written by Andrea Hoag, 20052. Joulukirkkoon (Going to Church on Christmas Morning) see below3. Julottan (Christmas Morning Service) written by Mats Wallman, 19864. Jeg gikk meg over sjø og land (I Traveled over Sea and Land) see below5. Nu er det jul igjen (Now it’s Christmas Again) trad.6. Nu har vi ljus (Now We Have Light) written by Johanna Ölander 1895All of these tunes and songs, except for the second one, come from the 2006 album Hambo in the Snow released by Andrea H...
2022-12-1109 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogDec 9 Merry Christmas, Mr. Jones; The Nields Lyrics down below.Nerissa and Katryna Nields have been singing together since they were little girls, but they only began their professional career as the folk-rock duo The Nields 31 years and 20 albums ago. Their musical roles go back to their childhood. Katryna is the lead singer with a powerful and expressive delivery; Nerissa prefers singing harmony and is their songwriter. (In fact, she wrote this song.) I could tell you more about them because I read this bio from their website, but you should read it yourself because they tell the story much better than I...
2022-12-1004 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogDec 8 Three wassail songsThe songs:* 1. The Kentucky Wassail Song, sung (and written?) by John Jacob Niles* 2. Clementsing, sung by Coope, Boyes, Simpson et al. * 3. Sugar Wassail, sung by Waterson:Carthy et al.Wassailing songs as a class are probably among the most ancient of all the music we associate with Christmastime. However, the lyrics and melodies of individual songs are the product of constant evolution. Even the wassail songs that we consider to be the most authentic are musically more reflective of the 18th and 19th centuries than they are of their ancient roots. That is be...
2022-12-0905 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogDec 7 Brightest & Best / Star of the EastIn nineteenth century North America, especially on the upper East Coast and the American South, harmony singing of religious songs was very popular. Many of those songs related to the Nativity story. Today’s song-of-the-day is actually three versions of the same song. It is one of the most popular from that era, known variously as Brightest & Best, Star of the East, Hail the Blest Morn, and several other names.The chorus and the lyrics of verses 2-4 of the song are a poem written by Reginald Heber (1783-1826.) Heber had first gained fame as a poet whil...
2022-12-0812 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogDec 6 A singing snowman and jigsaw puzzle A Snowman's Song; performed by Artisan (1998)This is a crossover posting – I am posting the same newsletter/blog entry for two entirely different audiences. Most people in each group will be introduced both to a cheery snowman song that they haven’t heard before, and to a cheery and challenging snowman jigsaw puzzle that they didn’t know about.Background/introduction to this newsletter/blog postMost of you know me only for one newsletter/blog that documents my hobby. Actually I have two current major hobbies and two newsletter/blogs. In May of this y...
2022-12-0603 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogDec 5 Le Noël des legumesThis jolly song has been waiting for a while to find its place in one of my Christmas music samplers. Back in my thematic CD days it was going to go into the thematic rotation as what I thought of as one of my children’s-Christmas-albums-for-grownups. In fact, this is the year when that category would have come up in the cycle.One problem that it poses for me is that I know very little about the song. I don’t comprendez français very well (let alone français in an Acadian dialect), and the only inform...
2022-12-0604 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogDec 4 Comfort & Joy, by Clive GregsonThis song was recorded in 2001 by singer-songwriter Clive Gregson, who was born and raised in Manchester, England. He began his professional career in the 1979 as the front-man with the cult new-wave pop band Any Trouble, and when it disbanded he began a long solo career writing and singing an eclectic mix of pop, folk and folk-rock songs. Clive relocated to Nashville in the US in 1993, where he branched out into producing recordings, but as a performer and songwriter he seems to have remained more well-known in the UK than in North America. In this song Clive accompanies hi...
2022-12-0504 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogDec 3 Two Christmastime pub songsPub singing is still common in some establishments in England, especially in the Southern Pennines around Sheffield. At Christmastime, rather than the familiar Christmas carols they keep locally-popular old church hymns and glees alive in pub singing, although their survival in oral tradition was nearly lost.During the English Reformation hymn-singing had been banned in English churches. After the defeat of Cromwell, the Church of England only very slowly began to permit hymn singing, largely because the Methodists and other denominations were attracting members by including hymn-singing as a prominent part of their services. The old Latin pla...
