Silly Wizard - Glasgow Peggy

 #Silly Wizard #Andy M. Stewart #Phil & Johnny Cunningham #Scottish folk #Irish folk #Celtic music #traditional

Silly Wizard were pioneers in developing the modern Scottish folk group blueprint, popularizing Scottish music around the world through playing traditional music with a never-before-heard energy, spirit and spontaneity and introducing original songs and tunes written from within the tradition.
Formed in 1972 by guitarists Gordon Jones, Bob Thomas and Bill Watkins and named after a character who shared their Edinburgh flat, Silly Wizard began playing at the capital’s Triangle Folk Club. Soon after singer Chris Pritchard replaced Bill Watkins they added a teenager who would go on to play a crucial part in the band’s image as well as their music, Johnny Cunningham. A tremendously exciting, virtuosic fiddler, who was still at school and often had to be picked up from and returned to the school gates after overnight drives from gigs, Johnny energized the band’s live performances and helped to generate a new young following for folk music.
By the time they released their first album, Silly Wizard in 1976, the band had become a sextet, including Andy M. Stewart, a singer and songwriter with the tradition in his soul, and bass guitar powerhouse Martin Hadden, and were touring regularly throughout the UK and Europe. They were shortly to add a second virtuoso named Cunningham, with Johnny’s younger brother, Phil, replacing Freeland Barbour on accordion, and went on to break into the American market in the most spectacular manner.
Booked to play an opening twenty-minute spot in front of an audience of thousands at Philadelphia Folk Festival in 1979, Silly Wizard, now in its classic five-piece line-up (Bob Thomas having left) won a standing ovation and almost instantly created a huge demand in the US for a brand of folk music that could be as passionate in the low gears as it could be rousingly intense at full tilt and was always presented with wit and an infectious sense of fun.
So began a golden era as Silly Wizard not only headlined folk festivals on both sides of the Atlantic and were capable of selling out the 3000-plus capacity Playhouse in their home town but also branched out into theatre work with the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool and composed and performed the theme tune for Scottish Television’s Take the High Road as well as releasing a succession of consistently high quality, strong-selling albums.
Silly Wizard continued working at a frenetic pace until 1988, when the band that had also included singer Maddy Taylor, bassists Neil Adam and Alastair Donaldson and Dougie Maclean deputising for Johnny Cunningham on fiddle left a gap in Scottish music that has never been filled.
Gordon Jones, Bob Thomas and Martin Hadden went to achieve success in the production side of the recording business.  Andy M. Stewart formed acclaimed duos, first with Manus Lunny then with Gerry O’Beirne. Phil Cunningham remains at the forefront of traditional music in his partnership with Aly Bain and his role at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Johnny Cunningham, after settling in New York, died tragically young in 2003.  From: https://projects.handsupfortrad.scot/hall-of-fame/silly-wizard/

Planxty - 'P' Stands For Paddy, I Suppose

 #Planxty #Christy Moore #Andy Irvine #Irish folk #world music #Celtic folk #traditional #1970s

 Irish stalwarts Planxty begin Cold Blow and the Rainy Night -- their third record for Shanachie -- with a rousing version of the Scottish battlefield classic "Johnnie Cope." It's a fitting opening to a record that essentially rounded out their recording heyday as the members splintered off to form equally influential Celtic acts like the Bothy Band, Moving Hearts, and De Danann. Co-founder Dónal Lunny, despite contributing instrumentally to a few tracks and taking a seat in the production chair, left the group, allowing newest member Johnny Moynihan to take over bouzouki and -- along with Andy Irvine and Christy Moore -- vocal duties. The title track is one of the finest of their career, utilizing Liam O'Flynn's expert uillean pipes and the band's peerless harmonizing to a tee. Moore's gorgeous "Lakes of Pontchartrain" and Irvine's moving closer, "Green Fields of Canada," showcase the group's timeless mastery of balladry, a style that would greatly inform their later solo works. Cold Blow and the Rainy Night, along with The Well Below the Valley, and their legendary debut, are essential listening for those in love with, or merely intrigued with, the genre.  From: https://www.allmusic.com/album/cold-blow-and-the-rainy-night-mw0000206988

P Stands for Paddy / T Stands for Thomas

Planxty sang ‘P’ Stands for Paddy, I Suppose on their 1974 album Cold Blow and the Rainy Night. They noted: We first heard ‘P’ Stands for Paddy a long time ago from Joe Heaney but we didn't get the words until recently. These came from a recording of Colm Keene of Glinsk Co. Galway. The verses are a strange mixture as if made up from different songs and it has a fine air.

