Simply Folk

SFM

MAGAZINE

SIMPLY FOLK

Music Magazine

Bi - Monthly Issue: 07

Featuring: SUSAN AGLUKARK

A True Canadian Treasure

Also Featuring: YUSUF / CAT STEVENS

SFMM

ASSOCIATED WITH

CONQUEST MUSIC

KELTICDEAD MUSIC

FOLK ROUNDABOUT

KelticDead

Music

SPONSORED BY: MUSIC FOR

WORLD PEACE

RECORDS

SFM

MAGAZINE

TOOLATEBROTHER

‘The Fairbridge Boys’

| 02

INTRODUCTION TO “THE FAIRBRIDGE BOY”

“The Fairbridge Boy” is a song inspired by the true stories of children who were part of the Fairbridge Farm Scho

Australia. Established in 1913, the Fairbridge Society aimed to provide a better life for orphaned and disadvantaged

to farm schools in various parts of the British Empire, including Australia. The song tells the story of a young boy w

is transported to Australia as a child migrant, where he finds a new home and sees his childhood dreams come tru

determination.

THE FAIRBRIDGE FARM SCHOOL EXPERIENCE

The Fairbridge Farm School was known for its rigorous agricultural training programs, designed to equip childre

to become self-sufficient farmers or farm workers Life at the school was demanding, with a strict daily routine t

education, and other activities aimed at developing the children’s physical and mental abilities Despite the challen

the experience transformative, gaining not only practical skills but also a sense of purpose and belonging.

THE STORY BEHIND “THE FAIRBRIDGE BOY”

The song “The Fairbridge Boy” captures the essence of the Fairbridge experience through the eyes of a young

Birmingham England). After being uprooted from his foster home he is sent to Australia, the protagonist faces

ultimately finds a new sense of home and purpose at the Fairbridge Farm School. Through his hard work and th

by the school, he is able to achieve his childhood dreams, illustrating the resilience and potential of the child migr

initiative.

CONCLUSION

“The Fairbridge Boy” is more than just a song; it’s a tribute to the resilience and determination of the child migr

Fairbridge Farm School. Through its narrative, the song brings to life the experiences of those who were given a seco

and the enduring impact of the Fairbridge legacy.

YOUTUBE LINK HERE

SOUNDCLOUD LINK HERE

TOOLATEBROTHER FACEBOOK PAGE HERE

Welcome

WELCOME TO

SIMPLY FOLK

MUSIC MAGAZINE

ol in Pinjarra, near Perth,

children by sending them

ho, after being orphaned,

e through hard work and

n with the skills necessary

hat included farm chores,

ges, many children found

‘Brummie’ kid (ie. from

numerous challenges but

e opportunities provided

ants who were part of this

ants who were part of the

nd chance at a young age,

I’m delighted to announce that

Simply Folk Music Magazine is

now associated with Conquest

Music. You can find out more about

Conquest and some artists on their

books and recent releases here::

https://www.conquestmusic.co.uk/

Also, on page 17 of this issue there’s an

exclusive opportunity with Conquest

Music for UK Folk Artists/Bands with

original songs... Check it out if that’s

you....

Discover more about this months

cover artist, Susan Aglukark from page

24 - She’s not only an award winning

Inuk Canadian Folk artist but also

a passionate advocate for Canadas’

Northern Communities. Her songs are

so worth a listen...

What can I say about Yusaf/Cat Stevens

that you don’t already know? He’s one

musician who’s music I grew up with.

A mega star in my own eyes. So happy

to learn he’s got a new book out...

KDM Broadsides have two articles for

your enjoyment from this issue going

forwards - Thanks to KelticDead Music

Mike Turner continues with his

awesome ”Foundeational Folk Songs”

series with a phenomenal song that

has apparently been around for much

longer than I realized....

Dr David McKinsrty talks about

“The Art Of Dialogue” and also how

“Women Writers were Revolutionary”

Ian MacDonald helps us to discover

“Bogie’s Bonnie Belle”

And there are a whole heap of Folk

Artists for you to discover, along with

their music.

It’s an issue packed to the rafters

with everything folk, and I’m already

receiving articles for the following

issue on 1st November, so if you’d like

to appear in Novembers issue then you

need to contact me soon in order to

avoid disappointment...

janeshieldsmedia@gmail.com

A huge thank you from me goes out

to each and everyone of you who

contacted me with articles for this

issue, I couldn’t produce this magazine

without your excellent input. Jane x

Paul (a good friend of ours)

Jane Shields & Paul George

at a recent 70’s/80’s gig we

performed


03 |

SFM

MAGAZINE

CONTENTS

* * * September/October 2025 * * *

SFMM

REGULAR

WRITING

TEAM

KDM Broadsides

KelticDead Music

Dr David McKintry

Folk Roundabout

Ian MacDonald

Mike Turner

Music For World

Peace Records

Paul George

Joha Nejedio

* SEEKING *

* FOLK RADIO *

* PRESENTERS *

* SHOWS *

MEDIA

Cover

Artist

24 SUSAN

AGLUKARK

“A CANADIAN

TREASURE”

Featured

Articles

06 New Releases

Albums/EP’s/Singles

08 UK Folk Radio

09 Folk News

10 KDM Broadsides

Herr Mannelig

14 David McKinstry

Women Writers Were

Reveolutionary

18 Yusuf / Cat Stevens

Biography

56 KDM Broadsides

Shady Grove

78 David McKinstry

The Art Of Dialogue

84 Ian MacDonald

Bogie’s Bonny Belle

90 Mike Turner

House Of The Rising Sun

| 04


Featured

Artists

Are you a Folk artist

seeking a new way to

promote your music?

30 Nick Williams

“The Bigger

Picture”

32 Folk Roundabout

Folk Venues

34 Ian F Ball

“Better Late

Than Never”

36 Salt House

“Scarrow”

Album & Tour

38 The Hooliemen

40 Gaelforce

“Solstice”

42 East Of West

“Pastorale”

47 Music Ad

Conquest

48 Zack Pass

Introducing

50 Ozmanouche

Festival

52 Ned Swarbrick

Rising Star

62 Production

Light & Sound Ad

64 Dali Lee

“Seven Year Itch”

66 Gitta de

Ridder

“N(i)e(u)w Land”

68 Nicola Madill

“The Night Is Long”

70 Review Of Concert

St Georges Church

Hartlepool

72 Rumbaristas Feat.

Pauline Maudy

“Sin Tu Calor”

74 The Old Crow Road

“The Blackest Crow”

76 Mo Ogg

“The Bard Of Coleby”

78 David McKinstry

The Art Of Dialogue

80 Julia Disney

“Underneath Thatt

Tree”

82 Ellen Stekert

“On The Rim Of The

World”

86 John Nejedlo

Carried By The Tune

90 The Time Stealers

Safe Haven

Do you have a monthly gig

list you’d like to share?

Would you consider

advertising within a future

issue?

Would you like to become

a regular folk music writer

in this magazine?

Are you taking part in a

charity event involving folk

music?

Drop me an email and let

me see what I can do to

help you.

janeshieldsmedia@gmail.

com


05 |

SFM

MAGAZINE

The Flowerman

SPIRITDANCE

Bandcamp link here

Gaelforce

SOLSTICE

Website link here

Freya Rae

DIVERGENCE

Bandcamp link here

Ian F Ball

BETTER LATE

THAN NEVER

Bandcamp link here

From The Works

T:OWARDS

Spotify link here

Ned Swarbrick

MICHAELANGELO

Spotify link here

Kahulee

THE HUMAN TOUCH

Website link here

Cheryl Hann-Woodcock

SWEET TALK

Youtube link here

East Of West

PASTORALE

Bandcamp link here

David Francey

MAPS

Website link here

| 06


Folk Albums/EP’s/Singles/ Recent Releasess

Dali Lee

7 YEAR ITCH

Spotify link here

The Extraordinary Ramble

Gamble

THE DARK

SILHOUETTES AT THE

END OF THE WORLD

Youtube link here

Gitta De Ritter

N(I)A(E)W LAND

Bandcamp link here

The Time Stealers

SAFE HAVEN

Discogs link here

Nicola Madill

THE NIGHT IS LONG

Bandcamp link here

Julia Disney

UNDERNEATH THAT

TREE

Bandcamp link here

The Old Crow Road

THE BLACKEST CROW

Bandcamp link here

Ellen Stekert

ON THE RIM OF THE

WORLD

Bandcamp link here

Mo Ogg

THE BARD OF COLEBY

Bandcamp link here

The Time Stealers

SAFE HAVEN

Bandcamp link here


07 |

SFM

MAGAZINE

UK Folk Radio Stations

NASHVILLE

WORLDWIDE

Listen here

VIP RADIO

GLASGOW

Listen here

INTAMIXX

DESI RADIO

Listen here

WYLDWOOD

RADIO

Listen here

MYSTERY TRAIN

RADIO

Listen here

SHETLAND

INTERNATIONAL

RADIO

Listen here

FOLK FRIDAY

RADIO

Listen here

PARROT RADIO

UK

Listen here

SCOTLANDER

RADIO

Listen here

SUNSHINE MUSIC

IRADIO

listen here

SOUNDART RADIO

102.5

Listen here

WEIR FM

ROSSENDALE

Listen here

MKB INDEPENDANT

RADIO

Listen here

RADIO

TROUBADOUR

Listen here

| 08


Folk Radio Stations/Folk News

Celtic Utopia Shines a

Spotlight on New Wave of

Irish Folk Music Made “to Scare

Priests and Politicians”

You may think you know Irish,

but have you ever listened to the

new wave of Irish folk music? If

your answer is no, Celtic Utopia

(Útóipe Cheilteach) can help you

out. The documentary’s from the

Stockholm-based duo of Irish

filmmaker Dennis Harvey (I Must

Away) and Sweden’s Lars Lovén

(the Neneh Cherry-narrated

Fonko)

It tells “the story of a new Ireland

and its vibrant music scene, but

also that of a postcolonial society

wrestling with its heritage,” notes

a synopsis. “A society where folk

music carries both the oppression

of the past and the dream of a

bright future.”

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/

celtic-utopia-shines-spotlightwave-140000068.html

Award-winning folk star set

for Dundee show.

Scottish folk sensation Beth

Malcolm is getting set to perform

her critically acclaimed album to

Dundee audiences at Dundee Rep

Theatre on Thursday, September

4th.

Beth has rapidly been making

a name for herself in Scotland’s

glittering folk scene, having won

Scots Singer of the Year at the MG

ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards

for the second time in her career

last year. Beth quickly became

known for her deft storytelling

Folk News In Brief

and stunning vocals after winning

a coveted Danny Kyle Award at

Celtic Connections 2019.

https://www.msn.com/engb/entertainment/music/

award-winning-folk-star-

set-for-dundee-show/ar-

AA1JVBoZ?ocid=BingNewsVerp

What’s royalty got to do with

folk music? – The amazing

story of Cecil Sharp House.

Britain’s first folk arts centre is 90

years old this year. It has survived

bombs, class struggles and

changing times but its influence

on music has been vast. Helen

Brown traces its remarkable

history and talks to Shirley

Collins, Peggy Seeger and Rachel

Unthank about its enduring

legacy.

https://www.independent.co.uk/

arts-entertainment/music/

features/cecil-sharp-house-folkmusic-arts-centre-shirley-collinspeggy-seeger-a9634281.html

Folk Bitch Trio – ‘Now Would

Be A Good Time’ album

review: Goosebumps from start

to finish.

In the mid-1960s, there were big

arguments about folk music. It

ripped friends apart and split

lovers, all because Bob Dylan

picked up an electric guitar or

stopped writing protest songs,

launching huge questions about

what folk is, how genre is defined,

and what it all means.

Decades later, Folk Bitch Trio are

still contemplating them, seeing

how the genre is so often taken

as a deathly serious matter but

presenting it, instead, with the

humour and sharpness that only

ever really comes from friendship.

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/

folk-bitch-trio-now-would-be-agood-time-album-review/

Hear Me Out: The New Eves’

debut album will become a

landmark in modern folk

As long as there is a world around

us and a culture within which we

live, folk music has the power and

longevity to outlive disasters. In

fact, it’s likely to grow stronger in

the aftermath of tragedy, spurred

on by the grief and confusion

arising as a result of it. However,

if there is one thing that is

crucial to its survival that only its

creators can be in control of, it’s

the necessity of its evolution

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/

the-new-eves-debut-album-willbecome-a-landmark-in-modernfolk/.

Joe Hickerson, a singersongwriter

who served as the

lead archivist for folk music at

the Library of Congress for 25

years has died at 89. According to

The New York Times, Hickerson

passed away on Aug. 17 at a

care facility in Portland, Ore., as

confirmed by his partner, Ruth

Bolliger.


09 |

SFM

MAGAZINE

The mission of the KelticDead Music initiative is to find tunes and songs from around the world that have Celtic,

Folk, World, Americana, and Seafaring origins, and arrange them into simple sheet music formats for folk musicians

to use, as well as provide links for the music that follows the arrangements to help in hearing how it can be played. In

addition, other links are provided for the stories and possible lyrics about the selections within video-based, KDM

Broadsides for a music-education experience.

All the selections and sheet music content provided in the KelticDead Music initiative are from traditional, madepublic,

made-public with credits, or cited credits where applicable. This material content is given with permissions.

Patrick O. Young, KelticDead Music.

Herr Mannelig

Dear Man-Kind

Advances in historical evidence

have been made to indicate that

our current “known civilization”

(from approximately 12,000 BCE)

out of Sumera was preceded by

one out of Russia, Mongolia,

Siberia, parts of China, and as

some believe, even into the

western parts of America and

South America.

The image map shows an approximate grouping of the seven

“Celtic” nations in the old world. The height of these nations

was about 500 BCE.

This newly “discovered”

civilization has been dubbed as

the “Tartarian Civilization” and is

now estimated to have existed

over 40,000 years ago. For many

years, like the tales of Troy,

information about this culture

could only be found in myths, folk

music, and folk stories.

Several finds in Turkey, in areas south of the Black Sea (Gobekli Tepe and Karahan Tepe),

indicate that humanity survived a great global catastrophe, approximately 12,000 years ago,

and a full 9,000 years before the Sumerian Empire began. Again, much of our knowledge

about this event depends upon folk stories and music. The cultures in mid Europe also reflect

similar tales within folk stories and music in all seven of the old-world tribes or “Celtic” nations.

| 10 janeshieldsmedia@gmail.com

The Tartarean were a mix of races and

cultures, and one can find remnants of their

stories and music in Norse and Germanic

cultures, as well as in Greece, India, and

China. One branch of Tartarean folk were

noted as being extremely large (giants).

Over time, the tales of these giants

morphed into folk tales in the complex

interactions between men from the west

and the giants out northern Europe and

Russia.

Herr Mannelig

In the Scandinavian countries, these giants morphed

into tales about trolls and had mixed interactions with

men as some being benign and friendly, and others

being quite violent. As the years progressed the image

of trolls, for the most part, were seen as demons in

many of the northern European countries.

As the Judeo-Christian stories moved into these

territories, there is still evidence of possible Tartarean

giant mercenaries who fought with certain armies in the

west. For example, there is the story in the Bible about

David facing the giant “Goliath.”

Over time the stories about trolls shifted from fierce

warriors into woodland creatures who would try to tempt

men to gain their souls. This theme became even more

prevalent as Christianity moved into Northern Europe in

the 3 rd and 4 th Centuries.

Folk Song about the ‘Eternal Temptation’

The story of “Herr Mannelig” (Sir Mann(e) Lie) is about a young warrior who is confronted by a

giant “female” troll early in the morning, and she wants to “marry” him. This temptation theme is

an old one stemming from similar folk songs out of Asia and India where those cultures also had

a strong influence in the northern Russia and other Scandinavian cultures.

The Scandinavian and Russian names of the song itself means “Mister or Sir Man Kind.”

SFM

MAGAZINE

Herr Mannelig

Lyrics: KDM English translations from

Swedish and Russian languages fitted to

the melody:

Early one morning, before the sun rose up

Before the birds began singing.

The Mountain Troll spoke to

the handsome man

But she had a false tongue.

Chorus

Mannelig, Herr Mannelig

Oh will you marry me.

With all, I’m so eager to offer you

You can answer “yeah”

Or you can answer “ney.”

Only you who can choose to say.

At the very start of this tale,

we are told trolls have a

“false tongue.”

I will give to you three gallant brave horses

They’ll go into rose gardens

No saddles were ‘ere placed

upon their backs,

Nor bridles into their mouths.

Chorus

To you, I wish to give a gilded sword

With a blade of six golden rings.

How you will stride, Oh how you will stride

And in battles you will win.

The theme is similar to ones from India about the

deceiver; Kali. Made public images.

Chorus

I will give to you nine shirts that are so new.

They’re the best that you’ll want to wear.

And they’re not sewn by needle or thread

But crocheted with a fine silk of white.

Chorus

I would gladly take such wond(e)rous gifts

If you were a Midgard (Christian) woman.

But you are the worst of all

the mountain trolls

And it’s clear that you are a demon.

Chorus

The mountain troll sprang so

quickly out the door.

And she shivered and wailed so loudly

“Oh, Had I taken him, this

handsome young man

I’d have spared myself this pain.”

The demon’s eye,

(above), and a Norse

Demon girl (right).

Made Public images.

The reference to the numbers “3, 6, and 9”

(or multiples of them) were often used in

old Celtic-Folk songs like this one, as it

refers to a modulus relationship of the

universe that is known as a set of “mystery

numbers” and these numbers are

referenced even in the older, Tartarean

folk lore.

The mention of a “Midgard” woman refers

to being a “proper” woman, and the

expression was replaced by “a Christian

woman” when Christianity was adopted in

the northern European countries. It means

exactly the same thing.


Herr Mannelig

A folk instrument often used in this song is the

“Tagleharpe” and is very popular in the Norse

and Scandinavian countries. The origins of the

instrument comes out of northern Mongolia with

a similar instrument called the “Morin Khuur.”

The Tagleharpe and the Morin Khuur are

precursors of the violin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFKWe9RZu_0

KelticDead Music

is a private, free, on-line music-education initiative. All the

music projects are recorded with live, acoustic instruments

and performed in accordance with simplified 8 bar formats in

accordance with the Celtic music traditions. Visit other KDM

selections at

http://www.KelticDead.com

“Shaun,

That KelticDead Guy”

Patrick O. Young,

KelticDead Music

janeshieldsmedia@gmail.com 13 |

SFM

MAGAZINE

WOMEN WRITERS

WERE REVOLUTIONARY

Doctor David McKinstry Looks At

The Emerald Isle’s Rich Literary Tradition

In terms of Irish

revolutionaries, we tend to

think of James Connolly and

Padraig Pearse

manning the barricades of the

GPO. However, few think of Irish

women writers and how they

changed how Ireland thought

about itself and how they helped

to shape social change. Moreover,

these women—Lady Gregory

and Edna O’Brien—who were at

the forefronts of radicalism, came

from the most unlikely of

backgrounds to have been

advocates of these revolutionary

views that would help to shape

contemporary Irish society.

LADY GREGORY AND

CULTURAL NATIONALISM

Lady Gregory could not have been

a more unlikely figure in leading

the cultural nationalism which

would take Ireland on the road to

independence. Isabella Augusta

Persse was born in 1852, at

Roxburgh in County Galway on

her 6000-acre family estate. Her

family were firmly Protestant

Anglo-Irish aristocracy who

strongly identified with British

rule in Ireland and its imperial

presence across the globe. Her

husband, Sir William Gregory,

who was 36 years her senior, had

been Governor of Ceylon (Sri

Lanka) and a Conservative

MP for Galway. The Gregorys had

a house in London where they

held weekly salons where literary

greats such as Lord Tennyson and

Robert Browning would recite

their works.

In short, Lady Gregory was

the epitome of Anglo-Irish

conservativism, unionism and

British Imperialism, yet she

would become a leading figure

in establishing Irish cultural

nationalism.

Her conversion to the nationalist

cause lay in her childhood

education. She was schooled at

home by her Irish Catholic nanny,

Mary Sheridan, who was a native

Irish speaker and who introduced

the young Augusta to the history

and legends of the local area

of Kiltartan and Irish mythical

characters such as Finn McCool

(Fionn mac Cumhaill).

Her husband’s death in 1892

liberated Gregory to follow

her own independent path, she


David McKinstry

observed that:

“Had I not been widowed I should

not have found the detachment of

mind... to give full insight into my

character,”

and that character would be

pivotal in reviving Ireland’s

identity through cultural

nationalism.

After her husband passed away,

Gregory began spending more

time Galway where she organised

Irish language lessons at the

local school in Coole as well as

collecting tales of local myths

around the Kiltartan area. She

published these Irish stories

in literary volumes including

‘Gods and Fighting Men’ (1902). It

was in this time that she met WB

Yeats and they founded the Irish

Literary Theatre which would

eventually become the Abbey

Theatre in Dublin, whose mission

it was to re-Irish the national

culture.

In taking her passion for Irish

folklore from Galway to Dublin,

Gregory was moving from the

local theatre to the centre stage

of Irish national culture. It was

during her time in Dublin that she

moved in the same literary

and political circles as other

aristocratic women such as

Countess Markievicz. These

women began to reject their

birthright of being of the

British ruling class, in favour of

Irishness—and in Markievicz

case also embracing socialism.

In spite of material benefits of

privilege and wealth by being part

of the British ruling elite whose

empire was at the height of its

power: Gregory, Markievicz

and other women of their social

standing chose to identify as being

Irish.

In the decade before the Great

War, Gregory and her fellow

aristocratic travellers were

shedding their imperial identity

and language as expressed by the

imperial writer Rudyard

Kipling who glorified the British

Empire. In its place they were

rediscovering their Gaelic tongue

to retell the myths of Celtic

fighting heroes of ancient Irish

legend as means of combatting the

British Imperial project in Ireland.

Their cultural revival of Irishness

would contribute to the growing

sense of nationalism which would

culminate in the Easter Rising of

1916.

However, when the Great War

broke out her son William—

like so many other Irishmen—

volunteered to fight for Britain.

He joined the RAF and was killed

in action in 1918. Yet his death

and commemoration of him by

WB. Yeats was not framed in

Kipling’s jingoistic language who

saw fighting for Britain against

Germany as a noble sacrifice, but

as an Irishman whose loyalty to

was to Erin and his local Kiltartan

kinfolk. His lyrical epitaph An

Irish Airman Foresees His Death

articulated this sentiment that the

Irish were a separate nation and

that there would be no more Irish

blood senselessly spilt on behalf of

Britain:

I know that I shall meet my fate

Somewhere

among the clouds above,

Those that I fight I do not hate,

Those that I guard I do not love;

My country is Kiltartan Cross,

My countrymen Kiltartan’s poor.

During the 1920s, although in her

70s, Gregory was still active on

the board of the Abbey Theatre

and was instrumental in

maintaining its artistic freedom

from petty interfering Free State

bureaucrats who sought to censor

Sean O’Casey’s ‘The Plough and

the Stars’.

In 1932, she died aged 80 of breast

cancer, at home in her beloved

Coole Park in Galway. During

Lady Gregory’s life her impact

was so significant that George

Bernard Shaw described her as

‘the greatest living Irish woman.’

Indeed, her literary legacy

remains monumental. In

2020, Trinity College Dublin,

announced four new busts to

added to its men only pantheon of

forty Ireland’s Greatest thinkers,

Lady Gregory was one of these

sculptures. The Anglo-Irish

aristocrat Lady Gregory would

rightfully take her place beside

her beloved WB Yeats as one of

Ireland’s greatest literary figures.

EDNA O’BRIEN AND THE

SEXUAL REVOLUTION

If Lady Gregory was an unlikely

leading figure in Ireland’s cultural

nationalism, then another west

country woman would have a

similar impact on the sexual

revolution of the 1960s. Josephine

Edna O’Brien could have not

been a more unlikely figure as

feminist icon of sexual revolution

that swept across the globe during

the swinging sixties.

O’Brien was born in 1930 in

County Clare into a farming

family who were very traditional

and conservative Catholic in their

ways. Her father was a gambler

and drinker who had frittered

away what was the left of the

family wealth and her mother


15 |

SFM

MAGAZINE

was a strong controlling woman

who had been a maid before she

married. The young O’Brien was

educated at convent school and

trained and qualified as a

pharmacist in Dublin.

However, it was during her college

studies she began to read James

Joyce, and this inspired her to

write, despite her mother’s strong

disapproval.

In 1959, with her then husband

and fellow Irish writer Ernest

Gebler, the family moved to

London.

By the time her groundbreaking

debut novel ‘Country Girls’

became an international success in

1960 she had two children and

was living in suburbia. The book,

which was the first of a trilogy

of novels, was banned in Ireland

because of its frank portrayal of

the sex lives of its characters.

O’Brien was accused of

corrupting the minds of

young Irish women and

denounced from the pulpit.

Although, by today’s standards,

O’Brien’s novels would seem

tame in their subject matter, in

1960s Ireland, they were deemed

to be scandalous to the point of

undermining the institution of

marriage. O’Brien later

commented:

“I felt no fame. I was married. I

had young children. All I could

hear out of Ireland from my mother

and anonymous letters was bile,

odium and outrage.”

