FRIDAY MUSIC: Tejedor, by JD

Tejedor is a folk music group from Avilés, Asturias, Spain, consisting originally of three siblings (Jose, Javier and Eva Tejedor). Eva left the band in 2010, being replaced by Silvia Quesada on vocals. Tejedor’s members play traditional Asturian styles of music using traditional instruments such as bagpipes, flutes, accordions and guitars.

Tejedor has become known on the international Celtic music scene, the two brothers of the group winning on several occasions the McCallan bagpipe awards at the Inter Celtic Music Festival in Lorient, France.

Their first album, Texedores De Suaños, was produced by Phil Cunningham and features musicians like Michael McGoldrick, Duncan Chisholm, James McKintosh and Kepa Junkera.

https://tejedorweb.blogspot.com/p/bio.html

Xota Villacondide

“Xota la Punta” - Tejedor

Tejedor - Gaites del infiernu (Bagpipes from hell)

Tejedor - El veleta

Chalaneru [Víctor Manuel, Tejedor, Chus Pedro, Ramón Prada]

Tejedor: Andolina

Just out of interest the word tejedor means weaver so they are, in a way, paying homage to Pete Seeger and his ‘Weavers’ from years ago. And andolina means swallow (the bird).

FRIDAY MUSIC: Slim Gaillard, by JD

This time from Slim Gaillard. The comments to these videos show that most people have never heard of him which surprises me. The man was a genius! Unique, a one off, never to be repeated!

Bulee “Slim” Gaillard, also known as McVouty, was an American jazz singer and songwriter who played piano, guitar, vibraphone, and tenor saxophone. Gaillard was noted for his comedic vocalese singing and word play in his own constructed language called “Vout-o-Reenee”, for which he wrote a dictionary.

This man’s life is remarkable. He spent his childhood in Cuba cutting sugarcane and picking bananas. At age 12, he accompanied his father on a round-the-world trip but was accidentally stranded on the island of Crete. He spent four years sailing the Mediterranean, learning the basics of Greek and Arabic, and eventually boarding a ship bound for North America. During Prohibition, he drove a hearse carrying a coffin full of whiskey for the Purple Gang. As an adult, he taught himself guitar and piano, earned the respect of such big names in jazz such as Charlie Parker, Flip Phillips, and Coleman Hawkins, and he was capable of speaking six languages.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slim_Gaillard

Slim Gaillard Trio in Burghausen 1986

SLIM GAILLARD

George Melly & Slim Gaillard - Part 1 - Jazz Juke Box

George Melly & Slim Gaillard - Part 2 - Jazz Juke Box

Hellzapoppin’ in full color Slim Gaillard & Slam Stewart, the Harlem Congeroos

Slim Gaillard - Flat Foot Floogie (Live 1988)

FRIDAY & BURNS NIGHT MUSIC, by JD

This week something different (again!) The music comes from Kenneth McKellar, known as ‘the Scottish tenor’ and because Sunday night will be Burns night I’m sort of combining the two by including a couple of Burns songs.

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Kenneth McKellar (23 June 1927 – 9 April 2010)

McKellar studied forestry at the University of Aberdeen and after graduating he worked for the Scottish Forestry Commission. He later trained at the Royal College of Music as an opera singer. He did not enjoy his time with the Carl Rosa Opera Company and left them to pursue a career singing traditional Scottish songs and other works.

In 1965, the BBC selected McKellar to represent the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest in Luxembourg. He sang five titles from which viewers selected “A Man Without Love” as the 1966 entry. According to the author and historian John Kennedy O’Connor’s The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History, the Scottish tenor – who had changed into a kilt at the last moment – drew gasps from the audience when he appeared on stage.

The Irish jury gave the UK song top marks, one of only two occasions the Irish have done so in Eurovision history.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_McKellar_(singer)
https://projects.handsupfortrad.scot/hall-of-fame/kenneth-mckellar/

The Midges

Ae Fond Kiss

MY LOVE IS LIKE A RED, RED ROSE - Kenneth McKellar

Flower of Scotland

YE BANKS AND BRAES KENNETH MCKELLAR

Skye Boat Song

FRIDAY MUSIC: Julio Iglesias, by JD

This week in the videos we are among hot blooded latin ladies and the dulcet tones of Julio Iglesias.