Lal and Norma Waterson sang T Stands for Thomas on the Watersons' 1975 album, For Pence and Spicy Ale, Norma Waterson sang it on the Holme Valley Tradition cassette Will's Barn, and Waterson/Carthy sang it live at the Beverley Folk Club in June 1992. A.L. Lloyd noted on the Watersons' original album: These B for Barney, P for Paddy, J for Jack songs are usually Irish in origin though common enough in the English countryside. Often the verses are just a string of floaters drifting in from other lyrical songs. So it is with this piece, which derives partly from a version collected by Cecil Sharp from a Gloucestershire gipsy, Kathleen Williams. Some of the verses are familiar from an As I Walked Out song sung to Vaughan Williams by an Essex woodcutter, Mr Broomfield. The verses about robbing the bird's nest recall The Verdant Braes of Skreen.

Peter and Barbara Snape sang T Stands for Thomas on their 2008 CD Take to the Green Fields. Barbara Snape noted: This particular version of the song is an Irish/English hybrid! I first heard it in Liverpool some time ago, sung by an Irish singer, Davy Brennan. Having never forgotten it, but never quite fully remembering it either, I have used the version published in The Wanton Seed to supplement the bits I had lost.

Niamh Boadle sang P Stands for Paddy in 2010 on her CD Wild Rose. She commented on this Irish traditional song: A conversation overheard and dwelt on to learn about love. Not a strictly orthodox method of teaching but there you go.

From: https://mainlynorfolk.info/watersons/songs/tstandsforthomas.html

Contraband - The Devil's Fiddle

#Contraband #folk rock #Irish folk #Scottish folk #traditional #contemporary folk

Contraband was a Scottish folk rock band playing an exciting mixture of Irish and Scots traditional tunes, dramatic folk-rock arrangements of classical ballads and contemporary songs.  From: https://www.last.fm/music/Contraband/+wiki

To say musicians like to use contraband could easily be interpreted as an attempt to malign the world's most important profession. To say they like to use Contraband is another story, or better yet another band and another and another. Unlike the band name Joker, which seems to be the exclusive domain of hard rock and country rock bar bands, Contraband has had dealings as a moniker in genres ranging from fusion jazz to heavy metal to, in this case, the traditional Celtic scene. Featuring, among others, the brothers George and Billy Jackson, this Contraband gets its musical fix from a stash of Irish and Scottish folk music.  Band member Mae McKenna claimed in one interview that the group was so enthusiastic about its music that the members sang and played together in the van on the way to and from gigs as well as on-stage. This might be a trifle exaggerated, but the band certainly could never have been faulted for a lack of energy, an aspect made apparent on their self-titled debut in 1974. The group's sound was seen as innovative in the spread of folk-rock ideology, one of the earliest bands to wear the Celtic rock kilt.  From: https://www.allmusic.com/artist/contraband-mn0002793647/biography

Planxty - The Little Drummer

 #Planxty #Christy Moore #Andy Irvine #Irish folk #world music #traditional Celtic folk #1970s #Irish TV