The success and scandal that came

with her writing put a strain on

her marriage, with O’Brien

claiming that her writer husband

could not cope with her success

and wealth. When she divorced

and was fighting for the custody

of her children, her husband’s QC

presented a copy of a magazine

headline ‘O’Brien tosses a molotov

cocktail through the stained-glass

window of marriage,’ as evidence

that she was an unfit mother.

However, the judge gave her

custody of her two young boys.

Although, seen as a pariah in

Ireland, O’Brien’s books met with

international acclaim and with her

newfound fame she began to live

the life of wealthy independent

woman. She was often seen

in the company of film stars and

musicians, with Marlon Brandon

and Paul McCartney being

counted among her friends. The

Beatle, whilst visiting her home

and helping to put her children

to bed, penned a typical

McCartney lullaby which

summed up her influence in the

pop cultural world of the swinging

60s:

“O, Edna O’Brien, She ain’t lying,

You gotta listen, To what she gotta

say… She’ll blow your mind away.”

The country girl had travelled a

long and winding road from her

rural life in County Clare. When

she returned to Ireland in the

1990s to research her book ‘House

of Splendid Isolation’ (1994) about

a Republican who goes on the run,

she again became the subject

of scandal. Part of her research

involved visiting Dominic

McGlinchey who she described

a ‘grave and reflective man... she

liked everything about him except

what he was…

This and other statements caused

outrage, and she had to refute

claims in the Irish press that she

had an affair with the Republican.

Throughout her life, O’Brien, like

Joyce, was an Irish writer who

would never be fully accepted

or understood in her own

country and in her own time and

therefore chose to live a life of selfexile.

In 2024, following a long illness

O’Brien died in London aged 93,

she was buried in Holy Island on

Lough Derg, County Clare.

President Michael Higgins wrote

of her passing that she

“was one of the first writers to

provide a true voice to the

experiences of the women of

Ireland.. and played an important

role of transforming the status of

women across Irish society.”

THE LEGACY OF THE WEST

COUNTRY GIRLS

Lady Gregory and Edna O’Brien

were the most unlikely of Irish

cultural revolutionaries. Yet,

through their writing and in their

personal lives they demonstrated

to Irish women that there was

different way of seeing themselves

and an alternative way of

living their lives. Both were

extraordinary women, and

they have left their mark on the

cultural landscape of Ireland.

DR DAVID MCKINSTRY

A teacher and poet whose

poems are widely published and

broadcast across Ireland and in

the UK.

If any readers wish to share their

literary output with him, they can

contact him at:

davmick38h@yahoo.co.uk

| 16


SFM

MAGAZINE

YUSUF/CAT STEVENS

Biography

Cat Stevens grew from being a teen idol of

the 1960s into one of the most influential

singer-songwriters of all time. In addition

to his vast musical achievements, his

lifelong spiritual quest has added intrigue and depth

to a groundbreaking career.

commitments, and the perks of a pop-star lifestyle

took its toll and Cat contracted a potentially fatal

bout of tuberculosis which hospitalised him for

several months. It was during this time that he

began a significant process of inner reflection and

meditation.

Cat achieved early success in the mid 60s with “I

Love My Dog” and “Matthew and Son”. He was a

prolific songwriter writing songs such as “Here

Comes My Baby” and “The First Cut Is The Deepest”

for other artists; the latter, in particular, would go on

to become an international hit on multiple occasions

for a variety of artists.

In 1968 the heavy work load of touring, media

Following his recovery, and with a new perspective

on the world, Cat underwent a profound musical

transformation. He wrote some 40 songs and made

fundamental changes to his lifestyle. His new sound

was more stripped-down and intimate, his lyrics

gained subtlety and an intuitive edge, and in his

private life he began to explore a variety of spiritual

paths.


Yusuf/Cat Stevens

The period of 1970 to 1974 would see Cat Stevens

ascend into the upper echelons of musical

superstardom. His 1970 album Tea for the Tillerman,

which went gold in America, contained the classics

‘Wild World’, ‘Hard Headed Woman’, ‘Where Do the

Children Play?’, and ‘Father & Son’. However, it was

unquestionably 1971’s Teaser and the Firecat that

made Cat a true megastar. Songs such as ‘Morning

Has Broken’, ‘Peace Train’ and ‘Moonshadow’

resonated with audiences worldwide and were

embraced by a generation as anthems of peace and

unity. The songs of this era would also go on to be

appreciated by future generations, their timeless

quality was shown when a cover of ‘Father & Son’

became a huge hit for the Irish pop band Boyzone in

the 1990s.

In 1975 Cat experienced another momentous and

life-changing event. Whilst swimming in the Pacific

Ocean off Malibu he began to be swept out to sea.

Fearing imminent death he called to God pleading

that should he be saved he would dedicate his life

to God’s service. At that moment a gentle wave

delivered him to the shore and safety. A sequence of

events was set in motion and, after receiving a copy

of the Koran from his brother, he embraced Islam in

1977.

During his Islamic studies Cat felt a powerful affinity

with the story of Joseph and decided to take its

Arabic equivalent as his new name, becoming Yusuf

Islam in 1978. He then amazed the world by walking

away from fame and his career as a music star, to

start a family and dedicate himself to charitable

work.

“I wasn’t too worried about what people thought,

people would get to understand, gradually, I said to

myself. After all, everybody knew I was ‘on the road to

find out.’”

After getting married and having children, Yusuf

became heavily involved with education and

humanitarian relief. He helped to found the Muslim

Aid charity and participated directly in their early

initiatives throughout Africa, Asia, and Europe.

In addition, he founded a Muslim primary school

in North London in 1983. After years of ceaseless

campaigning, in 1998 the school was awarded grant–

maintained status, an historic first in the UK.

In the late 1990s, Yusuf and his wife, Fawziah,

established the Small Kindness charity in response to

the devastating conflicts in the Balkans. The charity

focused its efforts on the needs of orphans, widows,

and families. Small Kindness continues to help

vulnerable victims of humanitarian disasters and has

received international recognition for its work.

At this time Yusuf also began producing educational

recordings on his own label, Mountain of Light,

beginning in 1995 with The Life of the Last Prophet.

From 2000 he concentrated on albums for a younger

audience and produced some of the most popular

CDs for children in the Muslim world including A is

for Allah and I Look I See.

The tragic events of 9/11 motivated Yusuf to, once

again, take to the global stage. He spoke out in the

media against the atrocities, against fanaticism

and war, and called for peace and unity. He began

to perform some of his old repertoire again,

notably ‘Peace Train’ on account of its message,

however, these renditions would often be delivered

without instruments in spoken word or a cappella

arrangements.

In 2003 Yusuf received the ‘World Social Award’

in Germany from an International World Awards

Jury for “dedicating his life to aiding the needy and

the ill.” And in 2004 he was presented with the Man

of Peace award by Mikhail Gorbachev on behalf of

a committee of Nobel peace laureates for having

worked to “alleviate the suffering of thousands of

children and their parents and dedicating himself

to promoting peace, reconciling people and the

condemnation of terrorism.”

Yusuf ’s full return to music making came in 2006

with the release of An Other Cup. The album was

enthusiastically received, delighting audiences who

had dreamt of hearing his soft voice, compelling

melodies, and poignant lyrics once again. Three years

later another new album, Roadsinger, cemented his

reconnection with the music industry. The ‘Guess

I’ll Take My Time’ tour followed which saw Yusuf

perform songs from both his new and old catalogue

throughout the UK in 2009, Australia in 2010, and

the rest of Europe in 2011.

In 2012 Yusuf explored a new musical avenue with

the staging of a musical called Moonshadow which


SFM

MAGAZINE

was launched in Australia in May of that year. The

story tells the magical tale of a young man and

his Moonshadow’s struggle against an oncoming

darkness. Using songs from throughout his career,

the musical explores many of the themes and ideas

that have informed his music. This adventure into

new artistic forms may well prove to be just the tip

of the iceberg as Yusuf is currently looking to new

media for ways to express his artistic vision.

Yusuf ’s return to music has been greeted with joy

and excitement across the world but nowhere more

so than in the USA. The emotional reaction to

his performance at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

induction in New York on the 10th April 2014

showed the love and appreciation that exists within

the music industry for a legendary singer-songwriter

who is truly considered one of their own. In 2016

the ‘Cat’s Attic’ tour gave the American public their

opportunity to echo these feelings.

2017 kicked off a series of significant anniversaries

as it marked 50 years since the release of Yusuf ’s first

two albums, ‘Matthew & Son’ and ‘New Masters’

in 1967. The celebrations ramped up in 2020 with

the 50th anniversary of two albums that began the

seminal period of Yusuf / Cat Stevens’ career, ‘Mona

Bone Jakon’ and the legendary ‘Tea for the Tillerman’,

and the festivities continued into 2021 as ‘Teaser and

the Firecat’ also reached half a century.

Since his music career took off in the late ’60’s, Yusuf

/ Cat Stevens has been on a dynamic journey during

which he has charmed people’s’ hearts, entertained

millions, and brought hope and assistance to

those in need. He has had the courage to follow

his convictions and the result has been a life of

extraordinary adventures which he continues to

share through his captivating songs.

| 20


ALBUMS

CAT STEVENS DISCOGRAPHY

NEW MASTERS 1967

Kitty

Northern Wind

Smash Your Heart

The First Cut Is The Deepest

Ceylon City

Come On Baby (Shift That Log)I

Discogs link

MATTHEW & SON 1967

Matthew And Son

Here Comes My Baby

Portobello Road

I See A Road

Granny

The Tramp

Hummingbird

Discogs link

I’m So Sleepy

The Laughing Apple

Moonstone

I’m Gonna Be King

Blackness Of The Night

Love Them All

I Love My Dog

Bring Another Bottle Baby

I’ve Found A Love

Baby Get Your Head Screwed On

When I Speak To The Flowers

Come On And Dance

Lady

TEA FOR THE TILLERMAN 1970

Where Do The Children Play?Hard Headed Woman

Wild World

Sad Lisa

Miles From Nowhere But I Might Die Tonight

Longer Boats

Into White

On The Road To Find Out Father And Son

Tea For The Tillerman

Discogs link

MONA BONE JAKON 1970

Lady D’Arbanville

Pop Star

Trouble

I Wish, I Wish

Time

Lilywhite

Discogs link

TEASER & THE FIRE CAT 1971

The Wind

If I Laugh

How Can I Tell You

Morning Has Broken

Moonshadow

Discogs link

Maybe You’re Right

I Think I See The Light

Mona Bone Jakon

Katmandu

Fill My Eyes

Rubylove

Changes IV

Tuesday’s Dead

Bitterblue

Peace Train

Discogs link

Sweet Scarlet

Discogs link

FOREIGNER 1973

Foreigner Suite

How Many Times

100 I Dream

Discogs link

Ruins

The Hurt

Later

BUDDAH AND THE CHOCOLATE BOX 1974

Music

Oh Very Young

Sun / C79

Ghost Town

Jesus

Ready

King Of Trees

Bad Penny

Home In The Sky

Discogs link

NUMBERS 1975

Whistlestar

Majik Of Majiks

Banapple Gas

Jzero

Monad’s Anthem

Discogs link

Yusuf/Cat Stevens

Novim’s Nightmare

Drywood

Land O’ Freelove & Goodbye

Home

IZITSO 1977

(Remember The Days Of The) Old Schoolyard

Life

Killin’ Time

Kypros

Bonfire

(I Never Wanted) To Be A Star Crazy

Sweet Jamaica

Was Dog A Doughnut

Child For A Day

Discogs link

BACK TO EARTH 1978

Just Another Night

Bad Brakes

The Artist

Nascimento

New York Times

Discogs link

INTERVIEW (Promo) 2000

Interview 1 - Interview 18

Discogs link

Daytime

Randy

Last Love Song

Father

Never

VERY YOUNG AND EARLY SONGS 1972

Here Comes My Wife

Lovely City

The Tramp

Come On And Dance

Image Of Hell

Where Are You

It’s A Super Duper Life

A Bad Night

Come On Baby

The View From The Top

Discogs link

CATCH BULL AT FOUR 1972

Sitting

Boy With A Moon & Star On His Head

Angelsea

Silent Sunlight

Can’t Keep It In

18th Avenue

Freezing Steel

O Caritas

Sweet Scarlet

Ruins

MAJICAT - EARTH TOUR 1976 - 2004

Wild World

The Wind

Moonshadow

Where Do The Children Play

Another Saturday Night

Hard Headed Woman

King Of Trees

C79

Lady D’Arbanville

Banapple Gas

Majik Of Majiks

Tueday’s Dead

Oh Very Young

How Can I Tell You

The Hurt

Sad Lisa

Two Fine People

Fill My Eyes

Father & Son

Peace Train

Discogs link

(CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE)


21 |

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MAGAZINE

HAROLD AND MAUDE 2007

Don’t Be Shy On The Road To Find Out

I Wish, I Wish

Miles From Nowhere

Tea For The Tillerman I Think I See The Light

Where Do The Children Play?

If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out

If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out (Banjo

Instrumental)

Trouble Don’t Be Shy (Alternate Version)

If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out (Instrumental

Version)

Don’t Be Shy (Demo Version)

If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out (Alternate

Version)

Discogs link

THE LAUGHING APPLE 2017

Blackness Of The Night

See What Love Did To Me

The Laughing Apple Olive Hill

Grandsons

Mighty Peace

Mary And The Little Lamb

You Can Do (Whatever)!

Northern Wind

Don’t Blame Them

I’m So Sleepy

Discogs link

CATS BACK - THE COMPLETE BROADCASTS

‘66-’67 - 2019

I Love My Dog

Matthew and Son

A Bad Night

Granny

I’m Gonna Get Me A Gun The Laughing Apple

School Is Out

Hummingbird

Shiny Golden Hair The Tramp

Lady

Portobello Road

I Found a Love Face in the Moonstone

Kitty

Blackness of the Night

I Love Them All

Interview

Discogs Link

TEA FOR THE TILLERMAN 2020

Where Do The Children Play?

Hard Headed Woman Wild World

Sad Lisa

Miles From Nowhere

But I Might Die Tonight Longer Boats

Into White

On The Road To Find Out

Father And Son

Tea For The Tillerman

Discogs link

KING OF A LAND 2023

Train On A Hill

King Of A Land

Pagan Run

He Is True

All Nights, All Days Another Night In The Rain

Things Son Of Mary Highness

The Boy Who Knew How To Climb Walls

How Good It Feels Take The World Apart

Discogs link

| 22


Yusuf/Cat Stevens

PRE-ORDER THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY: Cat On The Road To Findout

Featuring timeless hits that have transcended the era of their original releases, including “The Wind”,

“Peace Train”, “Where Do The Children Play?” and “Wild World”, with songs from his debut 1967 LP,

Matthew & Son, through to his last 2023 King Of A Land album. The new record features a 24 page

booklet containing all the incredible lyrics and never before seen reflections on the music by Yusuf /

Cat himself.

“I’m pleased that, at last, a collection of recordings includes some important songs I wrote after my

evolvement, “Take The World Apart” and “Heaven / Where True Love Goes” for instance, reflecting the

peace and happiness which has since changed my life. Thank you one and all. It’s really humbling to think

about how many souls have been traversing this journey with me.” – Yusuf / Cat Stevens

This brand new Greatest Hits package supports the release of Yusufs’ eagerly awaited autobiography,

Cat On The Road To Findout. The new memoir takes readers from his folk-troubadour beginnings,

through the glamorous chaos of pop stardom, and on to the trials and tribulations of a life of service in

a world torn apart by ideological schisms. Immerse yourself in the incredible life journey of a master

storyteller and true spiritual seeker.


23 |

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MAGAZINE

WEB

LINK

FBOOK

LINK

X

LINK

LINK-

EDIN

LINK

INSTA-

GRAM

LINK

SPOTIFY

LINK

TIKTOK

LINK

YOU

TUBE

LINK

SUSAN

AGLUKARK

Susan Aglukark Is An Inuk Canadian Juno Award-Winning Singer/

Songwriter, And A Passionate Advocate For Canada’s Northern

Communities.

THE JOURNEY

During a career that has

spanned more than 30

years, Susan Aglukark’s

journey as a singersongwriter

has led her to reflect on

who she is, where she came from

and the importance of discovery

– discovery of history, culture and

self.

She is the first Inuk artist to win a

Juno Award (she now has three),

a Governor General’s Performing

Arts Award for lifetime artistic

achievement, she is an Officer of

the Order of Canada, holds several

Honourary Doctorate degrees and

has held Command Performances;

but Susan also acknowledges the

path has not been easy.

“Here I was, living a life I never

imagined, but I was struggling to

understand who I was. There was

no opportunity growing up to learn

about who we were, the Inuit, from

our own perspective. In essence,

we were institutionalized by being

told who we were, how we would

live and when you are told a story

for so long, you learn to believe it,” -

explains Susan.

During the past 25 years of

reflection and songwriting, Susan

kept coming back to one area of

profound knowing, the Inuit are

| 24


Susan Aglukark

an extraordinary people deeply

grounded in a culture forged by

their Ancestors, their journey is

what shaped them.

“Their life experience is the

foundation on which our precepts

of determination, adaptability and

love for life are built, they began the

journey to our present-day Nunavut.”

The Crossing, due for release in late

Fall of 2021, is Susan’s 10th album,

and one she describes as bringing

her story full circle – from being

caught between two worlds – an

indigenous one and a western one –

to a place where she is comfortable

in her own skin and able to “just be

me.”

Link to Discogs here

‘This Child’, released in 1995,

became her breakthrough album.

The first single from that album, “O

Siem”, went to number one on the

Canadian adult contemporary and

country charts that year, making

Susan the first Inuk performer to

have a Top 40 hit. “Hina Na Ho

(Celebration)” and “Breakin’ Down”

became hit singles as well. The

album was eventually certified triple

platinum (300,000 copies sold) in

Canada

Link to discogs here

AN AWAKENING

“The conversations around

reconciliation have provided an

opportunity to change the narrative.

The Indigenous people in Canada

come from highly organized societies

built on knowledge, process and

organization - without which none of

us would have survived.”

.

For Susan, art played a significant

role in her healing journey and

she believes it plays an important

role for indigenous youth who are

dealing contemporary identity

issues today.

“Our children and youth are strong

and resilient, they still believe very

strongly in their culture, in Inuit or

Indigenous culture, and they are still

fighting every day to find their place.”

“They need to be anchored to

an identity and some of those

connections are in our ancestors

and their stories and we have a duty

and a responsibility to engage our

children and youth in the process of

connecting with and helping them

write those stories.”

Susan is very open about how her

own fears and personal trauma left

her disillusioned and disconnected.

Born in Churchill, Manitoba

because that is where the closest

hospital was, born to parents who

were the last generation to be

born and raised in traditiona Inuit

culture, Susan’s formative years

were not culturally traditional but

they were traditional in as much as

the Inuit way was traditional in a

contemporary world.

Despite the success she experienced

in the 1990s, by 1998 she was

suffering from post-partum

depression and found herself in a

dark place in need of time to reflect

and heal.

And so began what Susan calls her

“awakening”. As she learned more

about her culture and the strength

and resilience of the Inuit who

have been on this land for several

thousand years.

Susan has also seen first-hand

what happens when Indigenous

children and youth make cultural

connections with the stories that

offer a glimpse of the extraordinary

people that were their ancestors.

“We have an extraordinary past,

much of which has been kept from

us, and removed from the history

books. To give them, and ourselves,

the opportunity to learn about our

very own heroes, heroes our children

and youth desperately need right

now, to engage them in that story

and that culture, will help them

to aspire for more, to dream and

to reframe who they are in today’s

world.”

A GENEROUS SPIRIT

Through her music, Susan has

shared her experiences growing up

in Nunavut, as well as the challenges

faced by northern communities and

Indigenous youth.

She has been actively involved in

various projects to bring food and

support to northern communities.

In December 2014, Susan launched

the Arctic Rose Project and raised

money to purchase hundreds of

kilos of non-perishable food for

food banks in the north. She has


25 |

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MAGAZINE

also channeled her energy into

helping Indigenous youth dealing

with crisis and identity issues

by providing art and journaling

workshops.

In 2016, the Arctic Rose

Foundation gained charitable status

with a focus on helping youth in

the north through art and other

engaging creative projects.

In January 2018, in partnership

with the Maani Ulujuk Ilinniarvik

in Rankin Inlet, The Arctic Rose

Foundation launched its first

program titled Creative Cultural

Reflections.

“The purpose of the Arctic Rose

Foundation is to nurture Northern

Children and Youth in their efforts

to engage all aspects of their lives,”

says Susan. “The Arctic Rose

Foundation will do this by creating

culturally, emotionally, spiritually

and physically safe environments for

Northern Children and Youth.”

The Foundation is partnering with

grassroots, community-driven

volunteer programs such as local,

registered food banks, along with

high school graduation groups,

committees and programs and

other locally driven volunteer

programs that address and meet the

immediate needs of children and

youth.

“Where we find a need is identified

and a program does not exist the

Foundation will develop one with

the assistance and participation of

respective communities and local

northern children and youth.”

The Messy Book program and

the Kamajiit programs both are

arts-driven programs designed

to provide participating youth

a much-needed creative outlet.

As the participants are guided to

explore, discover and re-connect

emotionally, they will learn

about the rich history of their

communities, their families and

themselves.

The youth will engage in daily

creative reflections through writing,

art journaling, poetry, song or any

other form of art that the youth

participants would like to explore.

“I have seen first-hand the positive

outcomes that occur with youth

are able to use art to connect with

their ancestral culture and identity.

Through self-discovery they are able

to uncover a proud and rich history

and reconnect to who they are as an

Indigenous person,” says Susan.

In addition to receiving charitable

status for the Foundation in

2016, Susan also continued the

Arctic Rose Christmas Food

Bank campaign by sending

approximately 3500 pounds of

non-perishable foods and goods to

several northern communities over

the last 6 years. Each Christmas a

new community is selected for this

food bank campaign.

BOOKS

Susan Aglukark is the author of a

series of historically based picture

books, published by Inhabit

Media Inc, which draws on the

experiences of her grandmother’s

childhood to examine the unique

perspective of living in the Arctic

at a time when traditional Inuit

values began to mix with outside

influences and objects. Each volume

in the series examines the feelings

of anticipation, excitement, loss,

and resilience experienced by Inuit

as their world began to change

through the introduction of outside

influences. Seen through the eyes of

one little girl as she navigates life in

her camp with her family, this series

gives young readers a window into a

unique time in Arctic history.

Una Huna?: What Is This? (2018)

Amazon link

Una Huna?: Ukpik Learns to Sew

(2022) Amazon link

Susan is currently gearing up for

her latest book tour commencing

2nd September 2025.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Link to new

book here

Profoundly honest and moving,

Kihiani is the uplifting story of an

Inuk artist’s journey to healing and

self-discovery

Born in Fort Churchill,

Manitoba, but raised in Arviat, a

predominantly Inuit community on

the western edges of Hudson Bay,

Susan and her six siblings grew up

in a humble but loving home. But

while living in Rankin Inlet, when

she was eight years old, Susan’s life

was disrupted by a life-changing

event, a distinct separation that

created a schism inside her for

many years and from which she

continues to heal.

At fifteen, she started writing poems

that spilled out of her, and when

Susan had the choice to leave her

community, she grabbed it like

a lifeline. Eventually, Susan was

approached by a producer at CBC

who was making a compilation

album of Arctic artists and years

later signed with a major label for

her third album, This Child.

The disruption and milestones, the

turmoil and joy, the devastation and

| 26


Susan Aglukark

healing—this is Susan Aglukark’s

story of discovering her Inuk self.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

“Susan Aglukark is truly one of

Canada’s most significant cultural

treasures. Apart from being a

beautiful singer and powerful

songwriter, she provides a significant

view to the culture of our northern

communities. She is an inspiration

to humanity.”

– Deane Cameron

Founder And Program Developer

For The Arctic Rose Foundation

(2016-Present)

Board Member Governor General

Performance Arts (2017-2023)

Board Member Hnatyshyn

Foundation (2016 – 2022)

Board Member Vanier Institute

(2016-2018)

ARCTIC INSPIRATION PRIZE

SELECTION COMMITTEE

(FORMER NATIONAL

SELECTION COMMITTEE)

Collateral Damage Project (Former

Advisor)

Former Chair Of The Arctic

Children And Youth Foundation

(2008-2011)

Former Board Member Of The

National Aboriginal Literacy

Foundation (2004-2007)

SUSAN HAS HELD COMMAND

PERFORMANCES FOR:

HRH Queen Elizabeth (twice)

Canadian Prime Ministers Jean

Chrétien and Brian Mulroney

President of France, Jacques Chirac.