2022-12-0405 min
The Sunday TakeLegislation With An Affect On The Family UnitAs we close out the month of March, Blois turns the conversation off of the more "in your face" issues and focuses on items that could be more impactful on a family level. This week, he sits down with the following guests: MN Rep. Kristin Robbins has introduced a bill that hopes to ban the practice of social media companies targeting their algorithms toward minors. She joins the program to explain why she brought this up for debate. MN Rep. John Huot has drafted legislation regarding the behavior of parents at youth sporting events. He gives us some ins...
2022-03-2733 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogToday is Solstice – a day for music and fireToday is the Winter Solstice. We know the exact times through astronomical observation and mathematics. According to this website the exact time here in Victoria will be at 7:58 AM local time. (In Melbourne, Australia, Solstice is at 2:58 AM on June 22, but of course there it is the summer solstice.) For us, today is the longest day of the year and tonight is the longest night. But not by much; the difference is only one second from yesterday, and seven seconds from tomorrow.This evening the sunset here in Victoria will be at 4:20 (but I won’t see it beca...
2021-12-2207 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogSolstice Eve - songs and perspectiveA song and a tuneTurn of the Wheel – 3:50 – James KeelaghanAn Dro Nevez – 4:43 – Alan StivellTurn of the Wheel is by Canadian singer-songwriter James Keelaghan and is from the above 2004 album Then Again, but this song had been written in 1994. Keelaghan studied History at university and many of his songs are storytelling about true episodes from the past, or like this one, about other aspects of our heritage. Here is his liner note for this song:A scaled down version of the original tune. [On his 1995 album A recent future.] This one is just me a...
2021-12-2107 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogMidwinter neighbourliness[Note: The series of essays will not be completed by the Winter Solstice as I had promised. I now realize that there is still too much research and writing needed to complete the series in time with good essays.The daily newsletters’ Songs(s)-of-the-Day, and information about them, will continue through Winter Solstice on Tuesday. Other good news is that I already have one more essay ready in close-to-final form: I will be posting it on Solstice Day; Tuesday.By the way, don’t worry about me. I’m not totally exhausted. This measure is to pr...
2021-12-2007 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogNew old songs songs, and customs rooted in paganismThe songsCome and Be Welcome - 7:35 - Heather DaleThe Beggar - 4:06 - Paddy HernonCome and Be Welcome is a fairly new song, recorded in 2009 by Heather Dale and her husband Ben Deschamps from Toronto. This recording is from the above album, The Green Knight. The song was written by Emily Holbert, a fellow member of the Society for Creative Anachronism. They are a group that tries to learn about medieval times by living it in a fantasy world of medieval ladies and wenches, bold knights and noble lords.Heather and Ben...
2021-12-1907 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogA ghostly midwinter balladThe song The Ghost wi’ the Squeaky Wheel - 5:42 – Robin LaingThe Ghost wi’ the Squeaky Wheel was recorded in 2003 by Scots singer-songwriter Robin Laing on the above album. Robin is known in Scotland as the Whisky Bard because of the number of songs – traditional, covers and his own compositions – that he has recorded on the subject of Scotch Whisky. He has five whole albums exclusively on that topic, and whisky songs also permeate his other nine albums.It is not hard to guess which is his favourite of the many Scotch whiskies. Bruichladdich, on the west coast’s famed I...
2021-12-1805 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogVreiðr Var þá Ving-Þórr (The Lay of Thrym)[Note that this song is almost 14 minutes long, and it is in Old Icelandic. Contrary to my usual advice that you listen to the music first without distractions, this time I recommend that you read the following information about this song first. Below are two translations of the saga if you want to use one to help you follow along while you listen to the performance.]The song Vreiðr Var þá Ving-Þórr (The Lay of Thrym) – 13:54! – Benjamin BagbyToday’s song is the full Vreiðr Var þá Ving-Þórr (The Lay of Thrym), also calle...
2021-12-1713 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogPaganism in Northern Europe about 2000 years agoThe songsThe Malpas Wassail – 4:12 – The WatersonsPlease to See the King – 1:31 – The Nields with Ben DemerathThe Malpas Wassail I have a very large collection of Christmas and midwinter music, and I especially like authentic British midwinter folk songs. I have enjoyed authentic traditional music for all of my adult life and have a special affinity for authentic English folk music. I remind you of those facts so that this next sentence will be meaningful: This is my own personal “party piece” midwinter song, sung by my favourite British folk group. As you will learn in th...