Julio José Iglesias de la Cueva is a Spanish singer and songwriter. Iglesias is recognized as the most commercially successful Spanish singer in the world and one of the top record sellers in music history, having sold more than 300 million records worldwide in 14 languages.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Julio-Iglesias

On a personal note, I was aware of Iglesias; difficult to avoid really. His devoted fans call him Agosto Catedrales i.e. one step up from July Churches.

And then I was persuaded, very reluctantly, to see him in concert at The Bernabeu, Real Madrid’s stadium. And I’m glad I went, he was very good. Not that I will ever buy any of his records but he is worth seeing in concert.

Julio Iglesias Canta - Videomatch

Julio Iglesias - La Gota Fría

Willie Nelson, Julio Iglesias - To All The Girls I’ve Loved Before (Official Video)

Julio Iglesias - Agua Dulce, Agua Salá (Video Oficial)

JULIO IGLESIAS- 2001--MAL ACOSTUMBRADO

Julio Iglesias - La Carretera

FRIDAY MUSIC: Dutch Swing College Band, by JD

The Dutch Swing College Band is a traditional Dixieland band founded on 5 May 1945 by bandleader and clarinettist/saxophonist Peter Schilperoort. Highly successful in their native home of the Netherlands, the band quickly found an international following.

The band provided the interval act for the Eurovision Song Contest 1976 presented live from Den Haag.

The band continues to tour extensively, mainly in Europe and Scandinavia, and record directed by Bob Kaper, himself a member since 1967, following the former leader, Peter Schilperoort’s death on 17 November 1990. Schilperoort had led the band for more than 45 years, albeit with a five-year sabbatical from 13 September 1955, when he left to pursue an engineering career before returning to lead the band again officially on 1 January 1960.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_Swing_College_Band

Dutch Swing College band 1960 At the Jazzband Ball

High Society - live performance by the Dutch Swing College Band

Dutch Swing College Band & Lindy Hop dancers - Doghouse Blues

Dutch Swing College Band - Klazz (by Menno Daams)

Big Butter and Egg Man - Dutch Swing College Band

When You’re Smiling - live performance by the Dutch Swing College Band
The Dutch Swing College Band performing ‘When You’re Smiling’ together with guest artists Leroy Jones (vocals, trumpet) and Adonis Rose (drums) during their Ministry of Jazz concert tour 2022 in The Netherlands.

Venezuelan regime change - foreseen in 2019

Reposted from Broad Oak seven years ago:

Venezuela has suddenly become part of the news agenda, or maybe it is part of the 'fake news' agenda. It is hard to tell these days.

Unlike the majority of pundits and commentators, I have actually been to the country. For about three months in 1992 I was working in Caracas on a pipeline project bringing water to the capital to service the 'barrios' the shanty towns encircling the city. Most, if not all of these 'favelas' were without running water.

It was a long time ago and I have forgotten most of the details of what I was doing on the project but I did garner some vivid impressions of life there so here are a few. I will offer a few thoughts on the current situation later.

I had already worked for this company on another project in Zaragoza in Spain so I knew their ways reasonably well and they wanted me because I can speak Spanish and especially the engineering and technical terminology.

I was lodged in the CCT hotel which is itself incorporated into a very large shopping complex. First thing I noticed was the armed guards at every entrance to the shopping centre and not just one man with a pistol, there were four or five at each entrance and very visibly armed. Among all the shops were bars and restaurants as well as night clubs and through the windows of one I could see and hear some very lively and energetic dancing. Clearly these Venezolanos know how to enjoy themselves!

The office was somewhere downtown and a taxi from the hotel basement was the best way to get there. Taxis were all fairly nondescript American 'barges' which usually feel like floating about in a hovercraft. Up in the lift at the office block to the twelfth floor and sitting in the lift lobby was a uniformed guard with a gun and his back to the window. On the 12th floor? What sort of country is this?