Nelson Mandela

Governor General of Canada

Adrienne Clarkson

Her Excellency the Countess of

Wessex

AWARDS INCLUDE:

2022: Humanitarian Juno Award

Presented by Music Canada

2016: Awarded the Governor

General’s Performing Arts Award

for Lifetime Artistic Achievement

2012: Awarded Queen Elizabeth II

Diamond Jubilee Medal

2004: Appointed Officer of the

Order of Canada

2004: winner, Juno Award for

Aboriginal Recording, Big Feeling

1995: winner, Juno Awards for

Best New Solo Artist and Best

Music of Aboriginal Canada

Recording, Arctic Rose

Northerner of the Year – 1995

First-ever Aboriginal Achievement

Award in Arts & Entertainment

Canadian Country Music

Association’s (CCMA) Vista Rising

Star Award

Native American Music Award

Canadian Aboriginal Music Award

Honorary Doctor of Laws, The

University of Toronto

onorary Degree in Law from the

University of Alberta

Honorary Degree in Law

from Calgary University

Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts

from the Lethbridge University


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MAGAZINE

SUSAN

AGLUKAR

DREAMS FOR YOU 1990

Let’s Help Him

I Thank You Lord

His Own

Dreams For You


Believe In Me

He Loves You

Anaanaga

Old Stories

ARCTIC ROSE 1992

Arctic Rose

Still Running

Learn To Love Yourself

Anger And Tears

Mama’s Prayers


Song Of TheLand

Wanderin’ Child

Searching

Rollin’ On

Amazing Grace

CHRISTMAS 1994

O Come All Ye Faithful

It Came Upon A Midnight Clear

Little Toy Trains

The First Noel

O Little Town Of Bethlehem


Away In A Manger

Joy To The World

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

Hark The Herald Angels Sing

Silent Night, Holy Night

THIS CHILD 1995

This Child

Shamaya

Suffer In Silence O Siem 4:25

Dreams For You

Hina Na Ho (Celebration)

Kathy I

Pond Inlet

Slippin’ Through The Cracks Breakin’ Down

Casualties Of War


UNSUNG HEROES 1999

One Turn Deserves Another

Never Be The Same

Bridge Of Dreams

E186

Gathering Place

Beringia


Back To Where We Started

Stand Up

Turn Of The Century

Believe Again

Ghost Of Cain

Find Something To Believe In

| 28


Susan Aglukark

K DISCOGRAPHY

BIG FEELING 2003

Katadaq

Echo Canyon

Crazy Water Dance

(For The Love Of) Germaine

Red Velvet Angel

Whalers Lullaby

Big Feeling


Crystal House

Hangdog (free)

Suongon

Into The Ocean

Tin Gods

White Sahara

Big Feeling (Remix)

BLOOD RED EARTH 2006

Blood Red Earth

Circle Of The Old

Illaint Interlude #58

As Only A Heart Would Dare Maggie

I Will Return

Beyond The Touch

Maybe We’re There

All Alone

Citizens Of The World

Take A Little Less

Songbird


WHITE SAHARA 2011

One Turn Deserves Another Bridge Of Dreams

Never Be The Same

Revolution Road

Pond Inlet

Ghost Of Cain

O Siem

White Sahara

Casualties Of War

Where Do We Go From Here

Shamaya

All Alone

Big Feeling E 186

Hina Na Ho (Celebration)


DREAMING OF HOME 2013

This Must Be The Place

Silent Night

Huron Carole

Little Road To Bethlehem

Do You Hear What I Hear

Mothers Of The Disappeared


THE CROSSING 2022

The Crossing

Uangilaa

Winter’s Dream

Ada

Into The Light

People’s Soul


Old Toy Trains

Love Came Down At Christmas

Caledonia

Breath Of Heaven (Mary’s Song)

O Come O Come Emmanuel

I’m Coming Home

Walk With Me

Tikitammata

Be Set Free

Journey Home

Forever Young

Ataniq Qujaqiliqpagit


29 |

SFM

MAGAZINE

NICK WILLIAMS

The Bigger Picture

Nick Williams has been writing songs for

almost fifty years. But, until recently, he

has been keeping them a secret. Very

few people have heard his material, as

he doesn’t consider himself a ‘performer’, he’s not a

‘singer-songwriter’.

That is about to change, as he has just released an

album that he hopes will give his highly original

songs the exposure they deserve. He has spent time

sorting through his huge collection of songs, and has

chosen twelve compositions that demonstrate the

strength and breadth of his material.

His recently released album, ‘The Bigger Picture’,

features a range of Americana, blues, gospel, rock,

self-deprecating humour, and even... contemporary

folk songs! What makes his work distinctive is the

great emphasis on story-telling. The words matter,

the narrative is clear. The songs are meant to make

you think. It’s not all ‘easy listening’ (lynchings,

alcoholism, family breakdowns)

The melody will draw you in, but the message

contained in the lyrics will stay with you. He’s not

afraid to cover controversial topics like American

gun control and the migrant crisis. Subject matter

not often heard in folk clubs. There are no gentle love

songs. But there are hooks a-plenty!

When he’s not writing songs, Nick can often be

found down the Barley Mow pub on the outskirts of

Wolverhampton, drinking... and strumming! He’s

a member of their house band, ‘The Barley Beats’,

and plays there on the first and third Monday of

every month. He also plays in an acoustic trio, ‘The

| 30


Nick Williams

Junction Crew’, who feature several of Nick’s songs in

their setlist, along with traditional folk and bluegrass

tunes.

There are performers out there in ‘the folk world’

with great voices. Skilled musicians who can hold an

audience. But not everyone finds it easy to compose

material to match their other talents. Nick is really

keen that other performers should cover his songs. If

you download ‘The Bigger Picture’ from bandcamp,

you’ll get the lyrics and chords for all the songs as

a ‘free extra’. So, if you ever perform at a folk club,

you’re a floor singer, maybe an established act, even a

global superstar, please give this album a listen! And

that includes you, Mr Springsteen...

If you want to ‘dig a little further’, Nick has lots

of material online. His songs on bandcamp.

com and Spotify are all studio recordings, and he

has dozens of home made recordings on his Youtube

channel. Please click follow or subscribe so you can

hear his latest songs.

I’m an ‘old school’ songwriter. I place great emphasis

on the lyrics. The words actually mean something.

The stories need telling. I want people to hear, and

cover, my songs.

The Bigger Picture is a ‘best of ’ compilation taken

from my first two studio albums (Songwriter and

Ten More Songs) As a bonus, I’ve also included my

first two single releases (Huntin’ Shootin’ Killin’ and

The Road To Redemption)

Released March 31, 2025

All songs are written by Nick Williams.

Vocals, guitars and percussion Nick Williams

Additional instruments Tom Bishop

Studio engineer Tom Bishop.

TRACK LIST:

1. ALL GOD’S CHILDREN 03:59

2. THE ROAD TO REDEMPTION 04:40

3. I DON’T KNOW NOTHIN’ NO MORE 03:52

4. THE SILENT TREATMENT 03:20

5. HANGING TREE 04:43

6. BRAKEMAN 06:38

7. LIKE TUMBLEWEED 03:46

8. THE STATE I’M IN 03:56

9. THE NIHILISTIC BLUES 03:58

10. HELL WAS FULL (SO I CAME BACK) 03:35

11. HUNTIN’ SHOOTIN’ KILLIN’ 04:39

12. THE BIGGER PICTURE 04:55

Link to Bandcamp here

Link to Facebook here

Bandcamp link

Released June

11, 2025

Music and lyrics

Nick Williams

Vocals/guitar

Nick Williams

Additional

instruments

Tom Bisho


31 |

SFM

MAGAZINE

Folk Rou

Folk Music, Song, Dance & Customs

Covering the Historical Counties of Northumberland

County Durham and the whole of Yorkshire

We Support Simply Folk Music Magazine at:

www.folkroundabout.com

What’s On -- Articles -- Interviews & Music Videos

Club & Performer Promoting

and much, much more

sammi@folkroundabout.com


ndabout

FOLK VENUES

DARLINGTON FOLK ACOUSTIC CLUB

Link here

A darlington based Folk and acoustic

club that meet 2nd and 4th thursdays

each month. includes singarounds,

open mic nights and guest nights.

SCARTH HALL, STAINDROP

Link here

Scarth Hall, (7pm) South Green,

Staindrop DL2 3LD, OPEN MIC. We

usually manage 3-5 songs, depending

on how many performers turn up, and

it has a very appreciative audience.

CROXDALE FOLK CLUB

Link here

A superb pub, hosting a wonderful

evening with lovely people. Every 2nd

and 4th Tuesday of the month

Daleside Arms Front St, Croxdale, Durham

DH6 5HY, UK The Club organiser

is Jackie 07814 860037

SALTBURN FOLK CLUB

Link here

Saltburn Folk Club meets on Monday

evenings (except Bank Holidays) at

the Alexandra Vaults (Back Alex), Saltburn.

We start at 7:30 and continue

until 10.30 pm in the lounge bar.


33 |

SFM

MAGAZINE

IAN F

BALL

“BETTER LATE THAN NEVER”

Debut Album By Ian F Ball

Ian F Ball is a seasoned folk singer and songwriter

based in Oldham in the North West of England.

He bought his first guitar aged 14 from Boots

the Chemist and was excited to become a singer

songwriter.

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER - TRACK LIST

01 John Phillips 4:45

John Phillips, a simple farmer goes off to seek his

fortune, despite his wife’s protestations.

Fast forward half a century or so and he’s finally

done it!

My very first album “Better Late Than Never” is an

eclectic mix of homespun songs and tunes. At 67

years young I’m quite new to this singer/songwriter

malarkey, although I have played in a few bands and

I had a couple of tunes recorded by Belshazzar’s

Feast, back in the 90s.

My album was recorded in my home studio, I sing

and plays: Guitar, 2 & 3 Row Melodeons, Mandolin,

Whistle, Bass Guitar and my trusty Metronome!

“Good singing, good tunes & good playing. I look

forward to hearing some of this live.” - Pete Coe

“Excellent story telling” Ken Nicol – Steeleye Span,

The Albion Band.

02 The Ballad of Elias Hall 3:36

The true story of Elias Hall, choirmaster at Oldham

St. Mary’s Parish Church, who in 1701 convinced

the authorities to allow women to join the choir.

Something which, up until then, was strictly

forbidden.

03 Jack Point’s Galliard 2:58

A little tune in waltz time. Jack Point is a character

from Gilbert and Sullivan’s ‘Yeoman of the Guard’,

who dies from a broken heart.

04 Tall Tales 2:47

I love a story song, and this is a story song about

telling stories, Oh, and growing older!


Ian F Ball

05 Clockwork 3:59

Another tune, I’ve written this in 12/8 time,

melodeon, bass and metronome!

All tracks written and performed by Ian F Ball except

tracks 06 & 09 ,words written by Philippa Atkin.

06 Resting Place 3:36

This song started out as a poem, written by the

fabulous Philippa Atkin in West Yorkshire. She

asked me if I could set it to music. Apparently I

could!

07 Travesura (Lobster Quadrille) 2:29

In 2023 I was asked to play and sing in a production

of ‘Alice’, written by Laura Wade, at the Millgate

Theatre in Delph. One of the songs was Lewis

Carroll’s ‘The Lobster Quadrille’. I set it to my tune

‘Travesura’, a jiggy sort of thing in 6/8. I thought the

tune had a bit of an Iberian feel so called it Travesura,

which is Spanish for Mischief.

08 Pour Mon Ami 3:33

Another waltz time tune on guitars, whistle,

melodeon and mandolin. I gave it a French title

because I thought it sounded better than ‘For Me

Mate’. The mate in question is Sam McGrady a

fabulous fiddle player and multi instrumentalist who

I’d known since I was about 15 and who sadly left us

in 2022.

09 I Am The King 4:26

Another song co-written with Philippa Atkin. In

the mid to late 18th century David Hartley led the

Cragvale Coiners. They would borrow gold coins

clip them and give you back more than you started

off with. There’s plenty of information on line about

them.

Bandcamp link:

https://ianfball.bandcamp.com/album/better-latethan-never

Youtube link

here...

Spotify Link

https://open.spotify.com/

artist/0HMr54AP429T34Kaz7WS7X

Facebook link

https://www.facebook.com/ianfballuk

10 Farewell to Clashmore 3:43

If you drive up the A9 in Scotland, about 40 miles

beyond Inverness you’ll eventually come to the

turnoff for the A949 and the village of Clashmore.

The song started out as a guitar noodle then, during

lockdown 2020, a friend heard it and suggested I

write some words. I have no idea who the man is, or

which king it is. All I know is that he loved the land

he lived in and he loved his wife and family even

more. Did he come back? What happened to his two

young sons and his wife? I’ll let you decide.


35 |

SFM

MAGAZINE

SALT HOUSE

SALT HOUSE

Salt House Announce Uk Tour In Support Of

Their New Album “Scarrow”

Salt House is set to launch

their new album tour for

their upcoming release of

“Scarrow.”

Scarrow - A Scots word meaning

faint light, reflection, the shadow

of a crow or hill, the faint light

reflecting from a wall. Something

gleaming intermittently or

indistinctly.

Salr House is set to launch their

album tour for their upcoming

release ‘Scarrow’ which marks the

first album featuring new member

Anna Hughes. The tour will take

place from October 1st to 12th

2025 showcasing a captivating

collection of songs that delve

into themes of hope, community,

and shared light - an especially

relevant message in todays world

where connection and collective

experiences are more important

than ever.

THE BAND CONSISTS OF:

Ewan MacPherson - Vocals,

Guitars and percussion. Ewan

is a multi-instrumentalist and

singer with over two decades

working at the forefront of the

Folk / Traditional music scene.

He toured extensively with

Shooglenifty for thirteen years,

was a member of Malinky and

Nu-Nordic Quintet Fribo. His

session work includes a variety

of artists from the British Isles

and beyond. His most recent solo

project album “Hushman” was

described by KLOF Magazine as

“A little masterpiece of confidence

and understatement. Wonderful.”

Anna Hughes - A versatile multiinstumentalist

and composer,

draws on her transitory life

experiences to create music that

reflects forgotten landscapes and

the wonders of the natural world.

Working across multi-disciplinary

projects Anna is a sought after

collaborator as well as working

with duo project “Watersmeet”


Salt House

Jenny Sturgeon - Jenny has a

PhD in seabird ecology. She is

known for her introspective solo

work and collaborations with

“Birdvox” and “Outliers”. Through

her creative output as a sound

artist and songwriter she explores

themes of landscape and human

connections. Her solo project

“The Living Mountain” based on

the writing of Nan Shepherd was

released to wide critical acclaim.

The band has been a prominent

prescence in the folk music

scene for over a decade. With

their thoughtful and innovative

approach to both traditional

ballads and modern songs, this

tour presents the first chance

to experience the album live,

promising an intimate and

powerful experience for both

longtime fans and new comers

alike.

The Guardian has described Salt

House as “A gentle, lulling delight”

highlighting their blend of

heartfelt vocal and instrumental

harmonies that offers listeners

a moment of reflection and

connection.

TOUR DATES

1st October - Lerwick, Shetland -

Mareel

2nd October - Balquhidder -

Community hall

3rd October - Roberton (near

Hawick) - Forman Hall

4th October - Much Wenlock -

The Edge Arts Centre

5th October - London -

Walthamstow Folk Club

7th October - Hereford - The

Courtyard

8th October - Sheffield - Samuel

Worth Chapel

9th October - Llanarmon Dyffryn

Cieriog - St Garmons Church

10th October - Edinburgh - Leith

Depot

11th October - Duror - Duror &

Kentallen Community Centre

12h October - Tayport - The

Larick Centre (2pm)

MORE ABOUT SALT HOUSE

Salt House have been a mainstay

for over a decade. The band’s

reputation as thoughtful and

innovative interpreters of both

ancient ballads and contemporary

songs has been solidified with

acclaimed album releases and

extensive touring.

New songs that sound like they’ve

always been here, ancient ballads

woken up. Poems given melodies

they’ve long deserved.

Salt House’s sound is influenced

by the landscapes of The Scottish

Highlands, Northumberland and

Shetland, the respective homes of

Ewen MacPherson, Anna Hughes

and Jenny Sturgeon.

They incorporate their natural

surroundings into the fabric of

music that speaks of a shared

love of people, place and evolving

tradition.

DISCOGRAPHY

UNDERSONG - 2017


HUAM - 2020


WORKING FOR ZEUS - 2021


RIVERWOODS - 2023


Salt House Website link

Salt House Bands In Town link

Salt House Spotify link

Salt House Youtube link


37 |

SFM

MAGAZINE

THE HOOLIEMEN

Who Are They?

“ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT would recommend to anyone Had them for my fathers wake/funeral Made a

brilliant send off and upwards of 20 people asked for their information and all the people who attended were

amazed and happy at the best wake they had ever been to such a fitting send off for my dad Great communication

Brilliant professionalism Very punctual A pleasure to deal with and will use again” - Peter Devine, Leeds

Hooliemen are a superb

4 piece acoustic

traditional Irish folk

band based in North

of UK

The Hooliemen played one gig a

year for about a decade at Whitby

Folk Week as the resident band

for the set dance evening – The

Hoolie. Now they have formerly

come together to do more.

4 very seasoned accomplished

musicians who have played

together for decades in various

different bands. Four outstanding

musicians of the highest calibre

with a life time of performing

experience.

CHRIS DYSON – fiddle/voc -

from Roisin Ban & Gaelforce , ex

Mike Harding Band, Leeds CCE.

RICHARD MOSS - gtr/voc - ex

Mike Harding Band, Drop the

Floor.

PADDY HEFFRON - button

accordian/voc/sean nos dance -

Roisin Ban, Leeds CCE.

BRIAN AYLWARD – flute/Irish

pipes/ whistle/ voc - Leeds CCE,

Damhsa, Ceilihouse.

| 38


THE HOOLIEMEN

We are an up tempo Irish

traditional group performing

great tunes & beautiful versions

of songs you will be familiar

with . Jigs n reels, Irish ballands,

harmony & accapela vocals &

sean nos dance

We have been described as a

cross between Dervish and The

Dubiners. The band existed

for a decade playing for the set

dancing nights – the Hoolie

– at Whitby Folk Week, now

formally a band not to miss.

Comment from Peter Devine -

south Leeds:

“ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT

would recommend to anyone

Had them for my fathers wake/

funeral Made a brilliant send

off and upwards of 20 people

asked for their information and

all the people who attended were

amazed and happy at the best

wake they had ever been to such

a fitting send off for my dad

Great communication Brilliant

professionalism Very punctual A

pleasure to deal with and will use

again.”

The Hooliemen

Here’s a confirmed gig for us

in 2026, we’d love you to come

along and see us perform.

Date/Time

Date - 28/02/2026

7:30 pm - 10:00 pm

Location:

Leyburn Arts and Community

Centre (The Old School House)

https://www.youtube.com/

watch?v=aQnv-sBRbYY

https://www.facebook.com/the.

hooliemen


39 |

SFM

MAGAZINE

Gaelforce originated as an idea in the late 1980s,

evolving from a popular Yorkshire folk rock

band known as Cocky—a name reflecting the

region’s term for confidence. Several members

of Cocky sought a rockier sound, leading to the formation

of Gaelforce, with Chris Dyson on fiddle and mandola,

Karen Exley on vocals, David Collins on keyboards,

and Roy Whyke on drums. The group was soon joined

by bassist and multi-instrumentalist Hugh Bradley from

Huddersfield and Barnsley rock guitarist Pete Moreton.

The band also played a number of support concerts for

major names, including Lindisfarne and Capercaillie.

Their album Stoirm was released on CD in 1994.

In 1997, the band fell apart, as bands sometimes do,

which was a real shame as Gaelforce had a growing reputation

and a promising future ahead of them.

During the band’s hiatus, Chris became more involved

in traditional Irish music, spending part of a decade

living part-time in County Mayo, Ireland, and becoming

involved with Leeds Comhaltas. After playing in several

bands, Chris considered reforming Gaelforce. A chance

meeting with former bass player Gary Wells led to the

decision to bring the band back.

This marked the beginning of the current iteration of

Gaelforce when Chris teamed up with talented rock guitarist

Geoff Taylor. Chris and Geoff had seen each other

perform before, as Geoff had played for many years with

the excellent Leeds-based Duncan McFarland Band. Both

had also been regular artists at the Otley Folk Festival

during the 1990s, so they were aware of each other’s

work. Their collaboration clicked, and the result was their

first track together, Back Home in Derry.

Gary Wells, who had rejoined the band as bassist, left

shortly after Gaelforce re-formed. In his place, Chris

brought in Eddie Green, a former bassist for Oscar the

Frog and an old friend. They also discovered drummer

Matt Kirton, who had recently moved to Yorkshire from

London, where he had played drums in Shane Mc-

Gowan’s band.

As the new lineup began performing a few pub gigs, the

COVID-19 pandemic struck, putting a halt to many aspects

of life. Despite this, Chris and guitarist Geoff Taylor

continued working remotely. It was during this period

that the majority of the album Equinox emerged. Geoff

| 40


Gaelforce

recorded from his home studio, while Chris learned to

home-record, adding vocals and fiddle lines to the tracks.

During the pandemic, Chris also composed a significant

number of tunes, many of which were recorded and

shared on YouTube. These recordings featured Chris on

fiddle and bouzouki, all composed, performed, and recorded

from home. Here is one of several examples.

At the end of the COVID period, Eddie Green decided to

leave Gaelforce and joined the John Palmer Band, while

Matt Kirton also departed due to work and family commitments.

To fill the vacancy on bass, the band brought in

Sam Dowgill, who already played alongside Geoff in the

rock band GTO and fit in seamlessly. With Irish roots in

his family, it almost seemed like destiny for Sam to join

Gaelforce.

The search for a new drummer led them to Jim Brierley,

who had recently returned to Yorkshire after spending the

past few decades living in Normandy.

This solidified the current core of the band, with Chris

Dyson on fiddle and vocals, Geoff Taylor on guitars, Sam

Dowgill on bass, and Jim Brierley on drums.

Gaelforce played small pub gigs and a few folk clubs, but

the game changer came in January 2023, when they were

selected to perform on the Introducing Stage at the Great

British Folk Festival in Skegness. The Introducing Stage

was effectively a competition, with the winner determined

by audience vote. It was a close call even to get started, as

each act had only 15 minutes to set up, plug into the PA,

and begin playing. For a band as complex as Gaelforce,

this was a tall order. With mere seconds to spare, they

burst into their opening number without having had any

soundcheck.

The audience responded enthusiastically, and Gaelforce

won the public vote by a significant majority in front of

over 2,000 people. This surreal moment led to festival

director Stephen Stanley inviting the band to fill a main

stage slot the next day, after another act had dropped out.

With a full soundcheck this time, Gaelforce performed to

over 2,000 people on the main stage of the festival.

This was a turning point for the band, as they were immediately

booked by numerous folk venues, including

becoming the first-ever guest artist at the Wetherby Folk

Club, where they played a sell-out gig. Gaelforce quickly

transitioned from pub gigs to ticketed concerts at small

theatres and arts centers, selling out venues across Yorkshire

and beyond.

Recently, Craig McIntosh stepped down from Gaelforce

due to his many other commitments, including serving

as Pipe Major for the Los Angeles Pipe Band in the USA.

The band has since brought in Ed Arnold, a well-known

piper from Sheffield, whose Scottish roots trace back to

his family from Aberdeen.

At the time of writing, Gaelforce is in the final stages of

releasing a new album, Solstice, on which both Ed and

Craig are featured playing the pipes. Additionally, Chris’s

old friend Brian Aylward from Leeds Comhaltas has

joined as an extended band member, playing Uilleann

pipes and flute for occasional gigs when their regular

piper is unavailable.

https://www.facebook.com/GaelforceCelticRock

Highland bagpipes into Gaelforce’s sound. Playing with

bagpipes presented a challenge and a steep learning curve,

as they are unlike most conventional instruments in a folk

rock band. However, the technical issues were gradually

overcome, and the pipes proved to be a hit with audiences,

adding a unique dimension to Gaelforce’s performances.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCH-Ft8K3PJGtp-

S5hrArhxeg

https://open.spotify.com/artist/4aSBoHl1PWcnkN3F-

WU4XrU?si=7l9TuuvvSC67J05c34YGNw&nd=1&dlsi=941eaa1052a64479

SOLSTICE TRACK LIST

1. Lament For Owen Roe O’Neil

2. Ordinary Man

3. Morrisons

4. The Coal

5. Kenny

6. Wassailing

7. Hector The Hero

8. Van Dieman’s Land

9. Nollaig Shona Na Duit

10. Morris Man’s Blues

11. Balquidder

12. The Eavesdropper

Link to Solstice

Here

In mid-2023, Chris was approached by an old friend,

Craig McIntosh, about the possibility of incorporating


41 |

SFM

MAGAZINE

Image

River Petein

East of West

ARIA-nominated trio EAST OF WEST announce their third album, in collaboration with

Australian contemporary pianist ROMANO CRIVICI

ARIA-nominated

Queensland instrumental

trio East of West has

joined forces with

Sydney-based contemporary

classical composer Romano Crivici

to create an album of compelling

and atmospheric compositions and

improvisations, “Pastorale.”

Recorded live in Brisbane by the

extraordinary Melbourne-based

sound engineer Siiri Metsar, this

collaboration further extends the

band’s unique sound and style,

inviting listeners to immerse

themselves in its finely-crafted

soundscapes and improvisations.

Over the seven years of their

collaboration, East of West have

developed an intuitive musical

relationship, flourishing through

their dynamic interplays, virtuosic

unison melodies and expressive

soloing. Gajić’s compositions explore

gentle melodic motifs nested in

uptempo passages set to Balkan -

influenced rhythms, interspersed

with moments of mesmerising

musical sparseness.

