JD's 2023 Advent Calendar (09)

A miscellany of 'pop' favourites:

Paul Mcartney - Wonderful Christmas Time

Greg Lake - I Believe in Father Christmas

Wham

Chris Rea - Driving home for christmas

Fairytale of New York:

JD's 2023 Advent Calendar (08) - Rod Stewart!

For Friday here is Rod Stewart croaking his way through a few Christmas songs. I know he can't sing but even so I enjoyed his Christmas concert from Stirling Castle about 10 or 12 years ago.

Rod Stewart And Cee Lo Green - Merry Christmas, Baby

Rod Stewart - Blue Christmas (Live)

Rod Stewart And Ella Fitzgerald - What Are You Doing New Year's

Rod Stewart - Red-Suited Super Man

JD's 2023 Advent Calendar (07)

Colorado-based Celtic duo Beth Gadbaw and Margot Krimmel have performed together throughout the U.S., the U.K, and Ireland. Recently featured on Colorado Public Radio, their newest release Icy December was described by The Folk Harp Journal as “a wonderful compilation…that will make you feel nostalgic and warm” and by British folk magazine What’s Afoot as “an absolute joy to listen to.” All-Ireland harp champion Sylvia Woods said, “This is my favorite harp and vocal CD.”

Beth Gadbaw & Margot Krimmel perform their own unique arrangements of Celtic & American folk music, as well as their own compositions. Angelic vocals, sparkling harp, rhythmic bodhrán, and surprisingly intricate vocal harmonies define their unforgettable sound, delivered with masterful musicianship and genuine joy.

https://whitebirdsmusic.wordpress.com/about/

O Come Emmanuel

Gloucestershire Wassail

I Saw Three Ships

JD's 2023 Advent Calendar (06)

Moya Brennan- In Dulci Jubilo

What Is This Fragrance? - Celtic Christmas

"Keith and Kristyn Getty have been called the "preeminent" modern hymn writers in the world today by Christianity Today, with a venerable catalog of songs sung around the world including the renowned hymn, "In Christ Alone." 

Born in Northern Ireland and based in Nashville, they are multi award-winning artists (including a Grammy nomination for Confessio: Irish American Roots) with Keith being the first musician of the modern era to be awarded the OBE from Queen Elizabeth II for service to music and hymn writing. 

With a desire to help teach the Christian faith, their music intertwines deep theology with a unique musical genre, drawing from both inside and outside the classical church form, to reinvent the hymn. According to CCLI, they have written or published 38 of the top 500 songs sung in USA & UK churches, and Integrity Music estimates that more than 100 million people in the world sing their music each year. Learn more at www.gettymusic.com."

Keith & Kristyn Getty - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

Sing We Now of Christmas (LIVE) — Keith & Kristyn Getty

Sleigh Ride Medley (Live) - Keith and Kristyn Getty

JD's 2023 Advent Calendar (05)

Three more Christmas delights starting with a bit of wassailing!

Wassail, Wassail, All over the Town

Yorkshire Wassail, performed by Elektra Women's Choir

THAT CHOIR: The Holly and the Ivy arranged by Ola Gjeilo

While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night (Lyngham) (StF 221)

The Christmas Tree:

This is sung in many of the pubs around Sheffield - with everyone joining in the chorus with gusto; "Ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho!" I think everyone gets high from the hyper ventilation needed to sing it. Here it's being sung in the wonderful Royal Hotel in Dungworth, a small village out on the moors near Sheffield.

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