2021-12-1605 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogNewgrange and StonehengeThe songsBold Orion on the Rise – 3:30 – Leo KretznerNewgrange – 3:08 – Tim O’Brian and Heritage (aka Newgrange)Bold Orion on the Rise was written and is performed here by Leo Kretzner. He is an amateur singer-songwriter: His day job is Adjunct Professor of Biology at Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga, CA. This recording is the title song from his 1982 vinyl record album. I don’t have that album but I found that he has posted the song on YouTube with an interesting slideshow. I suggest that you check it out (click on this image):As I mentioned...
2021-12-1506 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogWhen people began to think they could control natureThe song Snow 5:06 Loreena McKennittThis is Loreena McKennitt’s setting for Snow, a poem by Canadian poet Archibald Lampman (1861-1899). She is probably Canada’s most well-known harpist/singer. In 2004 she was appointed to the Order of Canada (Canada doesn’t allow people to receive knighthoods, even from England. That is our equivalent.) I have a lot of Christmas music albums in my collection from female Canadian singer/Celtic-harpists. One of my favourite seasonal customs has been to attend Lori Pappajohn’s elegant, renaissance-costumed seasonal touring Winter Harp concerts. I suspect that Loreena is part of the inspiration for Canada’s Ce...
2021-12-1405 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogRest and recuperationThe songJean Ritchie wrote Wintergrace for her 1987 album Kentucky Christmas: Old and New, in which she is accompanied by two of her grandsons and some of their musician friends who comprise the early music ensemble Hesperus. (For that version see the video at the end of this essay.) She explained the origin of the song in the liner note from that album:Ice and snow mean hardship to city people, as I learned when I came to New York and had my first taste of “rush hour” during a January storm. How different from our Ken...
2021-12-1305 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogPrehistoric paganism’s prevalent pantheonThe song Men in White - 5:07 - ArtisanMen in White was written by Brian Bedford. You may have noticed that I usually try to match the song or songs of the day to the theme of the essay. In this instance the song’s haunting mood and tone seems to contradict the playfulness we usually associate with children’s snow creations. This ain’t Frosty the Snowman. The logic may seem clearer after you read the essay.The a cappella trio Artisan is comprised of three friends who grew up in Yorkshire. They were...
2021-12-1205 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogRemembering a midwinter PotlatchThe songs'Namgis Paddling and Entrance songs are two traditional songs of the 'Namgis sub-group of the Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw First Nation (also known as the Kwakiutl.) The ‘Namgis originate from the Gwani or Nimpkish River on the Northern tip of Vancouver Island but are now based in Alert Bay on Cormorant Island, near Port Hardy. The Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw are the larger and more well-known language group that is south of the Heiltsuk traditional territory.The Paddling Song’s rhythm was used to coordinate the paddlers of giant cedar dugout canoes. The slow, steady tempo of the...
2021-12-1106 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogSparking the fire of paganismThe dance/song Firedance - 5:44 – JaiyaThis ritual dance and song is from Jaiya, a trio founded in 2003 based on Mayne Island, another one of the small islands that is accessible only by ferry from Vancouver Island. It is another close-knit community, with a year-round population of a little over 1000. In fact this, their first album from which this is the title song, was “dedicated to both the people and the spirit Mayne Island. We are grateful for the warmth and vitality of our small island community, and for the wild beauty of the landscape which inspire...
2021-12-1005 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogThe Halsway Carol, Winter’s Turning and Gaia’s GraceThe Songs and tune The Halsway Carol - 3:30 – Siobhán Kennedy Winter’s Turning (instr.) 3:32 Denis Donnelly Gaia’s Grace :54 Penny SidorDespite years of seeking out and collecting this kind of music from both North America and Britain, I was unfamiliar with The Halsway Carol (known as Halsway Schottische when it is in tune form) but in researching for this series I discovered it along with many other fine versions on YouTube. This version by Siobhán Kennedy (née Maher) was recorded on her most recent album Séid. Her accompanist is Jens Kommnick.If you click on the above picture you can hear this same re...