“When composing a piece of music,”

says Gajić, “I begin with a kernel of an

idea - something that appears during

practice, daily life or even in the

middle of the night. I start developing

the motif, and then decide if it is going

to work for the trio or if it’s more

suited to other projects. The pieces on

Pastorale were pieces that asked for

another element, which I felt to be

piano, and after a long time listening

to many pianists, I heard Romano

playing and immediately realised he

was the pianist I wanted to work with

on these pieces.”

Gajić continues with amusement,

“This album began with a small

upright piano being crammed into the

back of our station wagon. Malindi

was on a mission to buy a piano that

could fit in our tiny apartment, and

after visiting and rejecting a number

of them, Malindi found a beautiful

old spinet upright. She called the

| 42


owner, we drove to the suburbs,

walked behind the house - and there

was the piano, sitting on the grass,

covered in a tarpaulin, in the middle

of the rainy, sweaty Brisbane summer.

Our hearts sank deeper than our feet

into the suburban floodplain mud.

The owner’s ex had turfed the piano

and all his music gear out of the

house to the mercy of the subtropical

summer weather. He offered it to us

for zero dollars. Malindi bargained

the price up, three of us somehow

loaded it into the back of our Subaru

Forester and we took it home. The

piano tuner worked hard to give the

piano back some self-respect, and on

it I sketched out the compositions on

this album which were played by the

remarkable Romano Crivici alongside

East of West’s oud, double bass and

percussion. We recorded on a beautiful

Steinway piano with an equally

interesting story, but we’ll leave that

for another time.”

Philip Griffin, the trio’s oud player

and a highly skilled naturalist, has

also contributed a composition to

the album - ‘Small Eyes’ - a driving

piece in 11/8 whose title is a nod to

Eastern Australia’s Small-eyed Snake,

Cryptophis Nigrescens.

He has this to say about the

composition:

“Small Eyes was written in May

2015, when East of West was but

an embryo in Goran’s mind. As the

piece is little more than a series of

descending (in most cases) scales, it

seemed an appropriate work with

which to musically commemorate the

Eastern Small-eyed Snake (Cryptophis

nigrescens), which I had recently seen

for the first time, having myself only

moved to Brisbane (prime Cryptophis

habitat) at the end of the previous

year. The species is predominantly

nocturnal and dangerously venomous,

neither of which qualities are welldisplayed

in the piece. However it is

hoped that something of the snake’s

opalescent scale aesthetic might be in

some way sympathetically portrayed.

Current knowledge does not furnish

us with a sense of whether Cryptophis

generally enjoy 11/8 as a time

signature as much as I do, but, for the

purposes of this recording, I think we

can take it as a ‘yes’.”

EAST OF

W EST

https://www.eastofwestmusic.com/

ARIA - nominated trio East of West

explores the borderlands between

genres through their intricate

contemporary compositions and

improvisations. Led by Bosnian -born

composer Goran Gajić (double bass),

with Philip Griffin (oud, laouto) and

Malindi Morris (percussion), East of

West’s music primarily draws from

the rich musical influences of the

Balkans and Mediterranean, creating

beautiful storytelling melodies

spun over traditional rhythms, open

solos, and improvisation.

East of West’s second album ‘Moving

Home’, released in June 2023, offered

a fresh set of original compositions

by Bosnian- born double bass

player Goran Gajić, and attracted

nominations for ‘Best world music

album’ at the ARIA Awards and also

nominated for an Australian Folk

Music Award.


collaboration, the trio’s musicians

have developed an intuitive musical

relationship which emerges through

their exciting dynamic interplays and

expressive soloing, interspersed with

moments of mesmerising musical

sparseness.

ROMANO

C RIVICI

https://www.crivici.com/

Romano Crivici is one of Australia’s

East Of West

leading contemporary composer

- performers (violin and piano).

Crivici, a former member of the

Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the

New England String Quartet and the

popular and humorous Paranormal

Music Society, has also worked

widely as a pianist, repetiteur and

conductor. However it has been

his work as composer, director and

violinist with his ensembles Elektra

String Quartet and, directing from

piano, the ECU (Elektra Collektive

Unconscious), for which he is

most widely known. In pioneering

the integration of technology,

improvisation and cross -

cultural collaboration within the

classical tradition, he and the Elektra

String Quartet created a genre

unique to contemporary music

making. Reflecting the larger scale

of the works he creates, Crivici

expanded the quartet to the much

larger ensemble Elektra Collective

Unconscious (ECU), which,

comprised of both classical and

jazz performers, he directs from the

keyboard.

Crivici founded the Elektra String

Quartet in 1993 soon after leaving

the Sydney Symphony Orchestra

and created a disciplined and

flexible ensemble that, touring

both nationally and internationally,

worked within many cross cultural

art - forms. The ensemble featured

works by Crivici himself as well

as commissioning and performing

works by some of Australia’s best

- known composers.

Crivici has collaborated with

artists from many cultures and

performance styles, forming long

working relationships with Australian

indigenous artists, Indian/Jazz fusion

artists, Javanese percussionists and

traditional Tibetan performers within

the various multimedia formats he

has devised.

Crivici has also been commissioned

by many organisations and

ensembles including the Australian

Broadcasting Corporation, Sydney


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Symphony Orchestra, Arafura

Ensemble, Sante String Quartet

(Switzerland), 10 Days on the Island

Festival, Sydney Film Festival, Fresh

Ballet Company, Sydney Dance

Company, One Extra Dance

Company and Pacific Arts Festival.

His most recent projects are the

recording of his String Quartets 4 &

5, a work for didjeridu, string quartet

and percussion, (Flat Earth), the

recording of Reflections on Life,

Death and Transience (for Vln, Vla

and spoken text) and a number of

works for solo piano; Getting There,

If leaves Could Sing and Adagio and

Allegro in C#.

His aim is, in his own words, “to

create not only something of beauty

or soulfulness, but an attempt at

finding or creating some meaning and

relevance ...... a living and ongoing

sense of shared humanity, if not in the

broader cultural milieu, then at least

within my own head.”

Romano has a Masters in

Conduction (MA) from the Sydney

Conservatorium of Music (USYD)

and a Diploma of Social Science

(Anthropology) from the University

of Sydney.

GORAN

G AJIĆ

https://www.eastofwestmusic.com/

Goran Gajić is a Bosnian -

Australian instrumentalist and

composer with many years’ touring

experience in Europe and Australia

with different ensembles. In 2017, he

founded the contemporary modal/

ethno jazz group East of West in

which he plays double bass and

composes music that draws from the

musical traditions of the Balkans and

Mediterranean, as well as European

jazz music traditions. In 2023, East

of West was nominated for an ARIA

for ‘Best world music album’ for their

second album, ‘Moving Home’.

From 2015 to 2024 Goran played

double bass with and composed for

the award - winning world music

band Mzaza with which he toured

Australia and Europe. Their most

recent album,The Birth and Death of

Stars, to which he contributed almost

half of the original compositions, was

recorded in Athens in one of Greece’s

most famous historic studios, Sierra

Studios.

He has performed at festivals

and venues across Europe and at

Brisbane Powerhouse, QPAC,

The Triffid, and at major festivals

and venues in Australia such as

Woodford Folk Festival, Brisbane

Festival, Mona Foma, and the Blue

Mountains Music Festival.

P HILIP

G RIFFIN

https://www.philipgriffin.com/pgcv

Philip Griffin is an instrumentalist,

music director, singer, composer, and

arranger. After completing a diploma

in classical guitar at the Western

Australian Academy of Performing

Arts in the 1980s, he went on to gain

BMus in Conducting under Richard

Gill, Post - Graduate Diploma in

Education (University of Adelaide),

and Master of Music in voice at the

University of Auckland.

His studies of plucked stringed

instruments include his main

instrument with East of West, the

oud (Arabic fretless lute), and

have included training in Turkey,

Berlin, Athens, Jerusalem and more

recently via the internet with many

internationally acclaimed artists

and teachers. This study has focused

particularly on Classical Music within

the Ottoman tradition of Türkiye.

He has extensive performance

experience in the realms of

Macedonian Traditional Folk

Music and Balkan Gypsy Music.

Performance highlights include

featuring on the oud with Adelaide

Symphony Orchestra and Lior,

festival appearances at Woodford

Folk Festival, St Chartier Festival,

WOMADelaide, and Melbourne

& Perth International Festivals.

In other realms of his professional

musical life, he has composed and

music directed works for The Royal

Shakespeare Company, Sydney

Theatre Company, Belvoir Street

Theatre, South Australian and West

Australian Theatre Companies, plus

a plethora of smaller ensembles.

Most of Philip’s current performance

interests focus on the genre of

music described by his mentor

and colleague Ross Daly as

Contemporary Modal Music with

groups such as East of West, Gosti,

and Aaron Brown’s Early Modern.

He also plays with Queensland

Baroque Orchestra on baroque

guitar, and with current holders

of the Queensland Music Awards

in the Jazz Category, the world

music big band Impulse Orchestra.

Philip is also an experienced music

educator, having taught singing at

the National Institute of Dramatic

Arts (NIDA), Sydney, and at the

Western Australian Academy of

the Performing Arts. He has also

taught classical guitar at the Western

Australian Conservatorium of

Music among the many other

teaching roles he has held throughout

his rich and varied career.

MALINDI

M ORRIS

https://www.facebook.com/

MalindiMorrisMusic#

| 44


Malindi Morris is a percussionist

and occasional composer who draws

inspiration from the Mediterranean,

Balkans, Türkiye, and Iran, and

specialises in frame drums and hand

percussion. Morris has studied,

composed and performed in

Australia and Europe with various

ensembles suchas ARIA - nominated

Australian trio East of West and her

Slovenian ensemble Lastovka. Her

past projects in Australia include

extensive work with Balkan folk

projects such as award - winning

ethno - folk group Mzaza. She has

also worked with Čardak, Kučibaba,

The Transbalkan Express and Vihor,

with performances at folk and

multicultural festivals such as the

Woodford Folk Festival, The

National Folk Festival, Cygnet Folk

Festival, Tablelands folk festival,

Brisbane Festival, Scheherazade

Festival, the National Multicultural

Festival, and the Queensland

Multicultural Festival.

She co - directed, produced,

composed for and performed in the

2017 project ‘Kučibaba’, a stage show

presented at Woodford Folk Festival.

This interstate project also involved

choreographer Yorgo Kaporis

(Sydney), Melbourne musician

Stephen Cuttriss and Brisbane -

based dancers and musicians. Her

responsibilities included concept

development, music composition and

arrangement, graphic design

and marketing, set design and

performance.

PASTORALE

Track List for PASTORALE

1. Where is Your Accent From

2. Quiet Days in West End

3. Small Eyes

4. Takt

5. At the End of the Tunnel

6. Pastorale

Bandcamp link

https://eastofwest.bandcamp.com/

album/pastorale

Pastorale released on July 31 on

limited edition CD

Edition of 200 CDs printed in Naarm

by Replicat.

Includes 6 page booklet.

Art and design by John Wright.

Includes digital pre-order of

Pastorale. You get 1 track now

(streaming via the free Bandcamp

app and also available as a highquality

download in MP3, FLAC and

more), plus the complete album upon

release.

Recorded live in Brisbane by the

extraordinary Melbourne-based

sound engineer Siiri Metsar, this

collaboration further extends the

band’s unique sound and style,

inviting listeners to immerse

themselves in its finely-crafted

soundscapes and improvisations.


collaboration, ‘East of West’ have

developed an intuitive musical

relationship, flourishing through

their dynamic interplays, virtuosic

unison melodies and expressive

soloing. Gajić’s compositions explore

gentle melodic motifs nested in

uptempo passages set to Balkan -

influenced rhythms, interspersed

with moments of mesmerising

musical sparseness.

East Of West

“When composing a piece of music,”

says Gajić, “I begin with a kernel of an

idea - something that appears during

practice, daily life or even in the

middle of the night. I start developing

the motif, and then decide if it is going

to work for the trio or if it’s more

suited to other projects. The pieces on

Pastorale were pieces that asked for

another element, which I felt to be

piano, and after a long time listening

to many pianists, I heard Romano

playing and immediately realised he

was the pianist I wanted to work with

on these pieces.”

Gajić continues with amusement,

“This album began with a small

upright piano being crammed into the

back of our station wagon.”Malindi

was on a mission to buy a piano that

could fit in our tiny apartment, and

after visiting and rejecting a number

of them, Malindi found a beautiful

old spinet upright. She called the

owner, we drove to the suburbs,

walked behind the house - and there

was the piano, sitting on the grass,

covered in a tarpaulin, in the middle

of the rainy, sweaty Brisbane summer.

Our hearts sank deeper than our feet

into the suburban floodplain mud.

The owner’s ex had turfed the piano

and all his music gear out of the

house to the mercy of the subtropical

summer weather. He offered it to us

for zero dollars. Malindi bargained

the price up, three of us somehow

loaded it into the back of our Subaru

Forester and we took it home. The

piano tuner worked hard to give the

piano back some self-respect, and on

it I sketched out the compositions on

this album which were played by the

remarkable Romano Crivici alongside

East of West’s oud, double bass and

percussion. We recorded on a beautiful

Steinway piano with an equally

interesting story, but we’ll leave that

for another time.”

Philip Griffin, the trio’s oud player

and a highly skilled naturalist, has

also contributed a composition to

the album - ‘Small Eyes’ - a driving

piece in 11/8 whose title is a nod to

Eastern Australia’s Small-eyed Snake,


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Cryptophis Nigrescens.

He has this to say about the

composition:

“Small Eyes was written in May

2015, when East of West was but

an embryo in Goran’s mind. As the

piece is little more than a series of

descending (in most cases) scales, it

seemed an appropriate work with

which to musically commemorate the

Eastern Small-eyed Snake (Cryptophis

nigrescens), which I had recently seen

for the first time, having myself only

moved to Brisbane (prime Cryptophis

habitat) at the end of the previous

year. The species is predominantly

nocturnal and dangerously venomous,

neither of which qualities are welldisplayed

in the piece. However it is

hoped that something of the snake’s

opalescent scale aesthetic might be in

some way sympathetically portrayed.

Current knowledge does not furnish

us with a sense of whether Cryptophis

generally enjoy 11/8 as a time

signature as much as I do, but, for the

purposes of this recording, I think we

can take it as a ‘yes’.”

A music video for the single ‘Where

is Your Accent From’ was filmed

during the recording process.

Captured by local AV organisation

Vivid Visual Co. it provides an

intimate glimpse at the intricate

interplay of these masterful artists in

their element.

Link to video:

https://www.youtube.com/

watch?v=WbruCsN3AY0

FACTS ABOUT EAST OF WEST

AND THEIR NEW ALBUM

PASTORALE:

• Crivici brings a background in

cross-cultural collaboration and

improvisation, and is recognised as

one of Australia’s leading composerperformers

• East of West’s previous album,

Moving Home (2023), was

nominated for ‘Best World Music

Album’ at the ARIA Awards and also

nominated for an Australian Folk

Music Award.

• Pastorale was recorded live on a

Steinway Model D piano at a secret

art nouveau studio in Brisbane’s

Bayside by Naarm/Melbourne sound

engineer Siiri Metsar, who also

recorded the trio’s first two albums.

• The album’s piano parts were

mapped out on a rescued upright

spinet piano in a West End apartment

that had a view across backyards with

Hills Hoists and mango trees, which

birthed the track ‘Quiet days in West

End’

• The inclusion of Romano Crivici

on piano was a deliberate choice to

add a new dimension to the trio’s

sound, after Gajić heard Crivici’s

playing on an album by Linsey

Pollak and felt it was a perfect fit.

• East of West is known for its

unique sound, blending Balkan and

Mediterranean influences with jazz

and contemporary classical elements.

• Each member of the ensemble

has an extensive background in

performance, composition, and

cross-genre collaboration, with

experience in both Australian and

International music scenes.

PRAISE FOR EAST OF WEST:

“Replete with storytelling and

imagery” - Sydney Morning Herald

“A powerhouse blend of the past and

the future. Our festival attendees were

gob-smacked”

- Tablelands Folk Festival

“Their technical virtuosity is evident,

but the intuitive interplay between

band members delivers a special touch

of magic”

- Rhythms Magazine

PRAISE FOR ROMANO CRIVICI:

“…from meditative ambience, through

deeply beautiful passages, to abrasive

improvisations which have an almost

heavy metal edge…consistently

imaginative and a very impressive

debut.”

- Rolling Stone

LINKS TO DISCOVER EAST OF

WEST

Website link

Here

Facebook link

Here

Spotify link

Here

Bandcamp link

Here

Instagram link

Here

Youtube link

Here

Email link

Here

| 46


SFM

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Z P

A A

C S

K S

I

started making music at 13 years old, not because

I wanted to — but because I had to. I was adopted

and a misfit even though my environment seemed

ideal on the outside, inside I was battling a war I

couldn’t name. I tried on different identities, different

paths, but nothing felt real — one night at my uncle’s

house I heard “Hunger Strike” by Temple of the Dog.

Something in me woke up. For the first time, I felt alive.

I felt seen.

That moment opened the floodgates. Janis Joplin,

Nirvana, Neil Young, NiN, Deftones, CCR, Marilyn

Manson — their pain and power became my language.

Music became my mirror, my escape, and my therapy. It

told me I wasn’t alone. I wrote my first song, ‘Down by

the River,’ after a suicide attempt at 13. When I sang it for

my family, they smiled but didn’t really hear the message

I was trying to convey or tell. That’s when I realized how

often we just don’t listen — not really.

Through the years, I played in bands that spanned punk,

metal, rock, and folk. I chased music because it was the

only way that I could feel something other than pain. The

lyrics told my story, and my guitar painted the color and

picture. But my demons never left. I battled addiction

that nearly took everything. Addiction is the killer of

| 48

dreams and hope, it almost took everything. That loss

forced me to stop trying to fix the moment and start

healing my tomorrow’s.

I founded ‘Messengers of the Voiceless’ to use music to

aid in my recovery. We had momentum, some success,

but like many bands, it faded but I couldn’t let go. I

poured myself into helping others: working in recovery,

speaking in schools, supported displaced people, and

developing music therapy programs now used in

treatment centers. Watching people heal through music

was one of my proudest achievements.

Now, I’m telling my story. The real one — raw, unfiltered,

and unapologetic. My songs are not just music. They

are my confessions, scars, and the story of my survival.

Songs like ‘Wasted Youth’ and ‘Lost and Found’ are my

soul speaking truths that I couldn’t say out loud. That’s

why I say “I can only sing the words I cannot speak”

This isn’t about fame. This is about reaching the broken,

the lost, the unheard. I want them to know: you are not

alone and you can make it out. I do care and I will listen.

Tik Tok video link here

Zack Pass Spotify link here


Zack Pass


49 |

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MAGAZINE

OzManouche Festival 2025

20th Anniversary Edition

September 25–28

Brisbane Jazz Club, Kangaroo Point

www.ozmanouche.com

Tickets via Brisbane Jazz Club

Australia’s Premier Gypsy Jazz Festival Turns

20

| 50


OzManouche Festival 2025

OzManouche Festival, Australia’s

original celebration of Django

Reinhardt and the rich tradition

of gypsy jazz, returns for its

landmark 20th anniversary from

September 25–28 at the Brisbane

Jazz Club. This milestone edition

promises four days of world-class

performances, workshops, and

community events on the banks of

the Brisbane River.

For two decades, OzManouche

has championed swing,

spontaneity, and community.

In 2025, the festival continues

that legacy with a dynamic

lineup of headline acts, exciting

collaborations, and opportunities

for fans and musicians alike to

immerse themselves in the gypsy

jazz tradition.

HEADLINE PERFORMANCES

Hank Marvin Gypsy Jazz

Friday 26 & Sunday 28 September

Guitar icon Hank Marvin

(The Shadows) returns to the

OzManouche stage with his

celebrated gypsy jazz quartet,

joined by accordionist Nunzio

Mondia and rhythm guitarist Gary

Taylor. Expect explosive Django

tributes, signature Shadows tunes,

and high-energy swing.

FEATURED ARTISTS

Noria & The Parisians

French-born chanteuse Noria

returns with her stylish blend

of chanson and swing, backed

by an all-star rhythm section:

Adam Russo and Cameron Jones

(guitars), Tom Flenady (bass), and

special guest violinist Dominic

Rado, making his festival debut.

TRIPLE FIDDLE FIESTA:

CHARLIE MCCARTHY

Following the 2023 success of

his Twin Fiddle Project, Charlie

McCarthy elevates the concept

with a dazzling three-violin

showcase. Featuring Marcus

Holden and Phoebe Haselden

and supported by Rick Caskey

and David Squires, this unique

performance promises passion,

interplay, and Django-inspired

fire.

FESTIVAL HOST & JAM

LEADER: IAN DATE

Long-time patron and jazz

guitarist Ian Date returns as

festival MC, leading the closing

jam sessions each night. Expect

surprises, collaborations, and

spontaneous swing.

RIVER DECK STAGE:

COMMUNITY & EMERGING

ARTISTS

Inspired by the famed Luthier’s

Stage at France’s Festival Django

Reinhardt, the River Deck Stage

spotlights rising talents and local

ensembles in an open-air acoustic

setting beside the Brisbane River.

FEATURED PERFORMERS

INCLUDE:

OPENING NIGHT JAM hosted

by Sam Cooke (Djangonui) –

open to all skill levels

TAZZMANIA JAM with Charlie

McCarthy

SYDNEY GYPSIES

HOT CLUB OF HOBART

featuring Rick Caskey – festival

debut

EDUCATIONAL WORKSHOPS

OzManouche continues its

commitment to musical education

with practical workshops led by

top Australian gypsy jazz artists.

All instruments and skill levels

welcome.

THE ART OF SPONTANEITY

– Improvisation for Every Player

with Charlie McCarthy

RHYTHM FOR BOWED

STRINGS with Charlie McCarthy

GUITAR SOLOING

STRATEGIES with Richard

Ashby

THE ART OF THE GYPSY JAZZ

RHYTHM SECTION with Adam

Russo & Tom Flenady

Workshop times and registration

are available at www.ozmanouche.

com.

TICKETS & FULL PROGRAM

Artist bios, schedules, and

ticketing are now available online:

www.ozmanouche.com

Join us to celebrate 20 years of

swing, soul, and shared musical

joy. OzManouche 2025: where

Django’s spirit lives on.


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Ned

Swarbrick

“If he sounds this good at sixteen, he’s got a great future in front of him… a

significant talent” - Roger Williams, Soft Folkus, Serenade Radio

My name is Ned Swarbrick. I’m a young

up-and-coming songwriter, singer

and guitarist from York. I write and

perform my own original folk music.

I recently played at the City of York Folk Weekend

at the Black Swan Folk Club in York. Here’s a video

of one of my songs - ‘Bright Young Things’ from the

Folk Weekend. I was playing with some friends from

the National Youth Folk Ensemble (NYFE):

Friday 12 Sept - Angel On The Green, York

Thursday 2 Oct - Black Swan Folk Club, York (The

Rattlers will also be playing)

Last October I released my debut 4-track EP

“Michelangelo” which gained a fair bit of radio play

and recognition across the UK, Europe and North

America.

https://youtu.

be/8S2ZOjBPKkA?si=L0sW2teKajuQiBMl

I also recently supported Butler, Blake & Grant at

the amazing Leeds City Varieties Music Hall.

https://nedswarbrick.com/live/butler-blake-grant/

I’ve got a couple of gigs coming up in September/

October 2025:

Spotify link to EP Michaelangelo here


Ned Swarbrick

Track Notes for Michaelangelo:

The Michelangelo EP offers a stripped back

insight into the creative world of young singer

and songwriter - Ned Swarbrick. With a style and

sound that has been likened to Nick Drake, his

songs are stories, backed with natural free flowing

fingerpicking and intimate vocals.

1. Michelangelo

Title track of debut EP and the first single of my solo

material and inspired by “The Love Song of J. Alfred

Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot. Stripped back and intimate,

a single vocal and guitar, with atmospherics added by

the ever talented Matthew Lilley.

2. Englishman in Moscow

Second track taken from the York University

recording session. Inspired by the 1914 oil painting

of the same name, by Russian avant-garde artist and

art theorist Kazimir Malevich.

3. Skomer

Skomer is a small island and nature reserve off

the coast of South West Wales. Although born

in Yorkshire, UK - Ned has a historical family

connection with the island.

4. Emperor’s New Clothes (live)

A live track recorded in the Sir Jack Lyons concert

hall at York University with the help of

friends and musicians from the National Youth Folk

Ensemble (NYFE) Matthew Lilley (Piano), Rowan

Ward (violin) and Isla Buchanan (flute).

Bonus Tracks recorded in the same live session as

“Emperor’s New Clothes” above.

5. Michelangelo (live)

5. Skomer (live)

5. Englishman in Moscow (live)

All tracks recorded in the Trevor Jones studio,

University of York. Engineered and mixed by masters

student Hsuan-Yu Yeh (Sherry). Except, live tracks

recorded in the Sir Jack Lyons concert hall at York

University with help from Ade Barwick of Church

Lane Studios.


