JD's 2023 Advent Calendar (04)

Featuring some very old traditional Christmas music:

Anúna - Mariam Matrem Virginem

"Long before Christianity took hold in Scotland and Ireland, the ancient Celts celebrated the Winter Solstice and the coming of light and hope. The echoes of Paganism still resounded in the 13th and 14th centuries, when faithful Scots sang the Vespers of St. Kentigern, Patron Saint of Glasgow. This celebration of Celtic artistic traditions, created by Jeannette Sorrell and Sylvain Bergeron, interweaves selections from the medieval Vespers of St. Kentigern with ancient pagan carols and popular tunes from 17th-century Welsh and Scottish manuscripts for lute and harp."

Apollo's Fire - Noël nouvelet from Sacrum Mysterium: A Celtic Christmas Vespers, Pt. 5/9

Noël nouvelet / 15th century French/Breton carol, Oxford English text

Coventry Carol - Clamavi De Profundis

Huron Carol:

A Canadian Christmas hymn based on a French folk song with original lyrics written by St John de Brebeuf, SJ, sung by the Canadian Tenors. Also called Twas in the Moon of Wintertime.

JD's 2023 Advent Calendar (03)

 Here is part the third featuring Cajun/Zydeco at Christmas.

I usually read the notes beneath the YouTube videos and they are often very interesting - an albino alligator called Nicolette pulling Papa Noel's boat? Well why not, it's no more fanciful than than a reindeer with a bright red nose!!

"The Christmas season is doubly blessed in Acadiana. The Cajun population of south Louisiana is predominantly Catholic and the birth of Christ is a sacred reason for them to celebrate. Also, Cajuns as a rule simply love to socialize, so their Christmas holidays often abound with visits, parties, parades, food, spirited drinks, gifts, decorated homes, and community festival of light celebrations.

Around the world Santa Claus has many names; but in the deep, swampy bayous of Louisiana, he's known as Papa Noël. In such a hot and humid place, there can be no sleds or reindeer, so Papa Noël rides the water ways in a boat that's pulled by eight alligators, with a snowy white one named Nicollette in the lead."

Cajun Christmas - ¨Joyeuses Fêtes¨

Louisiana Christmas Day sung by Aaron Neville

O, HOLY NIGHT - AARON NEVILLE

Michael McDonald: Christmas on the Bayou

La Valse Cadienne de Noël

JD's 2023 Advent Calendar (02)

Ho! Ho!! Ho!!!

Bob Dylan - It Must Be Santa

Bob Dylan Reading 'Twas The Night Before Christmas'

First snow 's falling - "Well it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. And for the next couple of hours, it’s going to sound like Christmas too. This is the special yuletide extravaganza edition of TTRH, chock full of Christmas themes, holiday dreams, and jingle bell schemes..."

"It’s night time in the Big City
A department store Santa sneaks a sip of gin
Mistletoe makes an old man sad
Eight reindeer land on the roof of the Abernathy building"

It’s Time for "Christmas & New Year's" Theme Time Radio Hour (episode 34) hosted by Bob Dylan, first aired 20 November 2006.

Theme Time Radio Hour was originally broadcast every Wednesday at 10:00 am ET on the Deep Tracks channel of XM Satellite Radio, a subscription-based satellite radio service.
(In the UK the seriess was broadcast on BBC's Radio2)

This special edition is two hours long - but the musical selection is eclectic as you might expect from Mr Zimmerman!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theme_Time_Radio_Hour

JD's 2023 Advent Calendar (01)

A calendar of posts by JD, starting with the theme of war (and temporary peace) at Christmas:

By late December 1914, there was no end in sight to the Great War. Morale plummeted, as the soldiers realised that they would spend winter in the miserable trenches.

Winston Churchill wrote to his wife in mid-December: “What would happen I wonder, if the armies suddenly and simultaneously went on strike and said some other method must be found for settling their dispute?” He would soon find out.

SABATON - Christmas Truce (Official Music Video)

“For a single day, the opposing forces mingled in friendly conversation and even in games. It was an amazing spectacle, and must arouse bitter thoughts concerning those high-ranking conspirators against the peace of the world, who in their mad ambition had hounded such men on to take each other by the throat rather than by the hand.” – Arthur Conan Doyle, 1916.

https://www.sabaton.net/historical-facts/christmas-truce-was-enforced/

HAPPY XMAS (WAR IS OVER). (Ultimate Mix, 2020) 

John & Yoko Plastic Ono Band + Harlem Community Choir

FRIDAY MUSIC: Karunesh, by JD

 Karunesh (Hindi: करुणेश, "Compassion"; born Bruno Reuter in 1956- is a German-born New Age and ambient musician. His music has strong Indian influences prevalent throughout, with liberal use of Indian instruments, such as the sitar.