2021-12-0906 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogHow can we know about ancient paganism?Today’s songs Magic – 2:05 - Jessica Radcliffe Boža Zvezda - 2:34 – Balkan Babes Kalado (Latvian Carol) - 1:56 – His Majestie’s ClerkesMagic was written and is performed here by poet Jessica Radcliffe. It is from the album Beautiful Darkness that she recorded in 2000 with Lisa Ekström and her then-husband Martin Simpson. I could find no information about whether she also wrote the melody, or if it was developed in collaboration with her colleagues.The album was inspired by, and was intended to complement, a now-out-of-print book called The Winter Solstice - The Sacred Traditions of Christmas. Despite the prominen...
2021-12-0806 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogThe Shropshire Wakes, or, Hey for ChristmasToday’s songIt is hard for us to imagine today, but from the mid-17th century when the English Parliament and New England colonies outlawed the celebration of Christmas, until the mid-19th century Victorian movement to “keep Christmas” took hold, the term Christmas music was associated mainly with songs about seasonal drinking, dancing, leching and carousing. We already have had an example in this series of that style of music: November 27th’s November Drinking Song. Although it was written only recently it is very much in the style of an eigh...
2021-12-0705 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogHanukah Dance, by Woody GuthrieHanukah Dance Today is the last evening of Hanukkah, when all of the hanukkiah candles will be burning bright. I had intended that today I would feature lively songs and klezmer music to honour this year’s conclusion of the ancient joyous festival. I knew at least one of those songs would come from The Klezmatics’ wonderful and important 2006 album Happy Joyous Hanukkah. But when this subdued, relaxed-paced interpretation of one of Woody Guthrie’s lesser-known songs from that album brought tears to my eyes every time I heard it I knew I had the right song for today. They w...
2021-12-0605 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogThe cold, crisp nights of WinterThe song and tune Under a Winter Star - 2:38 – Leah Salomaa Stars of Ice - 3:44 – Patricia Spero and Kate CuznarUnder a Winter Star is performed by Leah Salomaa, who is based in London, Ontario. She was classically trained but says that she prefers to sing folk and traditional music, especially with kids. This song was recorded in 2008 as the title track for the above children’s album. The accompanying musicians are Chris Gartner and Sahra Featherstone. In the liner notes Leah describes the song as “traditional” but gives no other indication of its origin and I could find nothing I about it online.Sta...
2021-12-0406 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogHanukkah Part 3: Transformation for new timesToday’s songsToday is the 6th evening of Hanukkah. The lyrics for The Latke Song (Mrs. Maccabeus) were written in 1951 by the late Ben Aronin (1904-1980.) He was a lawyer and scholar, as well as a teacher at Chicago’s Anshe Emet synagogue and counselor at Camp Maccabee in Pelican Lake, Wisconsin. Those last two roles earned him the honorary title of “Uncle Ben”. He wrote many Jewish-themed songs and plays, as well as children’s books in both English and Hebrew. Do you recognize the melody? It is the same hora dance tune as the famous Kh...
2021-12-0405 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogThe elephant in the midwinter room: ChristmasToday’s songI Am Christmas is an unreleased recording from the New England based seasonal band Nowell Sing We Clear. Their pre-Christmas concerts were a beloved pre-Christmas tradition for many families from 1975 to 2014. Because I live on the West Coast and can’t go to their concerts, an annual tradition for me became checking their website to see if they had issued a new CD. I have all of their albums as well as their songbook.The song’s lyrics were written by English folksinger and songwriter John Conolly; Bill Meek composed the music. John Conoll...
2021-12-0305 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogHanukkah's origins Part 2: Oil and Light[Note: A few people have told me that my reminiscence essay on Monday stirred up a few of their own memories of childhood in wintertime but they could not find the Comments section where they could share them. That is understandable because of the newsletter/blog/podcast package format of this series. The newsletter you receive in your in-box does not have the comments section. When you click on the music it starts a podcast and also brings you to that day’s entry on the blog. It looks almost exactly like the newsletter (hence the confusion) bu...
2021-12-0204 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogWorld views: mine and my ancestorsToday’s songToday’s song is Fire and Wine by English folk-rock pioneer Steve Ashley. He wrote it in 1967 to be an anthem for winter celebrations at the Maidstone Folk Club where he was a founding member along with Peter Bellamy. The song quickly spread to the broader English folk music community where people were seeking a winter song that reflected the season’s pagan roots. There have been acoustic renditions of it recorded by Anne Briggs in 1971, Vulcan’s Hammer in 1973, Hannah Sanders and Liz Simmons in 2013, and Belinda O'Hooley and Heidi Tidow in 2017. This recording co...