SFMM INTERVIEW WITH NED SWARBRICK

SFMM Ned, can you tell me a little about yourself

please?

Ned “I’m a songwriter, singer and guitarist from

York. It was my birthday back in July, so I’ve

just turned 17.”

“I’d say I write songs that are mainly rooted

in contemporary folk, inspired by the

likes of Nick Drake, Bert Jansch, Joni Mitchell

and John Martyn. I have a fondness for alternative

tunings, fingerpicking and intimate vocals. Much

of my songwriting is based around storytelling. I

do quite a bit of reading, both books and poetry, so

I tend to draw a lot inspiration from all that stuff,

reinterpreting and re-telling stories.”

“Growing up and living in York is great. It’s small

for a city and you kind of get the impression that

everybody knows each other. The local music scene

is a bit the same, small but generally pretty friendly

and supportive. There’s some great venues and

promoters of live music in the city, loads of pubs and

open-mic nights and opportunities to busk to all the

tourists. It’s a great place to cut your teeth.

SFMM How did your interest in folk music begin?

Ned “I think I’ve always been into music. The

first album (CD) I owned was by Jake Bugg, I was

pretty young, maybe 6 years old. It wasn’t anything

like what you’d call traditional folk, as it cut across

genres, but there were elements of it in there. It was

indie music on acoustic guitars, I used to listen to it

all the time. I think the songwriting is brilliant.”

“I first picked up a guitar when I was about 9 years

old. My aunt gave me a 3/4 size acoustic and I learn’t

to play ‘Let it be’ from an old 60’s songbook we had

lying around. I’d pick it up every now and again,

but there was never any pressure to take lessons or

anything.”

“I upgraded to a full-size acoustic when I was about

12 - I got a secondhand Sigma DMR-28H as my

Christmas present, it was bigger than me at the time,

but I was assured I’d grow into it - I think I finally

may have done. I still play it all the time, it’s a lovely

guitar. It’s a bit like a Martin D-28, though I haven’t

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yet had the pleasure of playing one of them. I now

also have another Sigma, a 000M-15 that I tend to

use when using different tunings.”

“I’ve been writing songs now for the past four or five

years. However, I started writing what you could

describe as more folk-like songs a couple of years

ago, when I was about 15. That’s when I recorded

the ‘Michelangelo’ EP. My mum and dad have

always been fans of CSN, Joni Mitchell, The Byrds,

The Band etc. so that late 60’s early 70’s vibe could

always be found in the house or car. So there’s always

been a strong connection to folk music, but probably

not in the traditional sense.”

SFMM Do you have any particular musical

influences?

Ned “Having grown up in a house full of music,

I think my influences are probably pretty broad. I

started my first band aged 13. It was a rather rowdy

affair called The Corsairs inspired by 90’s indie

such as The Kooks and The Libertines. That lasted

a couple of years, however by the end of it I was

starting to pull in a different direction, taking more

cues from bands like Belle & Sebastian and writing

more acoustic-based songs. I still sometimes drop

some of those songs into the set when play live

depending on the venue and audience.”

“I was given a book about the life of Nick Drake, so

I took a bit of a deep-dive into his music and loved

it. It was coming up to the 50th anniversary of his

death, so I think he was also in the news a fair bit. I

started listening to a lot of other music from around

that period, artists such as John Martyn and Bert

Jansch. So emulating that sound and writing style

just seemed to come naturally.”

“But I think it’s something that’s always evolving.

The songs I wrote a year ago are different to those I

write now, and who knows what I’ll be writing a year

from now - it’s all part of the journey I suppose.”

“I don’t always look to the past for inspiration,

there’s so much great new music around just waiting

to be discovered. To be honest, I love all kinds of

music and draw influences from many different

genres. I’m lucky to have grown up in a house that’s

always been full of all kinds of music, I’m sure a lot

of it just rubs off on you.”

“I’m currently really enjoying Chris Brain - a fellow

| 54

Yorkshireman. I’ve followed him for a while now

on social media and saw him play in York earlier

this year supported by another brilliant York-born

musician, Marnie Glum. Someone else to look out

for is Sinead Una from Manchester, her music is just

lovely.”

SFMM If you could choose to meet a celebrity (dead

or alive) who would you choose to meet?

Ned “I’ve had the honour of meeting some of my

favourite musicians already, such as Bernard Butler,

Stuart Murdoch and Norman Blake. I think it’s a

privilege to have the opportunity to do what I do,

and meet new people who are passionate about the

music.”

“Wider celebrities though, I’d love to meet Steve

Coogan. Aha!”

SFMM What is your best achievement to date?

Ned “Back in October 2024 I released my debut

EP “Michelangelo” and that happened to coincided

with a show supporting Bernard Butler on his UK

tour at the ‘Howard Assembly Room’ in Leeds. The

venue is and old Victorian building with a barrelvaulted

ceiling, it’s just beautiful and right in the

centre of town. I’d not played in Leeds before, so it

was extra special.

“I received lots of positive feedback after the

show and Bernard was really complementary

of my music. I also got a notable mention and

picture in the review of the show (https://www.

godisinthetvzine.co.uk/2024/10/20/live-bernardbutler-ned-swarbrick-howard-assembly-roomleeds-19-10-2024/)”

“It was probably my biggest show to date in terms

of capacity, although I have recently opened for

Butler, Blake & Grant at the equally amazing venue,

‘City Varieties Music Hall’, also in Leeds. I think

that venue has even more history, having Charlie

Chaplin perform there back in the day.”

“I absolutely love playing and performing live. If I’ve

written a new song that week or month, I’ll open the

set with it. There’s nothing better than the buzz of

playing something for the first time and measuring

the audience reaction. Over the last couple of years

I’ve played well over fifty shows with various bands/

line ups and had the pleasure of supporting some


Ned Swarbrick

great artists.

SFMM What is your favourite decade to listen to

music from?

Ned “This is really difficult, I think it’s impossible

for me to choose a single decade. That said, I have a

feeling that the 2030’s and 40’s are gonna be great for

music, I hope so anyway.”

SFMM What are your ambitions?

Ned “To be honest, I’ve not really thought that

far ahead. I’m mid way through doing my A-Levels

(English Lit, History and Politics for those that are

interested) and then I may go to university. If I do,

I’d want to go somewhere that’s got a decent music

scene.”

“I think I’ll always play music and perform whatever

I do in life. However, I’m realistic and I know the

music industry is ridiculously competitive, but these

days I think it’s easier than ever to go the DIY route,

forge your own path and make connections and

friends along the way.”

“I try not to pass up any opportunities to get my

music out there and perform. I was lucky enough

to support Bernard Butler in Leeds last year. The

fact that he asked me to play a date on his tour was

amazing - and all that from listening to a couple of

my songs I’d sent to him. We had a great chat before

the show about how he started his career and some

of the challenges of life as a professional musician…

(and the best type of crisps, but that’s another story).

At this stage, I’m just happy to be meeting people,

playing new venues, writing new songs and making

the most of what comes along.”

SFMM What is the most common question you’re

asked?

Ned “I think the question I’ve been asked more

than any other after shows I’ve played is…are you

related to Dave Swarbrick (Martin Carthy/Fairport

Convention etc). Well, to put that one to bed…

not as far as I know, not directly anyway. However,

Swarbrick is not a very common a surname so

somewhere lost in the mists of time there may be

some common ancestral link.

SFMM Thank you Ned for taking the time to tell

us all about yourself. I wish you continued success

in your musical career, and if any readers see Ned

Swarbrick’s name on a performance near to you, do

please seek him out and support him. He’s definitely

a young musician who’s going places.

Here are some links to Ned’s social media etc for you

all to check out.

https://nedswarbrick.com/

https://www.instagram.com/nedswarbrick/

https://www.youtube.com/@NedSwarbrick

https://open.spotify.com/

artist/1Vo9o0HG8wi3URr39Mimn2

“However, it would be nice to record an album at

Abbey Road with full orchestral treatment, and

then play it live at the Albert Hall, is that asking too

much?”

SFMM What is the one song you wish you had

written?

Ned “Anything from The La’s album. I’d give

myself a pat on the back for writing any of these

songs. ‘Feelin’ is just perfectly formed in my opinion

and only 1 minute and 44 seconds long. Lee Mavers

is one of a kind. I love that Liverpool sound and

passion.


55 |

SFM

MAGAZINE

The mission of the KelticDead Music initiative is to find tunes and songs from around the world that have Celtic,

Folk, World, Americana, and Seafaring origins, and arrange them into simple sheet music formats for folk musicians

to use, as well as provide links for the music that follows the arrangements to help in hearing how it can be played. In

addition, other links are provided for the stories and possible lyrics about the selections within video-based, KDM

Broadsides for a music-education experience.

All the selections and sheet music content provided in the KelticDead Music initiative are from traditional, madepublic,

made-public with credits, or cited credits where applicable. This material content is given with permissions.

Patrick O. Young, KelticDead Music.

Shady Grove

Shady Grove is an American, Appalachian song that

is based upon a Scots ballad called “Barbara Allan.”

The melody used in “Shady Grove” is based upon

the tune from “Mattie Groves.”

In the English ballad Barbara Allan was a beautiful,

but jealous woman, and she loved a man or a prince

named William. In the older ballad, Barbara and

William were in some type of public place, and

William was drinking a bit too much. He stupidly gave

a toast to some ladies which enraged Barbara, and

she left him there to return home in a distant place.

Made public print from a

book of ballads from

Scotland.

In the ballad, we gather that this rift lasted for quite

some time, but it was also evident that William loved

Barbara intensely. For whatever reason in this period

of separation William became ill, and he was dying.

He called for Barbara to his death bed, and though

Barbara came, she somehow thought that William

had simply contrived the illness to regain her favor.

While she loved William, she hardened her feelings and was cruel to him. She

walked away intending to leave him again, but when she heard the death knell, she

realized that William had passed away. This was the moment she was overcome

with grief, and she returned to his side promising that she too would die, so that they

could be together in the afterlife.

| 56

Shady Grove

Name

The title of “Shady Grove” also gives hints as to what the song itself is about. In

many ballads inherited out of the older Celtic cultures, the term, “shade” is a catch

word for a spirit, or something pertaining to death, or to the world beyond. The word

“Grove,” can allude to flower groves or gardens which are frequently found within

grave yards.

In addition, grave yards often had rose gardens within them, and this analogy was

also used in the ballad, “Barbara Allan,” for the relationship between Barbara and

William. As a note, the term was also used in the title of “Mattie Groves” where

death was the ultimate theme in that ballad as well.

Like Mattie Groves, the melody in

Shady Grove is lively, though the

theme of the song is somber. In the

Appalachian version, it is the girl who

dies first, and the young man follows

her to marry her in the afterlife.

This sentiment with the expression,

“I’m bound to go away” is used in

each chorus and refers to the

commitment the singer has in being

with his love in the afterlife.

There have been many versions of the

lyrics for Shady Grove. The version

that is used in the KDM project was

very popular with rural folk (Old Time

Music) in the late 1800s and

continuing into the1960s and 70s.

Made public stock image

Appalachian folk also infused a lot of their

Scots-Irish culture within their music as well,

and adapted musical instruments from

around the world that have become unique

to the Appalachian cultures. The Low-octave

mandolin, for example, was often referred to

as an “Appalachian Harp.” It is also referred

to as a “Low-Octave Bouzouki” which is

similar to the Greek made bouzouki.

The “Mountain Dulcimer” was a similar 2-4

stringed instrument that is played on the lap

or on a table, and another 4 to 5 stringed

instrument was adopted from Africa as the

“Banjo.”

57 |

SFM

MAGAZINE

Shady Grove

KDM Traditional Lyrics chosen for

music project arrangement …

Shady Grove, my little love,

Shady Grove, I say.

Shady Grove, my sweet dove,

I’m bound to go away.

Cheeks are red as a bloomin’ rose

Eyes a pretty brown.

A Darlin’ girl who won my heart.

The Sweetest girl in town.

Peaches in the summertime;

Apples in the fall.

If I can’t have little Shady Grove,

I don’t want none at all.

Chorus

When I was a little boy,

I wanted a Barlow knife.

Now all I want is Shady Grove

To say she’ll be my wife.

A sweet kiss from Shady Grove

Is sweet as Brandy Wine

There ain’t no girl in this old world

As pretty and sweet as mine.

Chorus

Went to see my Shady Grove

A standin’ in the door

With shoes and stockin’s in her hand;

Her bare feet on the floor.

Understanding some of the history and

the sort of people who sang the tune,

helps in not only singing it, but also in

playing it.

Many of the settlers in the Appalachian

regions of the United States went

there after being forced out of

Scotland and Ireland after the

“Jacobite Wars” in the 1700s. The

Jacobite rebels tried to re-instate the

Catholic presence for all of Great

Britain for an heir to the English throne

that came from the Stuart line from

Mary, Queen of Scots, rather than

from out of the Tutor line from King

Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I

who favored Protestants within the

Church of England. The Jacobines lost

the wars, and after the wars, anyone

who even hinted at being a Jacobite

was either put to death or exiled. The

“Highlander” way of life essentially

ended for a time in Scotland.

Appalachian folk are extremely proud

of their historical roots, and they are

resilient. During the American

Revolution, the British forces would

give a wide berth in fighting these

residents, because the Appalachian

folk would fight to the death, knowing

they would have no quarter with the

British if captured.

Some come here to fiddle and dance.

Some come here to tarry.

Some come here to fiddle and dance,

But I came here to marry.

Chorus

The reference to a “Barlow Knife,” for

example, is about a particular kind of

pocket knife developed in the late

1600s and is still used today.

A “Barlow” knife has one or two blades,

a huge metal bolster, and a comfortable

tear-drop shaped handle. The blade or

blades are attached at the small end of

the handle, and the first Barlow knife

was made in Sheffield England by

Obadiah Barlow. Obadiah’s grandson,

John Barlow, joined the business

around 1745 and began to export the

Barlow knives to America.

Shady Grove

In the lyrics when the singer visits his

girl, she’s standing in the doorway with

her shoes and stockings in her hand,

and her bare feet are on the floor.

Some believe this may indicate that

when he finds her, she is already dead.

In most cases the tune and song has

an upbeat feeling about it, as a man

who is going to join his love and get

married to the most beautiful girl he

knows.

Made public stock image. Ghostly view of a

girl ghost or shade in the forest.

KelticDead Music

is a private, free, on-line music-education initiative. All the

music projects are recorded with live, acoustic instruments

and performed in accordance with simplified sheet music

arranged in eight bar formats (whenever possible) in

accordance with the guidelines that are part of the Celtic

music traditions.

Visit other KDM selections at

http://www.KelticDead.com

“Shaun,

That KelticDead Guy”

Patrick O. Young,

KelticDead Music

SFM

MAGAZINE

Shady Grove

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8vRP2lWXZM

All the tunes and songs played within the KelticDead Music projects are done with live,

acoustic instruments, and the musicians who participate follow this sheet music to create the

audio for the project that can be seen and heard in the YouTube link.


aaa

To date (31/08/25)

The Yumpu confirmed

reads for each issue:

Issue 1 - 80,032

Issue 2 - 67,473

Issue 3 - 50,439

Issue 4 - 39,573

Issue 5 - 26,883

Issue 6 - 14,717

Total reads since 1st

September 2024 -

••• 279,117 •••


SFM

MAGAZINE

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63 |

SFM

MAGAZINE

DALI LEE

“Seven Year Itch”

Album

Yeah, my latest album - “Seven Year Itch”.

Over the last seven years, well eight years

really, I have had quite a hard time with

my life, a toxic relationship, isolation, not

connecting with family, lost my relationship with my

kids and all that mallarky.

I put this album together to help me to find peace,

also to make my audience happy. Each song I wrote

is a stage of my own depression. Alcohol abuse, drug

abuse, and feeling lost. To get to the point, I’ve gigged

and played guitar only over the last five Month. I’ve got

my life back together. A new start. Igniting the fire and

the passion I have in the Jar family.

It’s better for me at the moment to be a solo artist rather

than being in a band, micro managed or controlled in

any way, although I do miss the lads and the good times

we used to have.

I had to leave the band, I couldn’t risk having another

relationship break down and the stress associated with

it. It was a relief to be fair, to have my life back. A brand

new start, if only I’d known that sooner.

The only thing that I miss is that everything was done

for us, gigs, hotels, tour bus. It was great what we had,

we just had a laugh everywhere we went, and it was

contagious and electric connecting with people all over

the county. There were good times, there are great

memories, but now I am just recreating that in my solo

performances and music.

I always say I am better live than recorded, or on a

media device. I am vain. When I’m performing live

something takes over me, and I’m in a different place.

I feel it it comes from the ground up, and it’s just

amazing because it captures and engrosses an audience.

I have performed a few gigs over the past eight years,

but my mind frame was wrong. I was angry, depressed,

frustrated, and those emotions showed in the music I

performed. Now that I have full control of my life I’ve


Dali Lee

found a freedom I have never had before, and it feels

good. My life is flying, the album the pub crawl tour,

everything about my mental and physical state has

zoomed me back to me when I was twenty five.

I am now doing this tour which is all Free entry to get

the live experience and fast paced life back. Well, this

time I control it, what gig and where, and also it’s not

just about stopping doing something you love and are

great at, it’s the people I influence, I can make them

laugh, cry, connect, it’s just, well, indescribable.

Nowerdays it’s so easy to get the music out there. I’m

gonna flood iTunes, and Spotify with track after track iI

takes me in average thirty minutes to write a song and

I make my own videos. All with an iPhone and the old

school corded apple head phones. It sounds just like a

studio and yet it costs nothing.

even down to the art work, my good mate and a great

musician also a great artist sketched it for me and I fell

in love with it. He used his own ideas and input. I just

said “this it what it’s called, you do your thing “ and it

never cost a penny.

My vision now is to give young or old, beginners or

advanced musicians I come across or hear, to do all I

can for them, offering guidance and advice. I just love

to help people and do good, so I’m focusing on not only

gigging the album, but also writing a 2nd one. I have

three or four track already, and I’m just doing all I can

to keep live music alive and kicking, and making folk

happy, or emotionally connected to my music.

I played with the Jar family for nine years, and having

Keith Wilkinsons’ Influence and expertise helped us

Immensely. He was our Yoda. It shows now in my song

writing and my experience gigging and performance.

In a band you’ve got your band members to bounce off

and buzz off, and maybe to co-write, whereas solo you

only have the audience to bounce off of. The better the

Audience the better the preformance. It’s like an energy

that grips the room and creates a euphoric feeling for

all In the room, like it used to with the Jar family.

The recording, I just thought no studios messing

around with the song as it was in the past. My lyrics are

raw, and yeah, if I want to say something then I do, I’m

just like The Frankie Boyle of the music industry lol...

Nah, not that bad!!

Struggling both mentally and physically I started

writing again and playing. The main way I sort of cured

myself was climbing. I’d have my sin on weekends,

and go across to the lakes, camping, and then Monday

morning I’d just go solo camping. I did Scafell,

Snowdon and lots of other peaks including Ben Nevis.

I want the weather to be good so comeon sunshine,

then the songs started to flow. I did a few open mics

in Hartlepool and re-lit the furnace, and here we are.

My life was a constant battle with kids and a sort of

bi- polar partner, one minuite on a high the next on a

low, fighting for something that was gonna never be the

whole. Then uprising and finding myself again, and the

response of fans is overwhelming, even my family and

kids are so happy to have me back and my self again.

It’s been unbelievable the response I’ve had, and people

commenting and downloading the album “Seven

Year Itch”, and wanting me to play here and there,

SEVEN YEAR ITCH

TRACK LIST

1. Two To Tango

2. Try My Best

3. King

4. The Remedy

5. Live Of The Land

6. Sweet As Sugar

7. Keeping Well Away

8. Doormat

9. Tread Cold Water

10. Tomorrow

11. Talk Is Cheap

12. Love Is Dead

Link to album on Spotify here

Link to Facebook page here


65 |

SFM

MAGAZINE

GITTA DE RIDDER

“N(i)e(u)w Land”

Album

Acclaimed Dutch folk artist Gitta de

Ridder has released her fourth studio

album, N(i)e(u)w Land, on June 20th via

her independent label “Little Memories”.

Marking an evolution in her sound and style,

the album weaves poetic storytelling with gentle

electronic textures and pop-infused folk, all while

holding tight to the honesty and warmth that have

defined her artistry to date.

Created in the midst of profound life changes -

becoming a mother, grieving the passing of her

father, and navigating a world in the aftermath

of lockdown - ‘N(i)e(u)w Land’ is a deeply

introspective and healing body of work.

Recorded in her home studio between feeds and first

steps, it reflects both the fragility and resilience of

life. “The songs speak of longing, of hope, of getting

in touch with all of ourselves; our scars, our hurt, our

joy and our playfulness,” says Gitta. “The light and the

dark. The duality of life.”

While previous records were self-produced, acoustic

and more traditionally folk, a new collaboration with

Jonatan Bäckelie as producer sees Gitta skillfully

crossing the boundaries from modern folk and new

acoustics to pop while maintaining a distinctive

and recognisable sound, where poetic lyrics meet

the honesty and rawness of folk music, she adds

a lightness and pop edge without losing sight of

meaning and authenticity.

This is the first time Gitta has worked with an

outside producer, collaborating with Swedish

musician Jonatan Bäckelie. “I’d been searching for

someone who could understand and expand my

| 66 66 janeshieldsmedia@gmail.com

Gitta de Ridder

vision,” she shares. “Working with Jonatan—whom I

met during a songwriting course in the pandemic—

was like finding a creative soulmate. There was

instant trust and a shared language that made this

album such a joyful process, even in a time that was

emotionally tough.”

The album’s lead single, “Dear Memories,” is a

poignant centrepiece and inspiration for the album’s

bilingual title—a nod to Gitta’s journey from the

“new lands” of the Netherlands (Flevoland) to her

adopted home in the UK.

“It’s a song written in the wake of losing my dad, about

how memories become our most precious possessions

when we can no longer create new ones.”

CREDITS:

Guitars, vocals, backing vocals: Gitta De Ridder

Additional instruments: Jonatan Bäckelie

Production and mixing: Jonatan Bäckelie

Mastering: Eric James at ‘Philosophers Barn

Mastering’

Link to website here

Link to Instagram here

Link to X here

Link to Youtube here

Link to Facebook here

Bandcamp link to N(i)e(u)w Land album here

Each track on ‘N(i)e(u)w Land’ dives deep into

themes of loss, love, vulnerability, and the quiet

strength of everyday life.

“High Hopes” reflects on resilience and holding

onto beauty in life’s simple moments, inspired by

philosophical conversations with German singersongwriter

Ulrich Zehfuss.

“Hollow” explores the vulnerability of motherhood,

while “Tough Loving” and “All of Everything” focus

on self-acceptance and the complexity of our inner

emotional worlds.

“Heroes for a Day” celebrates the return to

playfulness and wonder, honouring the joy found in

the small rituals of love.

The first single, “Tiny” gives voice to the quiet

longing for a child during years of uncertainty and

waiting.

The album closes with “Shine Sun Shine”, a radiant

and comforting song that gently builds from a voice

memo into a full arrangement.

With comparisons drawn to Joni Mitchell and

Nick Drake, Gitta de Ridder continues to enchant

listeners with her emotive vocals and lyrical depth.

‘N(i)e(u)w Land’ is a vulnerable and empowering

companion for life’s emotional journeys, showing

how music can be both mirror and balm.


67 |

SFM

MAGAZINE

NICOLA MADILL

“The Night Is Long”

EP

Emerging from the shadows of Scotland’s east coast, Nicola Madill has

become known for her atmospheric and emotionally rich songwriting.

With the launch of a new album, recent

EP and a full UK tour supporting

Martin Stephenson in 2025, Nicola

Madill is ready to share her music

with a wider audience.

Described as “hauntingly beautiful” by Gary Clark

(Danny Wilson) and “spellbinding” by Roddy Hart

(BBC Radio Scotland), Nicola’s music blends soulstirring

melodies with lyrical depth, conjuring a

soundscape that invites a deeper listen and evokes a

sense of timelessness and otherworldly grace.

Nicola’s 2017 album “Selene” was spotlighted as

Record of Note on ‘The Roddy Hart Show’ (BBC

Scotland) earning critical praise for its mesmerising

sound and Nicola’s live performances have been

described by Derrick Johnston (MTAT Records)

as “sublime, refined and atmospheric with a dark

gothic heart from one of the east coast’s most engaging

emergent singer/songwriters.”

Nicola’s new album Absentee, released on 24th June

2025, explores themes of archetypes, love, loss, and

transformation. With a sound that shifts between

light and shadow, the album features seven songs,

each telling a powerful story. Nicola’s voice — both

earthy and ethereal — carries each musical tale with

potent intensity, drawing the listener into a world

where beauty and darkness sit side by side, and

meaning is found in the in-between.

Taking cues from Kate Bush’s dreamlike storytelling,

Joni Mitchell’s lyrical honesty, and Radiohead’s

moody textures, Nicola’s work is steeped in imagery

and symbolism. Tarot, folklore, and the metaphysical

often weave through her lyrics, creating something

that feels both intimate and expansive.

| 68


Nicola Madill

Her songs speak to those drawn to the introspective,

the mysterious, and the emotionally raw, offering a

sound that lingers long after the last note fades.