Planxty was an Irish folk music band consisting of soon-to-be-legendary musicians Christy Moore (vocals, acoustic guitar, bodhrán), Dónal Lunny (bouzouki, guitars), Andy Irvine (mandolin, mandola, bouzouki, hurdy-gurdy, harmonica), and Liam O'Flynn (uilleann pipes, tin whistle). The band was formed in 1972, and quickly revolutionized and popularized Irish folk music, touring and recording to great acclaim. The band broke up twice; first in 1975 and again in 1983. The band re-united again in 2004. Their final performance (to date) was in 2005.
In 1972 Christy Moore released his second album Prosperous, which he recorded with his old schoolmates, Lunny, Irvine, and O'Flynn. After recording Prosperous, they formed Planxty. The group's first major performance, opening for Donovan in Galway, was a great success. Neither the audience nor the band knowing what to expect, both were pleasantly surprised. Irvine, unable to see the audience through the lighting, was worried that the crowd was on the verge of rioting. It took him several minutes to realize what he was hearing was enthusiasm.
A formative influence on Planxty and, in particular, on Christy Moore was the singing of Irish Traveller John "Jacko" Reilly who hailed from Boyle, Co. Roscommon. It was from Reilly that Moore learned "The Raggle Taggle Gypsy", which was recorded on the first Planxty album, in addition to "The Well Below the Valley" and "As I Roved Out", which appeared on The Well Below the Valley. Christy later dipped into Reilly's songbook again for an updated version of the lengthy ballad "Lord Baker", which was featured on Planxty's 1983 album Words & Music.
Planxty released the highly acclaimed single, "The Cliffs of Dooneen, after which they were promptly signed to an exclusive contract in conjunction with Polydor Records. The band members, inexperienced in the world of business, signed a contract for £30,000, but for six albums, and with a low royalty percentage. (They were never to make much money from album sales, and were substantially in debt by the time the group dissolved.) The group became very popular in the next few years in Ireland, Britain and Europe, and they recorded two more albums in the following two years. After that they split up, and a compilation called The Planxty Collection was released. As time passed, the personnel changed - Johnny Moynihan replaced Dónal Lunny in July of 1973, and Paul Brady stepped in for Christy Moore in 1974. Christy, Andy, Dónal, and Liam, the original lineup, reformed Planxty in 1979. They recorded three albums, and made several changes and additions to their lineup, most notably the joining of Matt Molloy, flautist from the Bothy Band, later with The Chieftains.  
In 1983, Dónal Lunny and Christy Moore left to concentrate on Moving Hearts, and Andy and Liam started pursuing solo careers (the former in the band Patrick Street). The band broke up for the final time, or so it seemed. A low-key gig in Lisdoonvarna led to gigs in Dublin and County Clare in 2004, and the release of Live 2004 on DVD and CD. It remains to be seen if this is a new lease of life. Broadcaster and journalist Leagues O'Toole documented the band in the biography The Humours of Planxty, which was published by Hodder Headline in 2006.  From: https://sonichits.com/video/Planxty/The_Irish_March

The Cranberries - Zombie

 #The Cranberries #Dolores O'Riordan #alternative rock #Irish folk rock #pop rock #post-punk #dream pop #jangle pop #Celtic rock #1990s #music video

Presaged by shimmering spin-off hits “Dreams” and “Linger,” The Cranberries’ landmark debut album, Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?, suggested its creators had taken up the baton handed down by jangly indie-pop classicists The Smiths and The Sundays. However, that preconception was swiftly turned on its head by “Zombie,” the furious anti-terrorism lament with which the rising Irish stars trailed their second album, 1994’s No Need To Argue. “Zombie”‘s genesis is traceable to March 20, 1993, when two bombs, planted by the Irish Republican Army, exploded in the northern English town of Warrington. The blast from the second bomb injured dozens of people, but most cruelly claimed the lives of three-year-old Jonathan Ball and 12-year-old Tim Parry: a twin tragedy that shocked and appalled both the UK and Irish public.
“I remember at the time there were a lot of bombs going off in England and The Troubles were pretty bad,” singer Dolores O’ Riordan said in a 2017 interview. “I remember being on tour and in the UK at the time, and just being really sad about it.” Deeply affected by the tragedy, O’Riordan began working on a song that reflected upon the event. However, unlike many Cranberries tracks that sprang from group collaboration, the formative ‘Zombie’ was composed alone by O’ Riordan during downtime from her band’s punishing tour schedule.
“I wrote it initially on an acoustic guitar, late at night,” she said. “I remember being in my flat, coming up with the chorus, which was catchy and anthemic. I took it into rehearsals and picked up the electric guitar and kicked in distortion on the chorus. Even though it was written on an acoustic, it became a bit of a rocker. ‘Zombie’ was quite different to what we’d done before. It was the most aggressive song we’d written.” Recorded in Dublin, “Zombie” featured pounding drums and churning guitars, representing a radical departure from The Cranberries’ signature sound. However, as Dolores O’ Riordan later revealed, the song’s beefed-up alt-rock sound wasn’t an attempt to jump on the grunge bandwagon.
“It came organically, because we were using our live instruments – we were plugging in a lot and we started to mess around with feedback and distortion,” she said. In a 2012 interview, guitarist Noel Hogan explained that “the heavier sound was the right thing for the song. If it was soft, it wouldn’t have had that impact. It would stand out in the live set because of that.”
Released as No Need To Argue’s lead single in 1994, “Zombie” was promoted with a powerful video that also made a significant impact. Directed by Samuel Bayer, the video was filmed in Belfast during The Troubles, using real-life footage. Dolores O’Riordan memorably appeared covered in gold make-up in front of a cross, alongside a group of boys covered in silver make-up. Though banned by the BBC at the time, the clip has since become one of rock’s most-watched music videos on YouTube, clocking up one billion views in April 2020, making The Cranberries the first Irish band to have a song reach that landmark. At the time, O’Riordan received criticism for “Zombie”‘s hard-hitting lyrics, with some detractors suggesting she was taking sides in the Northern Irish conflict. However, as the singer pointedly observed in a 1994 interview, the song was written entirely from a humanitarian point of view. “I don’t care whether it’s Protestant or Catholic, I care about the fact that innocent people are being harmed,” she said. “That’s what provoked me to write the song. It doesn’t name terrorist groups or organizations. It doesn’t take sides. It’s a very human song.”  From: https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/the-cranberries-zombie-song/