As time passed I began to learn that Caracas is a sort of 'inside out' prison with all the good guys living their lives behind bolted and barred doors, and with all the bad guys free to walk the streets. I never felt threatened at any time but I was always aware of my surroundings. Lunch was a cafe/bar across the road and was very good. I especially liked the black beans with arepas, spicy and tasty.

I noticed that it rained every day regular as clockwork in the afternoons. A cloudburst of very heavy rain and it was literally a cloudburst. Something to do with the microclimate generated by the high altitude and the surrounding mountains. (Climate scientists do not like to acknowledge such things because it upsets their computer modelling; see previous post on climate.)

And then one day, during my final week there, our office manager was shot on his way home from work. He was driving home and was waiting at traffic lights when he had a gun pointed in his face through the open window. The robber took his watch and then shot him in the thigh. He then fired two or three bullets into the engine for some reason. I went to visit him in hospital and he was not seriously wounded but he did seem to have been traumatised by the episode and was nowhere near his usual cheery self. The hospital, by the way, was spotlessly clean and had an air of calm about it. I think our NHS could learn a thing or two from Latin America; a few years later I visited a colleague in hospital in Chile after he had a heart attack and it had the same air of unhurried calm and was spotlessly clean.

A couple of days before I left I was told by the senior project manager to go and get a ticket for the BA flight - "You have to be patriotic" or words to that effect.  So I went to the travel agent on the ground floor of the building to book the flight. Only two seats available, one in first class and the other one at the back among the backpackers. No contest, I'll have the first class ticket please! Project manager had gone back to Paris by this point so I didn't say anything and nobody checked in the weeks after. I am worth it anyway, that's my excuse! Later that afternoon there was a power cut in the building. When the power was restored we found out that there had been a bank robbery at the bank next door to the travel agent. The robbers had somehow interrupted the power supply which allowed them to do whatever they did.

I think I have related elsewhere how the company's 'Mr Fixit' took me to the airport and escorted me from kerbside to 1st class lounge in about 10 or 15 minutes just by waving his security pass at everyone! That's the only way to travel!

A few thoughts on the current situation starting with some background information taken from my copy of the South American Handbook, 1992:

* The Spanish landed in Venezuela (little Venice) in 1498, what they found was a poor country sparsely populated with very little in the way of a distinctive culture. It remained a poor country for the next 400 years or so, agrarian, exporting little and importing less.  Oil was discovered in 1914 and everything changed. It became the richest country in Latin America and the known reserves were estimated to last for 40 years. (i.e. until 2032)

* Only about 20% of the land area is devoted to agriculture and three quarters of that is pasture. (In effect, animal husbandry with little in the way of food crops)

* 84% of the population live in urban areas.

* Venezuela is Latin America's fourth largest debtor despite having foreign reserves of approximately US$20 bn accumulated by the mid 1980s from oil wealth.

Carlos Andres Perez was president of Venezuela while I was there in 1992 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Andr%C3%A9s_P%C3%A9rez

Note the importation of 80% of food during his first term and the huge loan from Washington during his second term. If there are food shortages it means the supply chain has been cut and knowing how and why that has happened will be a clue to the reason for the current crisis. All of those loans will come with strings attached and any spending will be monitored by the 'money changers' with very little leeway.

 I watched the TV programme about Chavez last week and both Chavez and CAP seemed to me to be pursuing similar policies, trying to improve the living standards of their people. But they also made the same mistakes; relying solely on oil revenues and not investing in the future for when the oil runs out. The conditions attached to the various loans will probably mean that the social programmes of both Chavez and CAP will be abandoned in favour of 'austerity' as is happening in Europe.

During the last few days (at the end of January) the US policy on Venezuela has become blatantly obvious: regime change. And I look at the history of the continent and I cannot help but see that the US has supported every dictator in Latin America.