Karunesh was born in Cologne, Germany .Although he had been drawn to music as a child and played in bands as a teenager, he chose to study graphic design as a career. However, after obtaining his degree, Karunesh was involved in a serious motorcycle accident. His brush with death prompted him to choose music as a career instead of graphic design. He rethought his life and embarked on a spiritual journey of sorts, traveling in 1979 to India, where he met Osho in his ashram in Pune. He became initiated and took on a new spiritual name, Karunesh, a Sanskrit name meaning "Compassion."

Back in Germany, Karunesh lived in the Rajneesh commune of Hamburg for five years. Here he could develop his musical creativity in a spiritual surrounding. He came in contact with many musicians from all over the world and developed an ability to weave different styles and feelings from different cultures together in a living symbiosis, creating a music that is both spiritual and danceable.

In 1984, Karunesh released his first album, entitled Sounds of the Heart, Sounds of the Heart was followed by Colors Of Light in 1987 and Sky's Beyond in 1989. As of 2012 Karunesh has released 23 albums.

Karunesh has lived on Maui, in the U.S. state of Hawaii, since 1992

http://www.karuneshmusic.com/

Karunesh - For The Joy Of It All

Karunesh - Punjab (Unofficial Video)

Karunesh.Returning to now

FRIDAY MUSIC: The MonaLisa Twins, by JD

I had heard the name but had no idea what their 'genre' was; punk rock or folk singers or something in between. Then I saw they had done a cover version of the 'new' Beatles record and I thought that was quick, no more than a week or so after the release of the original. Why the rush? I then found out they are dedicated Beatles fans and have recorded many of their records in the past and have even played at The Cavern Club. And their harmonies and guitar playing make them the best Beatles Tribute Band you will ever see and hear!

"The MonaLisa Twins, with real-life twins Mona and Lisa Wagner fronting the band, are one of the very few modern groups who continue the tradition of song-writing that took off in 1963. They bring back what has been started 60 years ago and write modern songs in the 60s Beat music tradition, reviving the genre with a fresh twist without sounding pop-ish or trivial. Their signature features are their tight twin harmonies, unaltered natural voices, relatable lyrics, twangy guitar sounds and inventive arrangements."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MonaLisa_Twins

Now And Then - MonaLisa Twins (The Beatles Cover)

When I'm Sixty-Four - MonaLisa Twins (The Beatles Cover)

Here Comes The Sun - MonaLisa Twins (The Beatles Cover) // MLT Club Duo Session

Yesterday - MonaLisa Twins (The Beatles Cover)

Nowhere Man - MonaLisa Twins (The Beatles Cover)

She Loves You (The Beatles Cover) - MonaLisa Twins (Live at the Cavern Club)

SPAIN: Letting the Catalan out of the Bag, by JD

You may recall that in 1968 John Lennon described governments of the world as being insane, doing insane things for insane reasons. At some point in the Seventies George Harrison said the world is run by mad people.

Now I get the feeling that madness or insanity is official policy everywhere. And Spain has not escaped the insanity, disguised as political opportunism.

Spain's PM, Pedro Sanchez, has introduced an amnesty law for Catalan nationalists in exchange for their support in propping up his minority government. Needless to say there have been widespread protests, thousands have taken to the streets waving Spanish flags. I saw one video in which the crowds were chanting "Periodistas, terroristas!" as their press is as bad as ours if not worse.

Here is a video of Tucker Carlson in Spain on Monday. He said the news is not being reported in the US (or here in the UK) and he wanted to highlight it on his TwitterX platform.

If you wish to read the background to the story, there is this -

https://jacobin.com/2023/10/spain-pedro-sanchez-government-catalonia-nationalists-amnesty-right-wing-courts/

I have previously written about the madness of the Catalan politicians, especially here:

https://theylaughedatnoah.blogspot.com/2017/12/catalunacy-by-jd.html

Why do people go into politics? Is it because of arrested development and they remain forever 12 year olds in a school playground?