FRIDAY MUSIC: Knacker’s Yard, by JD

Hailing from Victoria, British Columbia (Coast Salish Territories), Knacker’s Yard has been arranging and performing traditional Irish, Scottish, English, Australian, and original music since 2013.

The band pays tribute to, and takes inspiration from, legendary predecessors such as The Dubliners, Pogues, Planxty, The Battering Ram, The Clancy Brothers, The Chieftains, and The Wolfe Tones.
https://knackersyard.net/home/

Knacker's Yard - Farewell To Nova Scotia (The New West Session)

Knacker's Yard - Dirty Old Town (The New West Session)

Knacker's Yard - Finnegan's Wake

Knacker's Yard - The Merry Ploughboy (Irish Rebel Song)

Knacker's Yard - Sixpenny Money/Banish Misfortune/Whelan's Frolics

WEEKENDER: The E-waste trail, by JD

This link to Al Jazeera is still working although the video/film has disappeared (as has Al Jazeera TV):

https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/witness/2014/09/e-waste-trail-2014924132443417118.html

In 2014 I saw a post about Austin Sevens (vintage autos) from James Higham (on his now defunct Wordpress version of Nourishing Obscurity) that reminded me. They are still going strong after all these years - unlike modern computers etc.

There was a feature on Al Jazeera about the problem of 'e-waste' which is old computers and phones being exported to the third world and dumped on rubbish tips. Somebody in Ghana decided to collect things which had identifiable stamps on them. He found stuff from Leeds Council and other councils plus things stamped with the names of government departments. He was then seen presenting the things to a Councillor in Leeds and got the usual buck passing; third party contractor takes away old stuff or it was donated to charities etc.

But my mind works in different ways. I could see the names Compaq and HP etc and I thought why does he not go to those manufacturers and ask why, unlike the Austin Seven, their products cannot be adapted or designed to have a much longer life. I thought first of all about modern record players most of which can play any record made in the past 100 years or so. They will still play the old 78s. Music centres usually allow for cassette tapes and CDs as well.

So why does Microsoft update their systems in a way which has rendered obsolete my two digital cameras as well as my scanner? They were only cheap cameras but they would still work if I had access to the old Windows XP or Vista or whatever it was. Why this built in obsolescence? Presumably to sell the new stuff which means throwing away the old stuff which, of course, ends up on rubbish tips in Ghana where people scavenge for salvageable parts.

Built-in obsolescence is a sales gimmick invented by the American automobile industry in the Fifties. A new model every year but the newness was only skin deep, it was the styling which was changed but the same old mechanicals remained unchanged. The new car performed exactly like the old car, it used the same petrol, the accelerator and brake pedals were in the same place as in the old car, the steering and suspension were as vague and sloppy as they ever were.

The new 'techie' obsolescence unfortunately is much more revolutionary. It seems that the 'hardware/software' (i.e. the equivalent of the mechanicals in the car) is what has been changed (improved?) and any techie devices designed for the existing hardware/software becomes useless immediately and we have to buy a new version on what feels like a weekly basis.

And what happens to the old ones? They are dumped in landfill sites in Africa or India.

What a mad cycle.

FRIDAY MUSIC: Brian Eno, by JD

Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno, also mononymously known as Eno, is an English musician, songwriter, record producer and visual artist. He is best known for his pioneering contributions to ambient music and electronica, and for producing, recording, and writing works in rock and pop music. A self-described "non-musician", Eno has helped introduce unconventional concepts and approaches to contemporary music. He joined the glam rock group Roxy Music as its synthesiser player in 1971 and recorded two albums with them before departing in 1973.

https://www.brian-eno.net/about/#

stiff

Another Green World (theme music for BBC's Arena)

Brian Eno & Roger Eno - By This River (Live at The Acropolis)

Spinning Away

Brian Eno "Ring Of Fire"

FRIDAY MUSIC: Carolina Chocolate Drops

"The Carolina Chocolate drops were an innovative black string band founded in 2006. The original members — Dom Flemons, Rhiannon Giddens, and Justin Robinson, with assists from Sule Greg Wilson — spent a lot of time with the revered string band elder Joe Thompson, an 86-year-old fiddler from Mebane, North Carolina. His music formed the core of their original setlist, but blues, jug-band numbers, originals, novelty songs, ballands and other kinds of Americana rounded out their repertoire. They won the last official Folk Music GRAMMY in 2010 for their Nonesuch Release, Genuine Negro Jig. Justin Robinson was the first to depart, followed by Dom Flemons; Malcome Parson, Hubby Jenkins and Rowen Corbett came on board for the rest of the CCD tenure. The group is no longer together but they have inspired a new generation of musicians of color to pick up the banjo, bones, and fiddle."

http://www.carolinachocolatedrops.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolina_Chocolate_Drops

Carolina Chocolate Drops - Country Girl [Official Video]

Carolina Chocolate Drops "When the World's On Fire"

Carolina Chocolate Drops - No Man's Momma - Newport Folk Festival 2011

Carolina Chocolate Drops - Genuine Negro Jig [HD]

Carolina Chocolate Drops - Hit 'Em Up style [HD]

Carolina Chocolate Drops ft. Rhiannon Giddens "Jackson," Grey Fox 2013

FRIDAY MUSIC: It's A Beautiful Day, by JD

This review by Lindsay Planer is part of the notes alongside the first video:

"Although they are not one of the better-known San Francisco bands to have emerged from the ballroom circuit of the late '60s and early '70s, It's a Beautiful Day were no less memorable for their unique progressive rock style that contrasted well with the Bay Area psychedelic scene. Led by David LaFlamme (flute/violin/vocals) and his wife, Linda LaFlamme (keyboards), the six-piece unit on this album vacillates between light and ethereal pieces such as the lead-off cut, "White Bird," to the heavier, prog rock-influenced "Bombay Calling."