Since 1492 the imperial powers of Europe have sought to control the whole continent, both north and south. Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, French and British have been playing a perpetual power game in order to exploit the 'Eldorado' of the new world. Now the US has joined the game and their main objective is oil, it is always oil for the US. It is the foundation of their foreign policy. I saw a comment somewhere that it wasn't really about oil because the US has more than enough oil in their own country. A very naive comment indeed; I first worked in the oil industry in the 70s and it was made clear to me that there were indeed massive resources in the US. Hundreds of wells have been drilled and capped and they serve as their reserve. Almost all of the American engineers I encountered would gleefully boast of how they were going to deplete the resources of other countries. After all, the supply is finite. The earth is not manufacturing oil any more. It was a great joke among Americans that when all of the foreign resources had been fully exploited then they would open the taps on their own wells.

With the whole world supporting the US actions except Russia and China who are lining up behind Maduro and the Venezuelan people, this is not going to end well so I leave the last word (28th January) to Ron Paul -
http://ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2019/january/28/trump-s-venezuela-fiasco/
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Sackerson adds: these stories seem to imply that Venezuela "needs saving from itself"...

World Bank Reports Venezuela Oil Output Falling Since 2000

Venezuela’s collapse: How far will oil production fall? 

FRIDAY MUSIC: Gerry Cinnamon, by JD

Gerard Crosbie, professionally known as Gerry Cinnamon, is a Scottish singer-songwriter and acoustic guitarist. In 2020 his second album, The Bonny, reached number one on the UK Albums Chart and became the third biggest selling UK album released that year. He sings using Glaswegian dialect.

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

https://www.gerrycinnamonmusic.com/

Diamonds in the Mud

Gerry Cinnamon - Canter

Gerry Cinnamon Discoland

Gerry Cinnamon - Sometimes (Official Video)

Belter

Gerry Cinnamon – The Bonny (Official Lyric Video)

Comedy for NYE, by JD

Rikki Fulton (1924 - 2004)

Robert Kerr “Rikki” Fulton was a Scottish comedian and actor best remembered for writing and performing in the long-running BBC Scotland sketch show Scotch and Wry. He was also known for his appearances as one half of the double act, Francie and Josie, alongside Jack Milroy. He became a regular on STV’s Hogmanay programmes usually portraying the world weary clergyman I. M. Jolly. A selection of his more famous characters is offered here to add to your own new year celebrations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rikki_Fulton
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/5dg7641tJvRZRvck104Gpd3/rikki-fulton

Last Call - Rev IM Jolly - Hogmanay 1998 - Rikki Fulton

Rikki Fulton Plays A Drunk Weatherman

Rikki Fulton - ‘’Supercop’‘ With Mark McManus

Rikki Fulton: British Rail

When Jehovah witnesses visit your home

New Year’s Day

And a happy New Year to one and all! (Bliadhna Mhath Ùr, for fellow Caledonians!)

Christmas music part 3 plus a story, by JD

 Paul McCartney - Pipes Of Peace

McCartney’s video depicts the famous unofficial ‘truce’ between British and German troops on Christmas day 1914 when they met in no man’s land between the trenches. They exchanged cigarettes etc and even had an impromptu kick about when a football appeared from who knows where.

This video below was produced by The Imperial War Museum and is their record of what really happened in the trenches in 1914. There are many other videos on YouTube about the events of that day some of which include interviews with the ‘veterans’ who were there at the time, both British and German survivors. Worth seeking out and watching.

This below is a short extract from an essay by the late Iain Carstairs which he posted on his blog at Christmas in 2012. There is a link at the end of this piece and it is worth reading the whole thing:

A previously-unseen letter which describes the legendary football match of the Christmas Day truce during the First World War has been discovered.

The letter was sent by staff sergeant Clement Barker four days after Christmas 1914, when the British and German troops famously emerged from their trenches in peace.
Sgt Barker, from Ipswich, Suffolk, describes how the truce began after a German messenger walked across no man’s land on Christmas Eve to broker the temporary ceasefire.

British soldiers then went out and recovered 69 dead comrades and buried them.

Sgt Barker then wrote to his brother Montague -

“…a messenger come over from the German lines and said that if they did not fire Xmas day, they (the Germans) wouldn’t so in the morning (Xmas day).