“THE NIGHT IS LONG” EP

Track List

1. She Lets Go 04:47

2. Winter Solstice 04:11

3. The Hanged Man 04:46

4. Rise Up 03:58

All songs written, arranged and performed by

Nicola Madill.

Recorded at Tolbooth, Stirling.

Engineered, mixed and mastered by Mark Lough.

Photography by Dave Jack & John Fairfield.

Artwork by John Fairfield.

CODY_BOI-AUBIN - “I’m amazed this isn’t more

popular. Nicola Madill’s songs have a certain flow and

cadence that just taps into your body and mind. Absolutely

incredible music that deserves so much love <3

Favorite track: She Lets Go.”

Bandcamp link to EP here

BANDCAMP LINK HERE

WEBSITE LINK HERE

INSTAGRAM LINK HERE

FACEBOOK LINK HERE


69 |

SFM

MAGAZINE

Jocelyn Pettit

Ellen Gira

Review Of Concert

CONCERT REVIEW, HARTLEPOOL, ST GEORGES CHURCH

17TH MAY 2025

Reviewed by Bob Mulvey

It had been slightly longer than I remembered

since I last visited St George’s in Hartlepool,

and on that occasion it was to see the superb

Dave Bainbridge & Sally Minnear in concert.

A great evening of music and one made all the more

enjoyable by warm and friendly atmosphere from

all at St George’s. Once again a welcoming night, so

before moving on to this evening’s concert I must

applaud Paul Rodgers and ‘team’ for their varied

programme of live events, attracting performers

from around the world.

Tonight’s concert will attest to this as Jocelyn Pettit

hails from the west coast of British Columbia, Ellen

Gira is from Maryland and their accompanying

guitarist for the evening, Miguel Girão, was born

in Portugal. Jocelyn and Ellen joined forces in

Glasgow circa 2018 to form a recording and touring

partnership. I have to confess until a few weeks

prior to the concert I knew nothing about Jocelyn

Pettit & Ellen Gira, however a visit to Bandcamp

| 70

revealed they had released a three singles, one

album entitled ‘All It Brings’ (2022) and a new

album ‘Here To Stay’ scheduled for the beginning of

July 2025. In the time leading up to tonight’s concert

therefore I had chance to familiarize myself with

their music and sound. And it was the sound that

immediately resonated with me as it had ‘flavours’

similar to Mads Tolling (violin) and Joseph Hebert

(cello) work with Oakland (CA) composer Mark

Vickness.

The concert opened with a tune entitled ‘Bellechase’

which, having purchased the new album at the

end of the show, I later discovered is taken from

their forthcoming release. A lively piece, which

the album’s sleeve notes reveal, combines three

Québécois tunes performed in ‘reel’ style. ‘Powder

Room’ followed and a more familiar track as it

appears on their previous album. As with the nature

of their music, many of the tunes played on the

evening are made up from more than on piece,


Concert Review

something Jocelyn and Ellen explained as they

introduced each and every piece, giving a welcome

insight to music. We stayed with their debut album

for ‘Across The Western Ocean’ and the first ‘song’

of the evening. Adding to their already impressive

bows were the sweetest of voices, the blend of which

was excellent and the harmonies, well harmonious,

enriched here by a third part from Miguel.

Two unfamiliar pieces followed, the sparkling

‘Rothiemurchus’ and ‘Midnight’ both tunes split

into two parts. Now it’s at this point I found myself

drawn further into the music and paying far greater

attention to the fluid, interweaving parts. The jaunty

nature of the tunes perhaps belying the intricacies

of the combined parts. It also became very apparent

that I was witnessing a rather special concert and

one that was delivered with charm and passion.

Adding further to the enjoyment was the sound

which was crystal clear and resonant, especially

the lower notes of Ellen’s cello. Perhaps the

cherry on top of the cake came from the church’s

natural acoustics which offered the perfect level of

reverberation. We remain in unchartered waters for

‘Return’, and it is a testament to the music, especially

as it is now a nearly a week since I attended the

concert, just how vividly the pieces have stuck in

my mind. ‘Return’ opened with plucked harmonics,

haunting violin, and that deep resonant bass.

Equally engaging was the buoyant ‘Going Home’,

written by Ellen and takes it’s inspiration from her

return to Maryland from Glasgow. Again the blend

of voices and intricate string parts were simply

magical.

As the first set draws to a close I’m mindful of how

little I’ve mentioned of acoustic guitarist Miguel

Girão, who sat intently during the tracks he didn’t

perform on, but his input on the tracks he did gave

the music another dimension, whether that be in the

form of delicate fingerstyle picking or the addition

of more driving rhythmic parts. An ideal setting

therefore for the closing tune, ‘Last Train To

Glasgow’, which, as the title suggests, portrays the

eventful and varied journey.

The interval, time to wonder around the church

and grab a coffee, or something slightly stronger

for those not driving, and reflect on the music thus

far. My thoughts focussed on the diverse nature of

influences which perhaps initially centred around

Scottish and Irish Celtic music, but equally drawn

from their homelands of America and Canada,

along with a distinct Scandinavian lilt at times.

After a short break we were once again greeted by

the ever smiling faces of Jocelyn and Ellen as the

trio launched into the lively ‘Road Trip To Cape

Breton’, again a new track. I mentioned earlier that

many of the tunes performed were made up of

more than one piece, however something I later

found curious was that quite often these would

combine traditional tunes and those written by

either Jocelyn, Ellen or both. Something we came

across during ‘Passport To Mettabee’ and although

the transition between sections may be distinct they

seemed perfectly natural to me.

The music continued to reveal its charm and by

this point I was totally absorbed. The stunning

‘Glad Farewell’ was followed by the one tune I had

heard prior to discovering Jocelyn and Ellen, the

Appalachian fiddle tune ‘Cumberland Gap’, which

my late father had a version of on a compilation

album. Miguel’s wonderfully understated guitar

opened ‘Arising’ as it did for the sublime ‘Catherine’s

Waltz’, a tune dedicated to Ellen’s grandmother and a

heartfelt and touching moment during the evening’s

performance.

Sadly the evening was drawing to a close with the

trio leaving us with the three part (if I’ve got it right)

‘Atholl Brose’ – a rousing foot-tapping finale. Of

course they were never going to get away that easily

and as they took their final bows, Paul Rodgers

‘insisted’ we hear more. Which they duly obliged.

Perhaps fittingly for me the encore was my initial

introduction to their music, ‘Fluer Reels’. Great

music delivered with warmth, passion and smiles –

if you get chance to catch one of their shows (there

are a few UK dates left on the current tour) then I

wholeheartedly recommend you do.

Images courtesy of Gerald Olive

Article written by Bob Mulvey


71 |

SFM

MAGAZINE

RUMB-

ARISTAS

WEBSITE

PAULINE

MAUDY

WEBSITE

RUMB-

ARISTAS

YOU-

TUBE

RUMBARISTAS

Featuring

PAULINE

MAUDY

PAULINE

MAUDY

YOU-

TUBE

Brisbane singer/songwriter Pauline Maudy leads collaborations across the

seas with new international single with Spanish/Belgian band Rumbaristas

‘Sin Tu Calor’ is a brand new single by

Rumbaristas featuring French-Australian singer

Pauline Maudy, who is known from her band

MZAZA, her solo work, and intensively touring

projects, particularly in Europe and Australia.

In 2024, Pauline received the Brisbane City Council

Lord Mayor’s Creative Fellowship to travel to

Belgium to perform with 15-piece band L’Orchestre

International du Vetex. It was there that she

connected with Rumbaristas to spontaneously

write and record the song ‘Sin Tu Calor’ and

began a special collaboration that continues

across hemispheres. ‘Sin Tu Calor’ (‘Without your

Warmth’) is a tongue-in-cheek, post-breakup duet

in English and Spanish between Pauline Maudy

and Rumbaristas singer and guitarist Willy

Fuego. A true international collaboration across

3 continents and 5 countries, ‘Sin Tu Calor’ was

composed in Spain and Belgium, recorded by Roel

| 72

Poriau at Porino Studios in Belgium, produced by

Sergio Mendoza (Calexico, Orkesta Mendoza) and

mastered by JJ Golden (Sharon Jones, Neko Case)

in the US. The music video was directed by Ricard

Tejada Giralt and filmed in Antwerp (Belgium) and

Stanthorpe (Australia).

Born in France to French and Spanish/Moroccan

parents, Pauline Maudy arrived in Australia at age

13. Her songs in French and English have been

widely recognised through awards such as the

Australian Folk Music Artist of the Year Award

(2023), the Lord Mayor’s Fellowship (2024), and

Queensland Music Awards for Best Song (World) in

2015, 2016 and 2021.

Her most recent album with six-piece MZAZA,

‘The Birth and Death of Stars’, was finalist in the

Australian Folk Music Awards (Best Contemporary

Folk Music Album), and was described by Songlines


Rumbaristas Featuring Pauline Maudy

Magazine as “a supernova of an album”, and as

having an aesthetic that recalls the free-spirited

romanticism of Lhasa de Sela or the redoubtable

France-based collective Lo’Jo. It featured in the

Transglobal World Music charts for two months.

Pauline is preparing to record her first solo album,

due for release in 2026.

Pauline sings in a multitude of languages and

collaborates across genres with artists such

as Balkan/Latin/Punk 15-piece L’Orchestre

International du Vetex (BE/FRA), contemporary

classical composer Robert Davidson (AU), guitarist

Anthony Garcia (AU), jazzwoman Lisa Liu (USA),

acclaimed lyricist Boris Bergman (FRA), Bosnian/

Australian composer Goran Gajic (AU), and

songwriter Paddy McHugh (AU). She has supported

Baba Zula (TUR), the Violent Femmes (USA), and

DJ Click (FR).

Rumbaristas is a collective of musicians with

Spanish, French and Belgian roots - gathered around

Catalan rumba-player Willy Fuego and French-

Italian-Polish composer Thomas Morzewski -

gathering an ever growing group of followers in the

international alternative world-music scene since its

inception in 2016. Their music is a well-balanced,

lively, and colourful mix of latin-american flavours

fueled by a passion for Balkan music, Catalan rumba

and Sicilian tarantelle (at times spiced up with a

touch of ska, reggae or cumbia).

‘Sin Tu Calor’ is the first single to propel the fourpiece

to Canada where they toured extensively in

July 2025.

RUMBARISTAS:

• Willy Fuego: guitars, vocals

• Don Tomasino: trumpets, vocals

• Tomas De Smet: bass guitar, vocals

• Roel Poriau: drums, vocals

• Credits for single ‘Sin Tu Calor’:

• Music & Lyrics: Rumbaristas, Willy Fuego,

Pauline Maudy

• Recorded by Roel Poriau at Studio Porino,

Antwerp, Belgium

• Produced by Rumbaristas & Sergio Mendoza

• Mixed by Sergio Mendoza, Tucson, AZ

• Mastered by JJ Golden

• Feat. Pauline Maudy: vocals

• Artwork: Alba Egea

• Video directed by Ricard Tejada Giralt

Link to SIN TU CALOR album here

TRACK LIST

1. La Vida Bella

2. No Llores (Don’t Cry Sister)

3. Malabares

4. Sin Tu Calor

5. Cumbia Currandera

6. Palanca

7. Mala Hierba

8. Que Lio - (Dunkelbunt) Remix

9. No Me Digas

10. El Pez


73 |

SFM

MAGAZINE

Website

Facebook

THE OLD CROW ROAD

“The Blackest Crow”

Instagram

BSKY Social

Bandcamp

Youtube

Apple

The Old Crow Road are a folk trio based in the East Riding of Yorkshire.

They specialise in atmospheric acoustic folk music - mainly traditional,

but sometimes contemporary - with the occasional splash of Americana.

The Old Crow Road are a captivating

folk trio hailing from the East Riding

of Yorkshire, whose arrangements,

musicianship and storytelling have swiftly

earned them a place on the UK folk scene.

Formed in the summer of 2024 by Rachel, Tracey,

and Rob, what began as a casual collaboration

between friends quickly transformed into something

much more. After a warmly received performance

at their local folk club — where they were invited to

perform a gig before Rob had even packed away his

guitar — it became clear there was an audience for

their sound.

Since that debut, The Old Crow Road have been in

growing demand, performing at folk clubs, intimate

venues, and festivals across Yorkshire. Their blend of

traditional and contemporary folk and atmospheric

arrangements make them a hit with audiences

seeking both authenticity and freshness in live

performance.

The band have released two well-received singles —

“Hares on the Mountain”

and

“When The Mountain Cries”

— both available on all major streaming platforms.

Youtube link here

Spotify link here

Bandcamp link here

Their music has gained airplay on BBC Introducing

and numerous folk radio shows across the country,

further cementing their reputation.

| 74


The Old Crow Road

RACHEL is a

passionate

folk singer

who creates

heartfelt

performances.

Growing up

in a family of

historical

re-enactors,

she was

immersed

in folk music

traditions

from an

early age. She began performing with historical

military bands and theatre groups, developing a deep

appreciation for the stories behind the music.

Rachel is also a Sacred Harp singer, and her

connection to history and tradition brings a genuine

and timeless quality to her performances.

Band and Steel Threads.

TRACEY is a

skilled and

versatile

musician,

with

experience

playing violin,

bass and

guitar. She

has performed

across Europe

and the UK,

including

with the

Steelyard

Blues

In 2014 Tracey had the opportunity to perform with

Nashvilles Tom Mason, bringing her musical talents

to audiences both in the UK and Norway.

THE BLACKEST CROW

Released June 13, 2025

Traditional. Arranged by

Evans-Haigh,

B eardsmore & Stot

for over a decade.

ROB’S

musical

journey is

rooted in

classical and

folk traditions

playing guitar

from a young

age. As a

founding

member of

Superscape

Rob remained

the sole

continuous

member

After Superscape he reignited his love for folk music,

adding mandolin and bouzouki and banjo to his

musical arsenal.

Together, they draw inspiration from folk traditions

and combine them with their own unique sounds to

create performances that they hope will resonate and

have a lasting impression.

UPCOMING GIG DETAILS:

Saturday 8th November Mojo’s Cafe, Scarborough

United Kingdom - Free entry.

WHEN THE

MOUNTAINS CRY

Rachel Evans-Haigh -

Vocals

Tracey Beardsmore -

Violin

Robert Stott -

Guitars & Mandolin

HARES ON THE

MOUNTAIN

Released May 16, 2025

Trad. Arranged by

Evans-Haigh,

Beardsmore,

Stott


75 |

SFM

MAGAZINE

North

Lincolnshire

Museum

Folk Round

Ere Facebook

Folking.com

Folk Round

Ere Instagram

Scunthorpe community group ‘Folk ‘Round ‘Ere recently completed

a project to celebrate the life of a local man who made a unique

contribution to English traditional music. This has culminated in the

release of a unique set of recordings of national importance to musicians,

folklore enthusiasts and historians.

Maurice Charles Ogg (Mo) was born

in1946. He worked as a joiner in

the rural communities around

Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire.

He died in 1980 but despite his short life, left an

indelible mark on the British folk scene and the

history of the area.

In the 70’s, Mo was approached by folklorist Roy

Palmer to record songs he’d collected from elderly

people in North Lincolnshire. He put these on a

cassette tape which made its way to the British

Library and from there to the online archives of the

Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. Many of the

songs were included in Palmer’s ‘Everyman’s Book of

English Country Songs’ which became a classic text

for folklorists and singers.

Mo also noted down his favourite tunes, which

he played on penny whistle and melodeon. His

notebooks included tunes he’d heard on his trips

around the area and to Ireland. He also collected

remnants of local Plough Plays and a Broom Dance,

accompanied by sketches of the costumes described

to him by those who remembered the plough boys

visiting their houses. From these recollections he

revived a traditional play which became known as

the Coleby Plough Jag. Mo wrote a comical song

“Sludger Tom” about the local trade of ‘ditching’ and

set the dialect poem “The Lincolnshire Shepherd” to

music, influencing his friend to nickname him ‘the

bard of Coleby’.

Mo was a regular at festivals where he met and

played with musicians from all over the UK. This

extended his fame beyond North Lincolnshire

and when he died, professional musician Alistair

Anderson, who introduced the first University

degree in folk music, wrote the “Air to Mo Ogg’ to

commemorate his life.

| 76


Folk Round ‘Ere

LOCAL SINGERS RELEASE AN

ALBUM OF MO’S SONGS

In collaboration with North Lincolnshire Museum,

who staged an exhibition of Mo’s life and works in

the Autumn, local folk artists have contributed to an

album of the songs and tunes that Mo discovered and

performed.

They drew on the archive recordings, along with the

memories of those who knew Mo and sang alongside

him. Each of the singers and musicians were given

a song or a tune and asked to perform it ‘how they

wanted it to sound’. Their approach to each track is

personal and their tribute to Mo. Some of the songs

incorporate Mo’s original introductions from the

archive recordings, all beautifully curated by Bob

Cuthbertson and Darryl Ebbatson at SmallCog

Music.

The album is dedicated to those singers who rarely

make it to the professional stage but constantly keep

folk music alive in towns, villages, pubs and clubs

across the UK.

It was launched at The Baths Hall, Scunthorpe on the

31stof July 2024 and a live performance took place

at the Whitby Folk Week on the 20th of August. This

featured a specially commissioned film of the Plough

Jag traditional play in its 50th year of touring the

North Lincolnshire villages and debut performances

by some of the contributors.

TRACK LIST

1. Mo Ogg - Intro By Mo 00:43

2. Dick Appleton - All For Me

Grub 04:53

3. Geoff Miller - Joe The Carter

Lad 03:27

4. John Baker - Sludger Tom

04:10

5. Dave Barlow - Mutton Pie

02:02

6. Julia Pollock - Mary Had A

Ploughboy 03:01


8. Geoff Miller - The Blin’ Mare

02:39

9. Dick Skinner - For Me 02:40

10. Geoff Convery - Oats And

Beans 01:12

11. Baths Hall Youth Theatre,

Scunthorpe - Oats And

Beans (Youth Theatre

Version) 01:03

12. Carillion - Home From The

Fair 02:39

13. Paul & Margaret Empson -

Lincolnshire Medley Of

Tunes 04:03


15. Geoff Miller - The Old Rag

Shop 02:22

16. Kirsty Hannah - I Once Had

A Sweetheart 01:05

17. Eamon Greene - The

Ploughman’s Song 01:48

18. Andy Cleveland, Kelly

Kennedy & Janine

Serresseque - Get A Little

Table 02:04

19. Carol Dawson & Steve Le

Voguer - Roslin Castle 03:39

20. Eamon Greene - The

Farmer’s Boy 02:04


22. John Baker - The

Lincolnshire Shepherd 04:03

23. Maurice Ogg - The Travelling

Tinker 01:16

24. Steve Hindley - Granny’s Old

Armchair 03:30

25. Andrew Park - Air To

Maurice Ogg 02:51

LINK TO BANDCAMP THE BARD

OF COLEBY here


77 |

SFM

MAGAZINE

Talking about the art of di

DR DAVID McKINSTRY continues his series looking at The Emerald Isle’s

IN 1991 the sensation that

was The Commitments

arrived in our cinemas and

on our bookshelves. The

soundtrack of the movie was

a number one album and sold

in its millions internationally.

It tells the riotous story of a

group of young working-class

Dubliners, led by Jimmy

Rabbitte Jr, who form a soul

band and their escapades as

they begin to play the city’s

music scene.

The film and book—which

is part of ‘The Barrytown

Trilogy’—were met with

commercial success and critical

acclaim. However, what is less

known is that at the height of

the book and movie’s success,

its author, Roddy Doyle (right),

was still working as an English

teacher in Dublin. Also, when

the book first went to print

in 1987, it was self-published

because it was rejected by most

of the major publishing houses.

Moreover, on its release it was

not well received by the Irish

music press. Yet despite early

setbacks, Doyle persevered and

has become one of those rare

literary breeds—a writer with

massive commercial success

and critical acclaim.

Early Dublin days

Roddy Doyle was born on

May 8, 1958, in Dublin.

There was a certain amount

of inevitability that he would

become a writer; literature was

in the family’s cultural DNA.

His mother, Ita, was the first

cousin of the highly regarded

Irish-American writer Maeve

Brennan. Although, less wellknown

in Europe, Brennan

was famous Stateside for being

a well-connected socialite and

as a highly regarded short story

writer for The New Yorker.

The young Roddy grew up in

bookish middle-class family

who encouraged him to study

English at University College

Dublin. After graduating in

the early 1980s, he worked

as an English schoolteacher

whilst pursuing his passion to

become a fulltime writer.

History is personal

It was during his teaching

career that he met his future

wife, Belinda Moller. Her

own literary ancestry would

further strengthen Doyle’s

determination to become a

writer. Moller came from

the one of the most literary

and politically prestigious

families in Ireland. Her

great-grandfather was the

internationally famous writer

Erskine Childers. Childers—

the author of Riddle in Sands

—who during the early 20th

century was ranked with

Rudyard Kipling in terms of

prestige and book sales.

Although born in London and

from a privileged background,

Childers played a pivotal role

in the War of Independence.

During the truce and treaty

period, Childers was publicly

and fervently anti treaty He was

subsequently to become the

most high-profile Nationalist

to executed by the pro treaty

forces during the Irish Civil

War.

Ironically, Childers was

tried for the possession of a

revolver, which was gifted

to him by Michael Collins.

Many saw his firing squad

execution in November 1922,

as the ultimate betrayal of a

man who had given his life

to Ireland. If that was not

enough public history for one

family, her grandfather —also

named Erskine Childers and

a writer— became the fourth

President of Ireland. Moller’s

family history would be

a creative driver for her

husband’s historical novels.

History as creativity

Doyle’s wife’s family history

and Ireland’s struggle for

independence are explored in

his book his 1999 book A Star

Called Henry—book one of The

Last Round-Up Trilogy. The

novel recounts the adventures

of young Henry Smart, who is

recruited by Michael Collins

to train volunteers to fight in

the Tan War. This Irish history

trilogy displays Doyle’s unique

ability to employ a character

portrait of Henry Smart as

means to exploring the wider

landscape of national turmoil

in Ireland in the early twentieth

century.

The Barrytown Trilogy

The Commitments is the

first book in The Barrytown

Trilogy. The trilogy follows the

colourful lives of the Rabbitte

family. Book two, The Snapper

(1990), focuses on Jimmy’s

sister Sharon who becomes

pregnant and is determined to

keep her baby, but refuses to

identify who the father is. Book

three, The Van (1990), tells

the tale of the father Jimmy

Snr, who is made redundant

and buys a fish and chip van

to make ends meet. The Van

was short-listed for the 1991

Booker Prize.

The books’ stories are dialogue

driven, which lend themselves

to being cinematic, with all

three of trilogy becoming

successful films. However,

their commercial success

and riotous tales that drive

the books, do not diminish

their serious subject matters.

The Commitments, focuses

on youth unemployment

and identity; The Snapper,

teenage pregnancy and

single parenthood; The Van,

unemployed middle-aged men

and their sense of personal and

family worth.

The Barrytown Trilogy gives

a voice to working class

Dubliners and their personal

concerns, whilst raising larger

issues affecting Irish society

including teenage pregnancy

and unemployment. Moreover

Doyle’s use of the workingclass

Dublin dialogue was a

conscious literary technique to

express the lives led by ordinary

Dubliners. In his writing Doyle

is continuing in tradition of

cultural nationalists going back

to Lady Gregory: the Irish

tongue would not only be

spoken but publicly heard in

national life.

Booker Prize

In the early 1990s, whilst most

audiences were roaring with

laughter at Doyle’s dialogue,

the critics were also quietly

applauding. In 1993 the

Dubliner was awarded the

Booker Prize for his comingof-age

novel Paddy Clark, Ha

Ha Ha. Set in 1968, the novel

tells the story of ten-year-old

Paddy who lives in the fictional

North Dublin community of

Barrytown. Paddy narrates a

year in his life, as he transitions

from carefree prankster to man

of the house, as his parent’s

marriage disintegrates under

the strain of alcoholism and

domestic abuse.

The book demonstrates Doyle’s

literary range. He employs

Dublin slang and stream of

consciousness writing to depict

the everyday experiences of

a child growing up in Ireland

in the1960s.Paddy Clark is a

masterwork of Doyle using

Dublin humour and the

character’s personal odyssey to

shine a light on wider issues of

domestic abuse and alcoholism

affecting Ireland both then and

now.

Irishwomen

The success of The

Commitments in the early

1990s, afforded Doyle to the

financial security to give up

teaching and devote himself

to full-time writing. Moreover,

because his books were

bankable film successes, the

| 78


alogue

rich literary tradition

Dr David McKinstry

Dubliner was able to have more

artistic leeway to explore serious

issues affecting Ireland.

This was seen in his 1996 novel

The Woman Who Walked Into

Doors. It is the story of Paula

Spencer, a woman who is

subjected to domestic abuse

from her increasingly violent

husband. Paula employs the

classic battered wife cover story

to hide her spouse’s behaviour

with the excuse: ‘I walked into

a door’ to explain her injuries.