Planxty - The Rambling Siuler

 #Planxty #Christy Moore #Andy Irvine #Irish folk #world music #Celtic folk #traditional #1970s

Veritable supergroup of Irish traditionalists that helped spark an Celtic folk renaissance in the 1970s. Along with groups like the Bothy Band, Planxty helped to usher in a new era for modern Celtic music. While their sound remained rooted to traditional music, the band's virtuosic musicianship and high-energy delivery reflected modern influences, while their unique vocal harmonies and instrumental counterpoint were unprecedented in Irish music. The founding members of Planxty - Christy Moore, Donal Lunny, Liam O'Flynn, and Andy Irvine - initially came together to provide instrumental accompaniment for Irish singer/songwriter Christy Moore's 1973 album, Prosperous. The sessions proved so inspiring that the musicians agreed to continue working together. With the release of their debut single, "Cliffs of Dooneen," the new band attracted international attention. An equally memorable, self-titled album, affectionately known as the "Black Album," followed shortly afterwards. Despite its success, Planxty was plagued by a series of personnel changes. Following the release of the band's second album, The Well Below the Valley, Lunny departed for the Bothy Band and was replaced by Johnny Moynihan, who had previously played with Irvine in Sweeney's Men. Moore followed after the release of the band's third album, Cold Blow and the Rainy Night to resume his solo career, and was replaced by singer/songwriter Paul Brady. The loss of Moore and Lunny was devastating and, shortly after releasing their fifth album, The Woman I Loved So Well, Planxty disbanded in 1981.  From: https://www.allmusic.com/artist/planxty-mn0000852842/biography

The Rambling Sailor
It was Cecil Sharp's opinion that early broadsides were about a soldier. There is an argument that the original was an Irish, particularly Ulster song, according to Sam Henry, the greatest collector of Ulster folk songs. The Irish song was called The Rambling Suiler (suiler translated as beggarman, which, indeed, still provides a metaphor for movement, fluidity and lack of fixity). Another suggestion is that ‘The Rambling Suiler' refers to the amorous encounters of James V of Scotland, who roamed his kingdom in disguise and may have written the song about himself or had it written about him. Whether of Gaelic origin, and whomsoever the subject, the anglicised versions of this song are many, using different place names. Nevertheless, the key points are well illustrated. Detaching himself from authority and beoming mobile earns the subject his liberty as an English man. As was frequently the case, 'rambling' was a metaphor for sexual liberty or libertinism. The story of the woman who went to sea inverts several aspects of 'The Rambling Sailor'. Instead of being universalised by being given a name which could apply to any English man - a young man, the son of John - the woman is particularised - Rebecca Young of Gravesend. She is loyal to the memory of her 'true love', a pressed seaman who had drowned, and it was to honour him that she went to sea. She too, drowned, but was undaunted, and in death 'anchored', rather than mobile.  From: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/fass/projects/english_folk/EFS/Ramblingsailor.html