“One of the most distinct characteristics of It's a Beautiful Day is their instrumentation. The prominence of David LaFlamme -- former violin soloist with the Utah Symphony and original member of Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks -- adds a refinement to It's a Beautiful Day's sound. Likewise, the intricate melodies -- mostly composed by the LaFlammes -- are structured around the band's immense virtuosity, a prime example being the exquisitely haunting harpsichord-driven "Girl With No Eyes." It's a Beautiful Day remains as a timepiece and evidence of how sophisticated rock & roll had become in the fertile environs of the San Francisco music scene."

It's A Beautiful Day - White Bird (1969)

It's a Beautiful Day - Don and Dewey [Jazz Fusion - Jazz-Rock] (1970)

Girl With No Eyes

It's a Beautiful Day - Hoedown

Galileo

Do You Remember The Sun

FRIDAY MUSIC: Zoe Conway, by JD

Zoë Conway effortlessly combines a background steeped in Ireland’s rich aural music tradition with a strong founding in classical music. She has toured worldwide and has appeared in many prestigious concert halls including Carnegie Hall, New York, The Kremlin Palace, Moscow and The National Concert Hall, Dublin.

Her versatility as an instrumentalist has allowed her to perform across a broad range of genres, from guest soloist with world renowned orchestras, to touring with Riverdance and working with mainstream international acts such as Rodrigo y Gabriella, Damien Rice, Lisa Hannigan, Nick Cave and Lou Reed among others.

She has released two solo albums, Zoë Conway, produced by Bill Whelan, and The Horse’s Tail, both critically acclaimed, and has also released a live DVD, Zoë Conway Live.

https://zoeconway.com/

Zoë Conway and John Mc Intyre - Faoiseamh a Gheobhadsa (I Will Find Solace)

Zoë Conway + John McIntyre - Gillespies Mazurka / The Bakers Reel / The Calgary Polka

Zoe Conway And John Mc Intyre - 'The half moon waltz' suivi de 'The Hangman's reel' - Live

Zoë Conway: Mná na hEireann/Toss the Feathers/The Glen Road to Carrick (Germany, 2016)

Zoë Conway Live (The Drunken Sailor)

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With an exciting blend of eclectic fiddle and guitar music, Zoë Conway and John Mc Intyre bring to the stage sympathetic arrangements of traditional Irish music, compositions and songs, old and new. The husband and wife folk duo possess a rare facility to draw pieces into their repertoire from other genres such as classical, jazz and world music and express this material in way which not only displays the sheer range and knowledge of both instrumentalists but also exhibits the wonderful versatility of their instruments.
http://www.zoeandjohn.com/about.html

FRIDAY MUSIC: Philip Glass, by JD

Philip Glass was born in 1937 and grew up in Baltimore. He studied at the University of Chicago, the Juilliard School and in Aspen with Darius Milhaud. Finding himself dissatisfied with much of what then passed for modern music, he moved to Europe, where he studied with Nadia Boulanger (who also taught Aaron Copland , Virgil Thomson and Quincy Jones) and worked closely with the sitar virtuoso and composer Ravi Shankar. He returned to New York in 1967 and formed the Philip Glass Ensemble – seven musicians playing keyboards and a variety of woodwinds, amplified and fed through a mixer.

The new musical style that Glass was evolving was eventually dubbed “minimalism.” Glass himself never liked the term and preferred to speak of himself as a composer of “music with repetitive structures.” Much of his early work was based on the extended reiteration of brief, elegant melodic fragments that wove in and out of an aural tapestry. Or, to put it another way, it immersed a listener in a sort of sonic weather that twists, turns, surrounds, develops.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Glass
https://philipglass.com/

Philip Glass joue Mad Rush

NTR Podium: Lavinia Meijer speelt Philip Glass

Symphony for eight - Philip Glass - Cello Octet Amsterdam

Philip Glass "Closing" PCF 2017

The Hours - Philip Glass

FRIDAY MUSIC: The Corries, by JD

The Corries were the godfathers of the modern folk music scene in Scotland, introducing huge audiences to traditional songs, composing songs in a traditional style, using innovative instrumental arrangements and pioneering practices which later became commonplace throughout the music industry.

https://projects.handsupfortrad.scot/hall-of-fame/the-corries/
https://corries.com/about-us/

The Corries-The Bricklayer's Song-live-Lyrics

The Corries-A Scottish Holiday-Live-Lyrics

The Corries --- Wild Rover

The Corries~ the Bonny Lass Of Fyvie-o

The Corries-MacPherson's Rant, live recording!

"The song, however, that defines the Corries is Flower of Scotland. Written by Roy Williamson in the mid 1960s and originally featuring Roy on the then still rarely sighted bouzouki and Ronnie on the still lesser spotted bodhran, it was adopted first by Scottish rugby fans in 1974 and then football’s Tartan Army as the unofficial Scottish national anthem.

When the song was officially adopted by the Scottish Rugby Union in 1990 and sung before Five Nations matches at Murrayfield by Ronnie, it could be said to have inspired the Scottish team to its first Grand Slam in years."

The Corries, Flower of Scotland (original version)