Whilst the medical authorities

see what is happening to her,

they, nevertheless, turn a blind

eye to her plight. In desperation

Paula seeks solace in alcoholism.

Doyle’s novel about domestic

abuse would not be a one off. He

would return to her story in Paula

Spencer (2006) and The Woman

Behind the Door (2024), where

he picks up Paula’s story as a

widowed and damaged survivor.

Doyle—like his fellow literary

compatriot—EdnaO’Brien,

uses Irish humour to make stark

social commentaries on wider

issues impacting women in

Ireland.

Teaching

Like most teachers, Doyle can’t

help himself when it comes to

educating young people. In 2009,

the Dubliner was instrumental

in establishment of the creative

writing centre ‘Fighting Talk’

in his home city. The original

focus of the centre was to give

a space to young workingclass

Dubliners to explore their

creativity. From its Dublin

beginnings it has grown into an

All-Ireland organisation catering

for all the arts in schools and

community hubs across the

nation. Doyle, like WB Yeats the

cofounder of the Abbey Theatre,

understands that the lifeblood of

Erin’s creative tradition requires

innovative spaces to nurture

contemporary talent.

Two pints at the Abbey

The prolific writing and

sheer energy of Doyle does

not seem to be waning. He

has turned his online twominute

dialogues Two Pints

into a two-act stage play

which premiered at the Abbey

Theatre in 2017 and is currently

touring internationally. The

piece is set in a Dublin pub

over three nights.The two

main characters, originally

played by Liam Carney and

Lorcan Cranitch, are a pair

of middle-aged pals who meet

regularly for a pint. Both men

are so familiar that they never

greet each other and, although

their jokes are hilarious,

neither seem to laugh. Their

conversations go off in tangents

from Nigella Lawson’s appeal

to middle-aged men, to

hospital carparking attendants.

Through the meandering

pub dialogue, it is gradually

revealed that Carney’s father is

dying in hospital. For three

nights, the characters, through

grief-stricken humour, begin

to explore the meaning of

existence.

The piece has been so successful

that it has toured across Ireland.

To add authenticity Doyle has

chosen to stage the play in pubs

rather than in theatres. This

allowed audiences to witness

the characters in their authentic

setting.

The brilliance of Two Pints lies

in the use of dialogue to blend

personal and universal themes.

Like all Doyle’s comedy, with

every joke there is also a serious

observation. In this play in

particular, Doyle is paying

homage to one of his literary

heroes, the existential genius

Sam Beckett. And as Beckett

might say: “Yes, the Irish are

seriously funny.”

Dynamic Doyle

Roddy Doyle is still working

and living in Dublin and there

seems to be no let-up in his

relentless productivity. He has

written eleven novels to date.

His work has seen him win

numerous internationalprizes,

including the French Literary

Award for The Snapper in

2011. Complementing his

international success is his

recognition at home, The Guts

won the Irish Book Awards

Novel of the Year in 2013. In

a 40-year career, Doyle has

introduced the world to the

unique way that Irish voices

express intimate feelings and

universal themes. What keeps

him going? Maybe, Samuel

Beckett expressed it best:

“The dialogue.”

Dr David McKinstry

is a teacher and poet

whose poems are widely

published and broadcast

across Ireland and in the

UK. If any readers wish to

share their literary output

with him, they can contact

him at: davmick38h@

yahoo.co.uk


79 |

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MAGAZINE

Julia Disney

YOU

TUBE

BAND

CAMP

FACE

BOOK

INSTA

GRAM

SOUN

DCLO

UD

Julia Disney is a UK-based

singer-songwriter, multiinstrumentalist,

composer,

and arranger.

Strong folk influences combined with classical

training shape her unique sound. With a time

lessly expressive voice that has been likened to the

great Sandy Denny and Joni Mitchell, Julia captivates

audiences with her passion and warmth.

Julia began songwriting in her early teenage years,

after a childhood of learning classical piano and

violin, and playing with her mum’s folk band at any

opportunity.

After university, Julia won the Shrewsbury Folk

Festival open mic competition and an award from,

‘Creative Enterprises’ for educational songwriting in

school.

In 2010, Julia wrote and recorded her debut album,

‘Butterfly Moon’ and she went onto become a semifinalist

in the UK songwriting competition with the

song, ‘Butterfly moon’.

Julia then became the violinist and harmony singer

for ‘The John Richard’s Band’, touring around the

UK folk clubs and festivals and eventually recording

on 2 of his albums, ‘Bring Back the Spring’ and ‘Hard

times and Heroes’.

Julia formed a duo with another local young

musician, ’Tim Judson’, and as well as performing at

festivals and folk clubs, they recorded the EP, ’Sea of

Faces’ and the album, ‘Aviemore’, showcasing both of

their songwriting in each release.

Julia went on to play in, ’The Gren Bartley Band’,

and helped to arrange and record on his acclaimed

album, ‘Magnificent Creatures’. Julia was also a

songwriter, composer and performer for awardwinning

theatre company, ‘Bamboozle Theatre

Company’.

| 80


Julia Disney

After having children, Julia had a break in

performance and touring, although she always found

time to writer new songs! During the pandemic Julia

was asked to create an a capella educational album,

’Times Tables Songs’ for the company, ‘Waldorf

Family’ which was extremely well received.

She also went onto write the acapella album, ’12

Affirmations for the Soul’ for the same company,

both of which are available to download on band

camp and purchase via the company website.

After the pandemic, Julia formed the band, ‘Catch

The Rain’ and has been performing locally since this

project began.

A year ago, Julia was inspired to go back to where she

began, performing and singing as a solo artist. Over

the course of the year, she has performed locally and

recorded the album, ‘Underneath That Tree’. Julia has

also started collaborating with singer and songwriter,

‘Christopher Crompton’ and they will be releasing

an album together in the future as well as future solo,

band, and educational projects!

Julia Disney’s 2025 solo album, ‘Underneath

That Tree’ is carefully collated from a lifetime

of songwriting. It spans the breadth of human

experience from grief and loss to love, self-discovery

and empowerment. Julia’s warm and layered voice,

string and piano arrangements lead us through

an immersively soothing world. This album leaves

us with a lingering sense of hope and reassurance

amidst the trials of life.

Released October 1, 2025

All songs written by Julia Disney.

‘Underneath That Tree’ was recorded and produced

at Fantastic Rain Studio in Willenhall.

TRACK LIST UNDERNEATH THE SEA

1. I Am the Water

2. Underneath That Tree

3. Whispers of Wind

4. Sittin’ by the Fire

5. Call of the Wild

6. Morecambe Bay

7. Safe Harbour

8. Butterfly Moon

9. Kay’s Song

10. The Sea

11. My Little Love

12. Three Little Ships

13. Jackie’s Song

Julia Disney &

Christopher Crompton


81 |

SFM

MAGAZINE

Ellen

stekert

ELLEN STEKERT

LINKS:

Website link

Spotify link

Bandcamp link

| 82 22 janeshieldsmedia@gmail.com

Ellen Stekert

90-Year-Old Folksinger and

Folklorist Ellen Stekert Releases

New Single, Malvina Reynolds’

“On The Rim of the World”

90-Year-Old Folksinger and Folklorist Ellen

Stekert Releases New Single, Malvina Reynolds’

“On The Rim of the World”

Minneapolis, MN – July 27, 2025 — Celebrated

folklorist and folksinger Ellen Stekert has just

released a newly remastered single from her personal

archives: “On the Rim of the World,” a powerful and

poignant song by legendary songwriter Malvina

Reynolds.

The recording, originally performed by Stekert at her

home in 1980, was never intended for commercial

release—distributed only among a small circle of

friends. Decades later, the track has been carefully

brought to new life by California singer-songwriter

Ross Wylde, who used AI technology to enhance the

original tape. The result is a haunting and intimate

version of Reynolds’ song that feels as immediate and

urgent as when it was first sung.

musicality.”

Stekert reflects on Reynolds’ complex voice—one not

traditionally beautiful, yet undeniably magnetic: “She

captured every audience she ever had with her wit, her

charm, and her remarkable insight into humanity.”

The song, “On the Rim of the World,” is a striking

commentary on homelessness, loss, and the

vulnerability of life on the margins. Written by

Reynolds after the death of her husband, Bud, it is—

like much of her work—both deeply personal and

broadly political.

“As with most of Malvina’s songs, the song is not

primarily a statement about her situation,” Stekert

explains. “It is about a woman, a girl, a child without

means, about homelessness and bare despair. This

song is as pertinent today as when she wrote it in the

1970s.”

“Regrettably, I had not heard of Malvina Reynolds

before meeting Ellen,” Wylde admits. “I even thought

her song ‘Little Boxes’ was written by Pete Seeger. After

Ellen introduced me to her music, though, I’ve come

to realize that Reynolds was one of the most talented

songwriters of the 1960s and 70s. Her songs were

radically innovative for her time... I think that her

music is due for a renaissance.”

“On The Rim of the World” is now available on

major streaming platforms. This intimate recording,

half a century in the making, is not just a tribute

to Malvina Reynolds—it is a testament to the

endurance of folk music as an art form that speaks

across generations.

Link to song here: https://ellenstekert.bandcamp.

com/

The single’s cover features a photo taken by Stekert

herself—capturing Reynolds deep in thought and

mid-song on a ferry from Vancouver to Hornby

Island in 1973. The two were close during Stekert’s

time as a Visiting Professor at UC Berkeley in the

early ’70s, often traveling and performing together.

“Malvina Reynolds was one of the overlooked treasures

of the Folksong Revival days,” Stekert writes in a note

accompanying the release. “Perhaps it was because

she was from the early West Coast ‘Topical Song’

writing days, or perhaps because she was a whitehaired

‘grandmother’ when the East Coast Revival

was at its peak. Regardless, she was a magnificent

performer and had a remarkable and overlooked


83 |

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MAGAZINE

22/23 The Square,

Huntly where James

Bowman set up his

factory

BOGIE’S

BONNY

BELLE

By: Ian MacDonald

When researching the truth behind the origin

of the stories carried in traditional songs, the

main diffiulty is in obtaining hard facts from

completely reliable sources. I used to avidly

read the copious notes on the back of album covers, or on the

case of Folkways records, the small booklet that came with

each disc. However, I soon came to realise that these could

sometimes be well off the mark. For this tale, the census has

been a good help. The first census which required the head of

the household to list the names and details of everyone in the

dwelling on the day it was conducted was taken in 1841, the

year in which our present story starts.

At the Huntly Martinmass hiring fair of 1841, or possibly the

following Whitsun fair, a man called James Stephen was hired

by Alexander Morrison to work on his farm in Boghead of

Cairnie. The form was 28 acres and was run by Morrison and

one hired hand. Stephen would have been aquainted with

all aspects of farm life and work, as he came from a farming

background at Haugh of Glass, Both Cairnie and Glass are

settlements near the town of Huntley, just off the main A96

Aberdeen to Inverness. Also living in the house at the time

were Morrison’s wife

Jean and their children Isabella, John & Jannet.

You could say that 1842 was a busy year for James Stephen,

for as well as putting in long days of work on the farm, he

found the time to court young Isabella and in Octoberof that

| 84

year performed an act which led to her becoming pregnant.

It seems like Morrison was unaware of their relationship until

such time as the obvious became very obvious.To say that he

wasn’t pleased about the situation is a gross understatement as,

despite the fact Stephen had offered to do “the right thing” and

marry Belle, he sacked him and put both James and the child

off the farm, without any wages for the work he had done up to

that date.

Now that we have some hard facts to hand, let us pause for

some meditation and speculation. How Belle felt about what

was happening to her and what she said about it is completely

left out of the song. Did she let the ploughman have his way,

or did he force himself upon her? Many versions tell us of her

beauty, saying “she had rosy cheeks and ruby lips and hair of

finest hue” and “she was the flooer ‘o the nation, there was

nane could her excell”. One may get the impression from the

many versions in the Grieg-Duncan collection that she was

somewhat free with her favours, as Geddes, Grey and Lawrie all

claim to have taken her maidenhood from her.

I tend to think that is not the case and Belle had a certain

amount of affection for James. It certainly is male bragging on

behalf of some of the above mentioned men, as only one can

honestly say it was them. The fact of the matter is that thechild

was born on the 1th of June and was baptised and the birth

registered in the parish register the following day. It is notable

at that time it was not compulsory to register the bieth of a


Ian MacDonald

newborn baby, but they did. And I say “they”because for the

baby to take it’s fathers name, both parents must be present and

give consent. This also gave the father parental rights over the

child, otherwise he would not have been able to take his son

with him when he left. James Stephen was named as the father.

Everything was done as it should be, except that they did not

marry.

What about her fathers influence on events? He gives the reason

for disapproving the match as, “you’re no’ fit for mt Isabelle and

she’s no’ match for ye”. Well you could think as I did for a short

time, that it could be the age difference between them - she was

18 and he was 32. Fair enough that is a big gap between them,

but there was 15 years between Morison and his wife, so he

really had no grounds for complaint there. All versions claim

that it was her father who “sent me packing doon the road,

wi’ nae penny o’ my fee (wages)”. Now, the age for maturity in

Scotland was, and still is, 16 years old. That means that Belle

could legally have gone with Stephen, married him and kept

the child. Obviously she chose not to. Whether this was her

own free will or due to the pressure and threats from Alex we’ll

never know.

The final verse tells us that she married a “tinker chiel” and they

spent their time hawking pots, pans and parrafin lamps around

the countryside. This is giving a completely wrong account of

what actually happened. Sometime shortly before 1851there

appeared on the local scene a man called James Bowman. He

came from Old Macher in Aberdeen and yes, he was a tinker.

However, that word meant that he worked with tin and did not

imply that he was of travellers stock. He was in fact a master

tinsmith. He was at the same time a master plumber, which

meant he worked with lead. Not only could he handle water

and other pipes, but could easily tackle more complicated and

intricate tasks such as stained glass windows. He was a highly

qualified artisan.

James Stephen took the boy child and went back to Haugh of

Glass where other members of his family still lived. The census

of 1851 tells the whole story. By this time James is living at

Chapel Hill, Glass with his wife Agnes and his 4 month old

son. He is still working the land. Next door lives his widowed

brother John and his son and daughter.Along with them live

James’s son (now 7 years old) and his mother, 62 year old

Margaret. Young James must have been tutored in farming

by the family as by the time he is 17 he is working for Robert

Archibold who runs a farm of 50 acres. I can’t find any trace of

him locally after that. Meanwhile, James senior is at a different

address in Glass running a croft of 5 acres where he lives with

his wife and three sons.

So it seems that the one who came off worst of all in the story

was young James Stephen who was brought up by his granny

and uncle, while living next door to his father. I’ve seen one

report that the song was originally composed by John Geddes.,

who lived next door to Boghead farm. If it was, he must have

had a great symphany for Stephen to claim such an end of the

story of Belle. The only other explanation I can think of is that

he had some grudge against Bowman and wanted to let it be

known that his wife had had an affair before taking up with

him.

This is one of the most popular of the bothy ballads, there are

several different versions and it has been recorded by many

artists.My own particular favourite is sung by Tom Speirs of the

Gaugers

https://youtu.be/pq2uLn_PcJE?si=YyPFxS5VIjGp9KX7

Another very good rendition comes from Archie Fisher and

illustrates how different the different versions can be found

https://youtu.be/sLcRd8b9tjI?si=JKJzocmxJiMRYgTt

When the 1851 census was taken, Belle was still listed as living

with her parents, but in October of that year the marriage banns

for herself and James Bowman were posted and they married

soon after. In that same year, Bowman took posession of the

property of 22/23 The Square, Huntly, where he established

the Rothiedean Lamp and Tinplate Company. The truth is

that not only did he sell pots, pans and paraffin lamps but also

designated and manufactured them. He and Belle lived on the

premises, presumably in the upstairs flat.

Like most enterprises, the company started off in a small way,

and in 1861 employed four men and one boy. By 1871 , the

workforce had grown to a total of 21 people - a fair size of staff

for a business in the town of Huntley at that time. By 1891 he

was a magistrate, and he and Belle had moved to a much larger

house in Bogie Street, still in Huntl, where they had a teenage

servant girl. Bowman must have been a popular figure in the

town as, in 1892, he became the first provost (council leader)

of the town. They had four children, Anna, Isabelle, Jane and

James. When James retired, young James took over the running

of the factory. James senior died in 1900. Belle stayed on at

Bogie Street with her grandchild Annabella Downie looking

after her. She died in 1902. well, Belle did alright for herself, but

what happened to James Stephen? Read on....

The grave of James Bowman and

Isabella Morison. It is in

Dunbennan graveyard, not

far out of Huntly.


85 |

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MAGAZINE

Carried

By The

Tune:

A Whistle

Player’s

Journey

Into

Irish

Tradition

By: John

Nejedlo

A

chance encounter with a Chinese

guzheng at a symphony concert

unexpectedly set my wife, Brenda, and

me on a journey into Irish traditional

music—a world we knew nothing about. What

started as a simple search for a shared hobby soon

became a deeply personal quest to understand the

language, culture, and heart of a musical tradition

carried not just by a tune, but by people, history, and

stories. My instrument of choice? The humble tin

whistle. Little did I know that this small instrument

would teach me about a tradition far larger than

myself.

Brenda was drawn to the hammered dulcimer (HD).

As someone who enjoys research, I dove deep into

the instrument’s world. I was instantly captivated by

the melodic and compelling music of contemporary

players like Ted Yoder and Joshua Messick, and by

the refined sound of instruments made by Master

Works. This research opened up a new universe of

folk music for both of us and freed me up to find an

accompaniment instrument for myself. I initially

| 86

thought a violin would be a good fit, but I quickly

realized the style of music you plan to play greatly

influences your instrument choices. The circles I was

just beginning to enter didn’t call it a “violin”—they

called it a fiddle.

A disastrous phone call with a fiddle instructor,

where I asked about the Suzuki Method lesson

books, brought the conversation to a screeching

halt. The instructor berated me, emphasizing that

the fiddle was an instrument within the aural

tradition—learned by ear —and made it clear he

would not teach anyone using my suggested method.

I decided against the fiddle and began looking into

the whistle. In that moment, I got my first taste

of the aural tradition and a hint of the deep respect

for it I would soon encounter.

Discovering the Whistle, Confronted by the

Tradition

My initial thought was that learning the whistle

would be a straightforward process of finding


John Nejedlo

a fingering chart and some technique tutorials.

Instead, I found a vibrant musical culture with its

own language, etiquette, and values.

I immersed myself in the Chiff & Fipple Whistle

Forum, an online community that has been around

for decades. It was a helpful resource, but it also

introduced me to the world of Irish Traditional

Music, or ITM—sometimes just called trad. Through

it, I discovered modern whistle players like Brian

Finnegan (Flook, KAN), Ali Levack (Project SMOK),

and Ross Ainslie. All of them have deep roots in

the traditional repertoire and continue to play it

with skill and respect—but in their folk and fusion

projects, they bend the rules in exciting, creative

ways. Their music felt expansive and boundarypushing,

yet still grounded in the tradition that

shaped them.

The conversations on the forum weren’t just about

instrument design; they revealed a tradition I barely

understood. Suddenly, I was seeing all these new

terms: sessions (informal group gatherings), the

aural tradition (learning by ear, not sheet music), and

the craic (a kind of joyful, chaotic fun). In one

thread, someone described a gathering as being “full

of the craic and 90,” and my first thought was, “90%

pure?! Is that… crack?” It was confusing and, to be

honest, a bit intimidating. I was an outsider peering

in— sometimes feeling judged by what some might

call gatekeeping.

Over time, I came to see it more kindly—as cultural

stewardship: a desire to preserve the tradition.

The central question for me became: How would I

learn this instrument? Would I follow the Western

classical tradition of books and notation, or embrace

the aural tradition so vital to Irish music? Or

could I find a hybrid path? My journey became a

comprehensive research project covering instrument

design, repertoire, and community norms. I wanted

to understand what I was stepping into and find a

way to learn with respect for the people and stories

behind the music.

The Scholar-Musician: Dr. L.E. McCullough

My search for a mentor led me to Dr. L.E.

McCullough, a scholar-musician who began

his career outside the tradition and then immersed

himself in it completely. McCullough’s journey


started with a study-abroad trip to Ireland in the

early 1970s, where he first heard live Irish traditional

music during a session at O’Donoghue’s Bar in

Dublin.

Back in the U.S., he sought out and learned from

some of the finest Irish musicians living in America

at the time—Seamus Cooley, John McGreevy, Paddy

Cronin, Noel Rice, Joe Shannon, John Vesey, Andy

McGann, Jimmy and Eleanor Neary, Terry Teahan,

Mike Rafferty, and scores of others.

His experience gave him a profound understanding

of the aural tradition at its source. As he put it, he

began by “knocking on doors with a Hitachi tape

recorder,” capturing the playing of musicians who

had learned and passed down tunes entirely by ear.

In our conversation, he emphasized why that work

mattered: “Irish traditional music was very underpublicized

in the early 1970s—especially in the U.S.

It was almost an underground tradition.”

McCullough’s fieldwork led to an unexpected

development. Realizing there was a need for a

beginner-friendly resource for those with no access

to sessions or teachers, he wrote “The Complete

Irish Tin Whistle Tutor”. ( available from this

Amazon link) His tutor was an unprecedented step,

bridging the gap between the purely oral tradition

and the more structured approach of written

music—a hybrid path that I would also come to

follow. In 1978, McCullough earned a Ph.D. from

the University of Pittsburgh for what was then the

first dissertation on Irish traditional music ever

published.

I was drawn to McCullough’s path and his ability to

honor the tradition while refracting it through his

own diverse musical experiences. It was through

Devilish Merry, a band McCullough has long

collaborated with, that I first heard the tin whistle

and hammered dulcimer played together in a way

that felt like home. That sound became the bridge—

showing me it was possible to connect the tradition

we were beginning to explore to the music we

wanted to play together.

Bridging Traditions: My Path with Ben Walker

My long-nurtured project took a significant step

forward as I had my first Zoom lesson with my new

whistle instructor, Ben Walker. Like McCullough,

87 |

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MAGAZINE

Ben started in jazz before finding his way into

Irish traditional music through pipes and whistles.

He leads Raven Conspiracy, a folk-rooted project

blending traditional and original elements, which is

similar in spirit to what Brenda and I hope to

explore.

Ben’s background and teaching philosophy resonated

with me. He honors the tradition while leaving

room for personal expression. I’m choosing a slow,

informed path—reading, listening, and learning with

intention. I don’t plan to participate in sessions, so a

pure aural method—which works so effectively for

the easy-to-memorize patterns of jigs and reels—

would likely not be the most effective for me.

bottom D, and a willingness to travel to places known

and unknown.”

Naturally, a question arose: Who got the job?

On the cover of McCullough’s book, First 50 Irish

Songs You Should Play on Tinwhistle, there’s a

photograph of a Burke D Aluminum Session whistle.

We happen to own one, and I was convinced Ihad

cracked the mystery. I took a photo of Brenda

holding our whistle—a lighthearted message for

L.E.—and sent it, believing I had uncovered the

successor to Ms. Bluezette.

Instead, I believe in a hybrid approach: learning

from notation to build a solid foundation while also

developing my ear by listening to recordings. My

goal is to play whistle duets or accompany Brenda’s

hammered dulcimer. We want to explore different

folk genres with one foot lightly in ITM, and I believe

a hybrid approach, combined with a great instructor

who understands the music we want to play, is my

best path forward.

The Real Question Isn’t How—It’s Why?

This week, something deeper caught me off guard.

It came through a mix of humor, reflection, and

heartbreak.

Brenda and I were reading a collection of essays by

L.E. McCullough when we came across a piece titled

Bluezette – R.I.P. (1975–1999). We laughed aloud.

Who writes an obituary for a whistle? But of course,

McCullough does—and brilliantly. The piece was a

loving, sarcastic farewell to his long-serving

Generation whistle, “Ms. Bluezette.” He detailed her

quirks with affectionate wit:

“Her high notes were never pretty, her low notes often

cracked, but she always gave 100%—unless it was

below 72 degrees or she’d sat too long in the case.”

Finally, the piece ends with a mock personal ad that

had me grinning:

“Start spreading the news… there’s an opening for

Musical Soul Mate in Woodbridge, New Jersey. A

successful applicant must possess a two-octave range,

a tunable head, a solid build, good handling, a strong

And then… I turned the page.

What I read next was the title essay of the entire

volume: What Whistle Would You Play at Your

Mother’s Funeral?

Everything changed. The humor faded. The mood

turned reverent. McCullough recounts the moment

he had to choose a whistle—not to perform or

impress, but to speak when words were no longer

enough.

He chose a slow air—Eanach Dhuin. No

ornamentation. No embellishment.

| 88


John Nejedlo

He chose a slow air—Eanach Dhuin. No

ornamentation. No embellishment.

“It was the most important performance of my life. I

just played. And let the sound carry everything.”

“What Whistle Would You Play at Your Mother’s

Funeral?”: L.E. McCullough’s Writings on Irish

Traditional Music, 1974-2016 - Vol. 1

Available from this Amazon link

I read those lines aloud to Brenda… and I almost

couldn’t finish. Our earlier glee gave way to a shared

silence.