2021-12-0104 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogChildren in WintertimeThe songsBonjour l’hiver is performed by children’s performer Charlotte Diamond. It comes from her 2005 album with the same name, and includes lyrics and instrumental versions of each song so that kids can karaoke the song. Charlotte, and her accompanist at the time, Paul Gilitz, wrote it in 1992 when she lived in Richmond BC where she was born. Since then she has moved to Sechelt, a ferry ride north of Vancouver on the Sunshine Coast of BC. Actually, it is the first in a cycle of four songs using the same melody in which children greet ea...
2021-11-3005 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogIndulgence and temperanceToday’s songsDrinking alcoholic beverages is something of a recurring theme in songs about the midwinter season so I decided to face the issue head on with the November Drinking Song. This recording is from Magpie Lane’s Knock at the Knocker, Ring at the Bell album, released in 2006 by Beautiful Jo Records in England. The album’s sleeve notes say:* This song was written in 1973 by Martin Graebe, for a show called 'Maypoles to Mistletoe' which presents the seasons of the year in songs, poetry and prose. One of the participants, Geoff Harris, lamented...
2021-11-2807 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogA sleigh-riding authorNote:I apologize for yesterday’s glitch. I accidently and clumsily sent you Sunday’s First Day of Hanukkah newsletter as a second mailing.After receiving yesterday’s inaugural newsletter, my daughter Wendy who has been helping me with technical aspects of online publishing, suggested that perhaps an afternoon publishing time might work better for people. Since I am encouraging folks to just listen to the music as a break from their daily routine, receiving the newsletter at 3:00PM PST might spark people to do so.I thought that was a good idea so and I...
2021-11-2706 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogHanukkah's origins Part 1: Rebellion, rededication and an eight-day celebrationThe song and an instrumentalToday is the first evening of Hanukkah. Chanukah Light is from Oil for the Lamps, a folk opera about Hanukkah and its history that was written and composed by Joi Freed-Garrod. I recognized that the recording is not from the show’s only staged presentation to date, on Salt Spring Island in 2011 (see the trailer here, but ignore the address at the end) so I asked Joi about that. Here is her reply:Yes, I'm singing, with the band: Violin, Carolyn Hatch; 'cello, Martin Thorne; keyboard, Tami dos Santos; accordion, Gail S...
2021-11-2505 min
Bill’s Midwinter Music BlogThanksgiving[I recommend that you take a refreshing break from your daily activities to listen to the songs first rather than trying to read the blog posting at the same time. The songs will reward your active listening.] The Songs: Welcome Here & We Give ThanksWelcome Here is performed by the prolific Canadian singer and music educator Kathy Reid-Naiman, on the above album. It was released in 2009 by the Merriweather Records, a label that she had founded 15 years earlier. The song is based on a Shaker song but I have not been able to find more i...
2021-11-2504 min
Here Be MonstersHBM067: Dispatches From PestWorld 2016Feeling anxiety about the American presidential election, HBM host Jeff Emtman took a trip to a place he hoped to be insulated from politics: PestWorld 2016, the largest American gathering of pest management professionals. Jeff has always liked bugs and pest animals, so it was a miniature vacation. He talked with the following attendees about the tools and the philosophy of pest management:Rose Eckhart of ZappBugg bed bug heaters Carlita Turk of TAP Pest Control InsulationDavid Walters of HY-C Home SolutionsEvan Br...
2016-11-0900 minHere Be MonstersHBM067: Dispatches From PestWorld 2016Feeling anxiety about the American presidential election, HBM host Jeff Emtman took a trip to a place he hoped to be insulated from politics: PestWorld 2016, the largest American gathering of pest management professionals. Jeff has always liked bugs and pest animals, so it was a miniature vacation. He talked with the following attendees about the tools and the philosophy of pest management:Rose Eckhart of ZappBugg bed bug heaters Carlita Turk of TAP Pest Control InsulationDavid Walters of HY-C Home SolutionsEvan Br...
2016-11-0900 min