“A German looked over the trench – no shots – our men did the same, and then a few of our men went out and brought the dead in (69) and buried them and the next thing happened a football kicked out of our Trenches and Germans and English played football.

“Night came and still no shots. Boxing day the same, and has remained so up to now… We have conversed with the Germans and they all seem to be very much fed up and heaps of them are deserting. Some have given themselves up as prisoners, so things are looking quite rosy.”

https://web.archive.org/web/20161114183012/https://iaincarstairs.wordpress.com/2012/12/25/a-very-happy-christmas/

Don’t know why but I felt that in the current political climate, the armchair warriors need a reminder that any conflict ends ingloriously, win or lose.

Once more I wish you a very happy Christmas.

FRIDAY MUSIC: Christmas 2025 (2)

Drive The Cold Winter Away - Traditional:

“Drive the Cold Winter Away” is an old traditional winter tune that has been used for both secular winter celebrations and for Christmas celebrations, with a large number of verses and variations. Versions of it are also know by the titles “In Praise of Christmas” and “All Hail To the Days”. Some versions of it appear to go back to at least about the year 1625, and the melody was originally based on the even older tune of “When Phoebus Did Rest”. Published versions of it dating back to at least the 17th Century can be found in the archives of both the Pepys Collection and the Roxburghe Collection. The lyrics appear to have evolved somewhat over the years, but many of the lyrics are sometimes attributed to Tom Durfey (1653-1723), or to “Anonymous” by others.

A Child is Born (Official Music Video) | Celtic Worship

Beautiful Star of Bethlehem

O Come, Emmanuel - Lindsey Stirling & Kuha’o Case

Trans-Siberian Orchestra - Christmas Canon (Official Music Video) [HD]

Lindsey Stirling - Celtic Carol

FRIDAY MUSIC: Christmas 2025 (1), by JD

Christmas Must Be Tonight | The Band | OFFICIAL LYRIC VIDEO

Boney M. - Mary’s Boy Child - Oh My Lord (1978)

Irish Pub Christmas Song – The Bells of Ballyclare

Helene Fischer | Adeste Fideles (Live aus der Hofburg Wien)

Good King Wenceslas Loreena McKennitt

It Came Upon the Midnight Clear (Harp Twins) - Nordic Winter Lullaby

FRIDAY MUSIC: Stephen Wilson Jr., by JD

This is a country music artist new to me and he is the ‘shot in the arm’ it needs to rescue the genre from its current stale and tired state.

Born on July 11, 1979, Wilson was raised in Seymour, Indiana. Introverted as a youth, Wilson and his brother were guided by their father into competitive boxing. This experience, culminating in Golden Gloves amateur boxing competitions, helped him conquer stage fright.

Wilson recalls how country singer Tim McGraw’s song “Don’t Take the Girl” profoundly impacted him as a child. Raised poor by a single dad, and with an absent mother who suffered through abusive relationships, the song’s storytelling sparked in him a passion for lyrics and poetry, leading him to begin writing his own songs.

Wilson’s father died in September 2018.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Wilson_Jr.
https://stephenwilsonjr.com/

Stephen Wilson Jr. - “Stand By Me” [Ben E. King Cover]

Stephen Wilson Jr. - Calico Creek (Acoustic)

Stephen Wilson Jr. - Grief is Only Love (Acoustic)

Stephen Wilson Jr. - “The Devil” (Live at the Print Shop)

Stephen Wilson Jr. - Year to Be Young 1994 (Later... with Jools Holland)

Stephen Wilson Jr. - “Father’s Son” (Live at the Print Shop)

FRIDAY MUSIC: Post-Budget Cheer

 It was the Budget this week so we need some musical good cheer!

A small collection of comic songs -

Noel Murphy ‘ Murphy And The Bricks’ 45 rpm

Cribbins - Digging a Hole

Donald Where’s Your Troosers? - ANDY STEWART

The Wurzels, The Combine Harvester, 1976

Cribbins - Right Said Fred

The Dubliners - Seven Drunken Nights

That should help to lift the gloom; possibly.