That’s when I understood something I hadn’t fully

grasped until that moment.

I started this project to understand how Irish

traditional music is transmitted—how tunes are

passed down, how to phrase them correctly, and how

to respect the tradition as an adult learner.

But that’s not the whole story...

This tradition isn’t just taught.

It’s felt.

It’s lived.

It’s carried by people who’ve played through joy and

grief and everything in between.

It’s in the spirit of this music that Dr. McCullough’s

advice to me came into perfect focus:

“First 50 Irish Songs You Should Play on Tinwhistle”

Available from this Amazon link

“I don’t believe it matters how you learn the tunes—it’s

how you play them.”

“Whether you learn a tune from notation or a

recording, you’ll still likely end up adjusting your

initial version to the other musicians you play it with

to hear different interpretations of ornamentation and

phrasing.”

That’s the real lesson. The journey isn’t just about

mastering an instrument or learning a tradition; it’s

about finding the sound that carries your feeling,

your memory, your story. My hybrid approach is a

path to the music, but the music itself is the path to

connection —to the tradition, to my wife, and to a

deeper part of myself.

I’m still learning to play.

But now, I know what I’m listening for...


SFM

MAGAZINE

The Time Stealers

would like to pay

tribute to their

former bassist player

Mat Heighway (left)

who sadly passed

away in October

2024.

He appears on their

latest album “Safe

Haven”, and the band

have dedicated the

album to him.

The band would

also like to welcome

aboard their new

bassist Stew Harrison

who has bravely

taken over from Mat.

Bandcamp link here

| 90


The Time Stealers

The Time Stealers are an acoustic indie-folk band from Shropshire, Cheshire and North

Staffordshire.

Formed in 2016 The Time Stealers play original music influenced by a broad range of styles.

Their debut album, Hold On, was recorded over three days at Hollow Floor Studios and was

released on 25th March 2018. Their second album, Hey River, followed in 2021 and their

third, Safe Haven, in 2025.

The Time Stealers are:

Ibai Castezubi

Originally from the Basque Country, full of energy and character, Ibai

weaves beautiful intricate rhythms with bodhran and other assorted

percussion instruments. Ibai is a natural performer and never fails to bring a

smile.

Penny Copestake:

Penny plays percussion and sings wonderful harmonies. An experienced

singer and performer, Penny is responsible for keeping a super steady beat

on her trusty cajon.

Rhysian Gault:

Rhysian will try to get a tune out of anything that makes a noise, including

but not limited to, guitar, mandolin, octave mandolin, violin and ukulele. She

sings too! Rhysian has an overactive imagination which comes in quite

handy for songwriting.

Stew Harrison

A talented and knowledgeable multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and all

round lovely chap. Stew fills in all of the low notes on bass guitar.

Anji Hollinshead-Bland:

The musical genius of the band. Anji is an exceptionally talented musician

and songwriter. Anji does amazing things with guitars, ukuleles, banjos and

pretty much anything else with strings.

Sarah Hollinshead-Bland:

Sarah shares the lead vocals, plays cello, harmonica and assorted

percussion. Sarah is very outgoing, witty and able to form coherent

sentences which means she frequently ends up fulfilling the role of

frontwoman - which she does brilliantly.

Contact The Time Stealers via email: rhysiangault@yahoo.co.uk

Visit the facebook page: www.facebook.com/TheTimeStealers

The Time Stealers can be found on all major streaming platforms.


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FOUNDATIONAL

FOLK SONGS

“THE

HOUSE

OF THE

RISING

SUN”

By MIKE

TURNER

In this series, songwriter Mike Turner looks at traditional folk songs that

have had a foundational impact on folk music and popular culture

| 91

“There is a house in New Orleans

They call the Rising Sun

It’s been the ruin of many a poor boy

And God knows I’m one”

This month’s foundational folk song, “House of

the Rising Sun” comes to us from uncertain

origins - one of the hallmarks of a true folk

song, which springs from unknown authors

and is spread in an oral tradition - and has had a

significant impact on both the folk music movement, the

development of major folk artists and the evolution of

popular music.

“Rising Sun” tells a story - varying, depending on the

version of the song one listens to - that’s based on a singer

and a location which are both rooted in a well-known

place: New Orleans, on the Mississippi River in Louisiana

in the United States.

The story of New Orleans is itself a tale to be told. Since

it’s founding by the French in 1718, New Orleans has

been revered - some would say reviled - as a place where

everything goes and anything can happen. Located deep

in the Louisiana swamps, gateway between the Mississippi

River and the Gulf of Mexico (and thence to the entire

world), New Orleans was populated from its beginnings

by traders, explorers, slaves and slave traders, hunters,

trappers, sailors, riverboat men, prostitutes, gamblers and

speculators.

“New Orleans” became synonymous with adventure,

speculation and debauchery. It was known as a wild and

dangerous place where one could easily face ruin at the

card tables or injury and even death from yellow fever,

syphilis, poisoned drink like the evil French absinthe or a

“Mickey” slipped in your bourbon in a local saloon, or a

knife stuck in your ribs.

And people flocked to New Orleans. In particular, flatboat

men would drift their craft down the country’s internal

river system into the Mississippi from such far reaches as


Mike Turner

Minnesota, Illinois and Ohio, laden with the bounty of

the Midwest: lumber, grain, bourbon. Arriving in New

Orleans, they’d sell their cargoes (along with the boats, for

the lumber), and spend their time in the city’s fleshpots -

undoubtedly a unique experience for folks hailing from

small, unsophisticated rural farms and villages inland -

before starting the trek homeward, on foot, to repeat it all

over again.

The result was that young men from all over the country

had a taste of the ‘wild life’ of New Orleans, and took their

stories home, back into the Midwest and Appalachia.

Our song tells of this wild, dangerous New Orleans. It

revolves around a house called “Rising Sun”, where many

a person has met their ruin - including the narrator, who

goes on to lament their choices, exhorting others not to

follow the same path and earn the same fate.

The narrator is sometimes female, with the implication

that the “Rising Sun” is a brothel and that she suffered in

a life of prostitution. Other times, the narrator is male,

which suggests a life ruined by the scourge of prostitution

(likely in the form of syphilis), gambling and/or drink.

Like so many true folk songs, “House of the Rising Sun,”

alternately known as “Rising Sun Blues,” among other

names, can’t be traced to a particular songwriter; nor can

we pin down where it originated, or when. Some versions

make mention of a train (“I’ve one foot on the platform/

The other’s on the train”), which would fix the song no

earlier than the middle of the 19th Century (the first

rail lines ran into New Orleans in the early 1830s; by the

1850s, rail lines connected New Orleans throughout the

U.S.). There are reports of various versions circulating

among Appalachian miners as early as the first decade of

the 20th Century.

There is some speculation that the lyrics were developed

from a 16th Century English ballad, “The Unfortunate

Rake,” which tells the tell of a young man’s deterioration

and death from syphilis (the two songs share little

except the theme of ruin due to venereal disease). Some

melodies for “Rising Sun” are similar to a 17th Century

song, “Matty Groves” (which again, shares little lyrically

with “Rising Sun” - “Matty Groves” deals with a Lady who

takes a young lover, both of whom are killed by the Lord

when he learns of the affair).

What we can establish, more or less, is this: the first

publication of a version of “Rising Sun’s” lyrics was in

1925. The oldest known recording of a version of was

made in 1933 by Clarence “Tom” Ashley and Gwen Foster

on the Vocalion label. Regional musician Homer “Bill”

Callahan recorded a version under the title “Rounder’s

Luck (a “rounder” being one who habitually makes the

rounds of given establishments, typically saloons or

gambling halls) in 1934. Noted country music pioneer

Roy Acuff recorded a version, also on Vocalion, in 1938.

All seem to reference earlier versions of the song, or

at least point to it having been in circulation for some

time (interestingly, Ashley and Acuff toured together

in Appalachia for a time with a traveling medicine

show, drawing and entertaining audiences as potential

customers for the show’s patent medicines. Callahan

also played in the same region. Not only is it likely that

Acuff learned the song from Ashley, who claimed to

have heard it years before, sung by some relative; but that

the song was spread throughout Appalachia through its

performance in such traveling shows).

From here, we can trace the song into the modern era

- recorded by major folk artists, learned and played by

countless folk aficionados and performers (this writer

being one of them), immortalized as a part of the “British

Invasion” of pop music in England and the U.S. in the

1960s, and with us still today - in a straight line (again,

more or less).

American Musicologist Alan Lomax collected two

versions of the song in field recordings in Kentucky in

1937, sung separately by Georgia Turner (no relation to

this writer) and Brent Martin. He combined the lyrics of

the two versions, primarily Turner’s, as “The Rising Sun

Blues” in his book, Our Singing Country, in early 1941,

assisted by Ruth Seeger (mother of Pete and Mike Seeger,

both leading figures in the folk music revival in the ‘40s

and ‘50s).

In Our Singing Country, Lomax referenced the “Rising

Sun” name, as a common name for pubs throughout

England. While it’s true that “Rising Sun” is a common

pub name in the UK, there’s no evidence this is the source

of the name in the song - and may have been an attempt

by Lomax to deflect the song’s inferred connections to

bordellos and prostitution in The Big Easy.

Lomax by the 1940s was engaged in the growing

American Folk Revival scene, centered in New York City.

He was regularly in contact with the leading personages of

the folk scene - people like Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger,

Josh White, Lee Hayes and Huddie Ledbetter (“Lead

Belly”).

Lomax actively advocated songs in Our Singing Country

to this group, including, “Rising Sun,” with the result

that the song became a regular in performances in folk

clubs and get-togethers. Guthrie recorded a version in

1941; Josh White in 1942; Lead Belly in 1944 (as “In New

Orleans”), in 1947 [as “New Orleans (The Rising Sun

Blues)”], and finally in 1948 (as, “House of the Rising

Sun”, in the last sessions he recorded before his death).

Of particular interest is White’s version, which is one of


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the few early recordings of the song to be arranged in a

minor key (most of the early recordings, from Turner

through Guthrie to Lead Belly, were arranged in a major

key). This began a move of the song from its rural,

Appalachian origins (Appalachian songs tend towards

major keys, not least of which due to their suitability for

play on the diatonically-tuned mountain dulcimer), to a

more urban style of jazz-influenced blues. Interestingly,

although White more or less followed the Lomax/Turner

lyrics from Our Singing Country, he maintained he had

learned the song, not from Lomax, but from local players

in North Carolina.

The Our Singing Country lyrics, and the various recorded

versions from the ‘30s/‘40s, received wide circulation

in folk circles. Pete Seeger’s group, The Weavers - one

of the first major, commercially successful folk groups -

recorded the song in 1949. And another big boost came in

1957, with publishing of the lyrics in Sing Out! magazine,

a quarterly journal produced by Pete Seeger and Irwin

Silber in New York beginning in 1950, which was a chief

source of folk song material to professional and amateur

musicians across the United States.

New York City - specifically, the coffee houses and clubs

in Greenwich Village in Manhattan - remained the center

of the folk revival at the start of the 1960s; and a major

figure there was musician Dave Van Ronk, known as “the

Mayor of MacDougal Street” for his towering presence

and influence in the New York folk community. Van

Ronk had put together a jazz-influenced, acoustic guitar

arrangement of “Rising Sun” that was a popular staple of

his live performances (Van Ronk said in interviews that

he could seldom get off the stage without playing it).

Van Ronk became an early mentor of the young Bob

Dylan, when Dylan arrived in New York in 1960. By 1961,

Dylan had landed a recording contract with Columbia

Records and was laying down tracks for his debut album.

One evening, Dylan asked if Van Ronk would mind

Dylan recording Van Ronk’s version of “Rising Sun.” Van

Ronk asked that Dylan not do so, as Van Ronk had plans

to record the song himself.

Dylan’s reply? “Uh-oh…” Turns out he had already

recorded the song (as “House of the Risin’ Sun”), and it

was destined to be on the album. The gaff led to a rift in

the two’s friendship that lasted years (we’ll also hear a

coda to this story in a bit).

Dylan’s LP was issued in 1962; and as Dylan’s stature

grew, the album garnered continuing attention in the folk

world, and “Rising Sun” with it.

Up until this point, every version of the song - major key,

minor key; country blues, urban blues - had been more

or less an acoustic, solo version (The Weavers’ 1957 issue

having some minimal instrumentation), in keeping with

the song’s folk origins. But now, as we come into 1964, we

reach a pivotal moment in the song’s journey.

Eric Burdon was a rising musician in Newcastle, in the

north of England, in the late ‘50s. He ultimately helped

found a blues/rock group, The Animals, that was popular

on the local scene. In 1964, The Animals toured England

in support of Chuck Berry, and wanted to have a rousing

song to close out their set before the main act took

the stage. Burden had heard versions of “Rising Sun”

performed in local bars around Newcastle (one local act,

Johnny Handle, had been playing a version of the song

since beginning performing in 1957).

The Animals based their rendition on the Van Ronk/

Dylan version, both lyrically and in Van Ronk’s minor-key

arrangement, but with a few essential variations. First,

where Van Ronk/Dylan opened the song with a chord

progression, The Animals’ version arpeggiated, rather

than strummed or plucked, the chords. Second, where

all prior versions of the song had been in 4/4 time, The

Animals moved the song to a jazzier 6/8 time. Third, The

Animals’ used an organ for an extended instrumental

section - in fact, their version became one of the longest

singles recorded/released as a 45 to that time, at four

and half minutes. And lastly, Burdon gave a soulful and

impassioned delivery of the lyrics, beginning with the

second verse (“My mother was a tailor…”) - effectively

conveying the song’s emotional core of man’s resignation

and regret for a life descending into alcohol, gambling and

what might be euphemistically termed the “sporting life”

(i.e., consorting with prostitutes) - far removed from the

country folk voicings of Lead Belly and Dylan, and grittier

than the urban blues version offered by Josh White.

The song was a big hit in The Animals’ live set on the

Chuck Berry tour. Ten days after the tour started, the

group made a quick trip down to London, where they

recorded the track in one take in a session that lasted

about 15 minutes (with recording engineers who had

never recorded electric guitars before). It would appear

this was the first recording of the song on electric guitar.

The track rose to the top of the UK charts in July 1964,

and the U.S. charts in September of that year, becoming

the first British Invasion #1 by a group other than The

Beatles. The radio version was shortened to a 2:58 run

time (mostly by trimming the organ instrumental); the

full version was released by The Animals’ in 1965.

The song’s popularity has remained undiminished since

that time.

Two interesting sidebars to The Animals’ version’s success:

first, when The Animals’ version was being released, the

producers convinced the group that the 45 record label


Mike Turner

was too small to list all the group members as the track’s

arrangers, and that they should just go with one name.

They did, listing organ player Alan Price (who had done

the bulk, thought not all, of the work in arranging the

piece).

As a result, when the record became an international

hit, Price was the only one of the group who collected

any royalties. Burdon was especially put out - the song

became his signature piece, but he didn’t see a dime in

royalties from the millions of copies sold. He still talked

about it in interviews decades later.

Second - remember the coda from the Van Ronk/Dylan

flare up over Dylan recording Van Ronk’s version? In later

years, Van Ronk said that, as popular as his arrangement

had been in his live performances, he had had to drop

it from his set list, because audiences accused him of

copying Dylan’s version! Van Ronk also reported that

Dylan subsequently dropped the song from his set lists as

well - because audiences thought Dylan was copying The

Animals’ version…

The Animals’ version has become the definitive version of

“Rising Sun.” It’s been learned by countless guitar players,

and covered by too many artists to list - in addition to

the classic blues artists who recorded the version before

The Animals, in years since it’s been covered by such

renowned artists as Nina Simone, Jean Ritchie, the New

Lost City Ramblers (Mike Seeger’s group), Dolly Parton,

Joan Baez, Billy Joel, B.B. King, Odetta, Jerry Garcia,

Hank Williams, Jr. A Detroit band called Frijid Pink

recorded a psychedelic version in 1970. There have been

versions recorded in French, Spanish, German, Serbo-

Croatian, Polish. Even The Beatles recorded an outtake.

There there those who maintain that The Animals’ “Rising

Sun” is the first modern rock song. We can perhaps

debate that point - if we talk in terms of arrangement

and instrumentation, Manfred Mann’s, “Doo Wah Diddy

Diddy,” which makes extensive, up front use of organ,

came out two months before The Animals’ track. But in

terms of a central ingredient of rock - merging electric

instrumentation and a driving beat and blues influences

with the more weighty lyrics of traditional folk - there

could be a case to be made. Certainly there wasn’t much

on the airwaves like the electric “Rising Sun” in late ‘64

and early ‘65 - The Beatles’ were doing some exciting

things on “Rubber Soul” like “Norwegian Wood,”

“Nowhere Man” and “In My Life” that were forays into

folk rock, but they weren’t as gritty, bluesy and electrified

as The Animals’ track (“Rubber Soul’s” grittier tracks

were still of a love/relationship-oriented, pop variety, like

“Drive My Car”). And while The Rolling Stones were

pumping out some very traditional blues like “Little Red

Rooster,” it would be several months before they moved

into rock-oriented fare like, “Satisfaction.”


And back to Bob Dylan - he’s stated (and the story has

been repeated by Eric Burdon), that when he first heard

The Animals’ version on his car radio, he pulled over, got

out of the car and pounded the hood in excitement. Dylan

has said that the record helped him to decide to take his

music electric (which Dylan famously did at the Newport

Folk Festival in 1965, a few months after The Animals’

initial release of the song.

Did the “House of the Rising Sun” actually exist in New

Orleans? Was it an actual bordello, or saloon, or gambling

house, or something else? Many have tried to answer

this question, and one can go down a lot of rabbit holes,

chasing answer with no clear conclusion.

There are several references to “Rising Sun” hotels and

restaurants in contemporary New Orleans newspapers

in the 1800s. Perhaps the most compelling is an 1821

advertisement in the Louisiana Gazette, for a “Rising

Sun Hotel” on Conti Street in the French Quarter. The

ad references the house’s entertainment, noting that

gentlemen would enjoy “attentive servants,” which

could be a veiled reference to prostitutes. The hotel was

destroyed by fire in 1822; 21st Century excavations of

the site uncovered a significant number of rogue bottles,

perhaps a further sign that the hotel was occupied by

“ladies of the evening.”

Others believe “Rising Sun” is a reference to a French

Quarter bordello run between 1862 and 1874 run by

Marianne LeSoliel Levantine, whose name, translated

from the French, literally means, “rising sun.” Van Ronk,

by contrast, believed that the “Rising Sun” moniker

referred to the Orleans Parrish Women’s Prison, which

was said to have a depiction of a rising sun over its

entrance - again, perhaps a suitable place for the song’s

narrator to lament their fallen status.

While there’s no clear answer, it seems to me that the

song’s reference must be at least a passing reference to

some real place - the term “rising sun” doesn’t seem to

have been in common enough use as a euphemism for

bordellos or saloons, particularly in connection with

New Orleans, to account for it’s appearance in the earliest

versions of the song’s lyrics. It seems to me more likely

a “real world” reference by the unknown songwriter,

to a place they were at least casually, or perhaps more

intimately, acquainted with in the context of the song’s

story. With than in mind, and given the song’s apparent

development some time in the 1800s, I think the Conti

Street “hotel” is perhaps as good a guess as any.

And in the end, does it matter? “Rising Sun,” in the

context of the lyrics, is as much a reference to the New

Orleans “sporting” lifestyle - excess, avarice, sex, vice; a

landscape of fleshpots, prostitutes, bordellos, saloons and

gambling houses that could, and undoubtedly did, ruin

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the lives of many a man and women who entered that

realm and bore the scars, literal and emotional, of their

passage.

Hence more of the song’s universal appeal: who amongst

us, has not been tempted? How many of us have not

succumbed, even briefly, to such temptation, with lasting

impact? We’ve all been to our personal, “House of the

Rising Sun,” at one time, in one way or another.

Go tell my youngest brother

Not to do the things I’ve done

But to shun that house down in New Orleans


I’m going back, back to New Orleans

For my race is a nearly run

Gonna spend the rest of my wicked life

Beneath that Rising Sun

“God, I know, I’m one…”

***

RISING SUN BLUES

GEORGIA TURNER VERSION, 1937

In “House of the Rising Sun,” then, in all its permutations,

we see what may be one of the quintessential,

foundational folk songs: a song of undetermined origin;

somewhat universal in its themes (or at least malleable

to the gender of the song’s narrator); widely known and

played in the early oral tradition in Appalachia, and

later, and still today, learned and played by folk music

performers, both amateur and professional; having wide

and significant impact on major players in the folk music

community, including towering figures like Woody

Guthrie, Lead Belly, Pete Seeger and Bob Dylan; and

even blazing trails as a prototype for new genres of music

blending traditional folk and modern electric rock.

“House of the Rising Sun” - truly, a foundational folk

song.

LYRICS:

RISING SUN BLUES

CLARENCE “TOM” ASHLEY VERSION, 1933

There is a house down in New Orleans


And it’s been the ruin of a many poor boy

And me, oh God, for one

Then fill the glasses to the brim

Let the drinks go merrily around

And we’ll drink to the health of a rounder poor boy

Who goes from town to town

The only thing that a rounder needs

Is a suitcase and a trunk

And the only time he’s satisfied

Is when he’s on a drunk

Now boys don’t believe what a girl tells you

Though her eyes be blue or brown

Unless she’s on some scaffold high

Saying “Boys, I can’t come down.”

There is a house in New Orleans


And it’s been the ruin of many a poor girl

And me, O God, for one.

If I had listened what Mamma said,

I’d been at home today,

Being so young and foolish, poor boy,

Let a rambler lead me astray.

Go tell my baby sister

Never do like I have done,

To shun that house in New Orleans,

They call the Rising Sun.

HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN

THE ANIMALS” VERSION, 1964



It’s been the ruin of many a poor boy

And god, I know, I’m one

My mother was a tailor

Sewed my new blue jeans

My father was a gambling man

Down in New Orleans

Now the only things a gambler needs

Are a suitcase and a trunk

But the only time he was satisfied

Was when he’s on a drunk

Oh mothers, tell your children

Not to do as I have done

Spend your lives in sheltered misery

In the house of the Rising Sun

I’ve one foot on the platform

The other is on the train

I’m going back to New Orleans

To wear that ball and chain


Mike Turner

VIDEO LINKS:



And it’s been the ruin of many a poor boy

And god, I know, I’m one

ASHLEY/FOSTER: https://youtu.

be/147kS8O59Qs?si=P64Io-5KLSnjofe-

TURNER: https://youtu.be/

wxt1FYnTt1U?si=SUUpe8lN7sDNIN47

WHITE: https://youtu.be/M8Ueo7r2nbA?si=fFXC_

koq4PV578Qn

DYLAN: https://youtu.be/RP_

caKDfoyU?si=P5TafRtLQf1yATDa

ANIMALS: https://youtu.be/N4bFqW_

eu2I?si=mFmb5ahEQEfoWrEV

DO WAH DIDDY DIDDY: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Do_Wah_Diddy_Diddy

CONTI STREET HOTEL: https://neworleanshistorical.

org/items/show/1281

Many thanks to the STORYVILLE MUSEUM in New

Orleans for their excellent exhibits on the history of

jazz in the Storyville “red light district,” and on possible

locations of the “House of the Rising Sun.”

https://www.storyvillemuseum.com/post/house-of-therising-sun

MIKE TURNER, a songwriter/poet living on the US Gulf

Coast, was named 2025 Poet of the Year by the Alabama

State Poetry Society. He has more than 475 poems

published in over 100 curated literary journals/sites and

anthologies; his original songs, recorded both by himself

as well as close to a dozen indie artists, are streaming

on Spotify, iTunes and YouTube. His poetry collection,

Visions and Memories, is available on Amazon.

SOURCES/ADDITIONAL READING:

CHASING THE RISING SUN: The Journey of an

American Song, Ted Anthony (Simon & Schuster, 2007)

WIKIPEDIA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_House_

of_the_Rising_Sun

WIKIPEDIA (ANIMALS) SONG: https://simple.

wikipedia.org/wiki/The_House_of_the_Rising_Sun

GALAXY MUSIC NOTES: https://galaxymusicnotes.

com/pages/about-the-house-of-the-rising-sun

GEORGIA TURNER: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Georgia_Turner

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE: https://

magazine.uchicago.edu/0512/investigations/dawdy.shtml

AMERICAN BLUES SCENE: https://www.

americanbluesscene.com/2011/11/a-brief-history-ofhouse-of-the-rising-sun/

CIVIL WAR TALK . COM: https://civilwartalk.com/

threads/there-is-a-house-in-new-orleans-they-call-therising-sun-its-always-been-the-ruin-of-men-by-diseasea-knife-or-a-gun.196560/

ERIC BURDON INTERVIEW: https://www.grammy.

com/news/the-making-of-the-animals-the-house-of-therising-sun

FAR OUT MAGAZINE: https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/

classic-songs-the-animals-recorded-in-one-take/

HUDDIE

LEADBELLY

BOB

DYLAN

ALAN

LOMAX


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| 98


aaa


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SIMPLY FOLK MUSIC MAGAZINE

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Simply Folk - Issue No:7

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