FRIDAY MUSIC: Russophonia - Otava Yo, by JD

 After Leonid and Friends last year, another excursion into the hidden musical heartland Russia and such a vast country is bound to have more musical talent waiting to be discovered.

"Otava Yo (Russian: Отава Ё, ота́ва meaning "aftergrass") is a Russian folk rock band from Saint Petersburg, formed in 2003.

Alexey Belkin, Alexey Skosyrev, Dmitriy Shikhardin, and Peter Sergeev worked together as buskers on the streets of St. Petersburg for about three years. The positive feedback from the listeners inspired them to officially form a band in 2003. Of the initial members, only Shikhardin had formal musical education; the rest were self-taught. Initially the band was called Reelroadъ and they played The Pogues-styled Celtic punk, but later changed their name to Otava Yo and turned to Russian traditional music."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otava_Yo
https://otava-yo.spb.ru/en/

Отава Ё - Про Ивана Groove (русское готическое R'N'B) - Otava Yo

Отава Ё - Ой, Дуся, ой, Маруся (казачья лезгинка) Otava Yo - (Cossack's lezginka)

Otava Yo - It is time for the lad to get married,

Отава Ё - Средневековое disco (medieval disco)

Two of these videos feature bagpipes. Russian bagpipes? I didn't know they had a tradition of the pipes in Russia so I did a search and found this -

"The Volynka bagpipe (from the word ‘vol’ meaning ‘ox’), valynka \pipe (duda) \goat (kozel) \bubble (puzir) was, until recently, an unexplored part of Russian instrumental music. However, it is also an unexplored spot on the map of European bagpipes. Whilst Russians know relatively little about bagpipes, there are several images of bagpipes in European and Russian travellers’ drawings, references in lists of musical instruments of the Russian Empire before the mid‐19th century, several images in folk pictures (lubock) and in church chronicles as well as references in literature and folklore. In recent years, the media has introduced new, previously unknown, sources."
https://www.bagpipesociety.org.uk/articles/2015/chanter/winter/the-revival-of-the-russian-bagpipe/

Kristallnacht in Stroud

We went to a gig by Katie Hopkins on Thursday in a pub near Stroud. There was a demo opposite the pub and at the last minute someone smashed a glass door. Here is what I have sent to the local paper:

LETTER TO THE EDITOR (OF STROUD NEWS AND JOURNAL)

Dear All

As a witness to the 'window-smashing' at the Star Inn Whiteshill (Stroud News, 12 January) I should like to offer a couple of corrections. Firstly it was a strong double glazed door, and a good thing too as people inside might have been seriously injured by flying glass had the rock weighing several pounds come through one of the windows.

Secondly, your writer says 'There is no suggestion that the damage was linked to the protesters who gathered beforehand.' Allow me to make that suggestion. This was not the early hours suburban bus shelter vandalism common where I live, but an attack carried out before 10 p.m. when the room was still full of people facing the speaker at the end of her talk. I can hardly say the perpetrator was actually from the well-policed crowd of protestors gathered on the other side of the road, but it is not likely pure coincidence that someone came round the back of the property to do this to a crowded room. The febrile atmosphere generated by campaigners was bound to inspire a thuggish moron.

History is repeating itself. My mother grew up in East Prussia when the National Socialists took over and as with all extremist organisations the first target was dissidents: everybody must think the same way. All the teachers joined the Party and tried to browbeat my mother into doing the same, but her father forbade it. She had to fight classmates in the playground but was strong enough to beat them. The school library suddenly had big gaps on the shelves where books by socialists and Jews had been removed. The history teacher was sacked and replaced by the caretaker - who needs nuance when you know the right answer to everything?

So now I am the son of a war refugee, born abroad in a country that no longer exists, and I am seeing another lot of Puritans take over (as though we learned nothing from Cromwell's joyless 1650s Protectorate, but then what history do they teach in British schools today?) Go round Cirencester's Parish church of St John the Baptist as we did yesterday and see how the black-clad right-thinkers vandalised its frescoes during Henry's Dissolution. You cannot say you are inclusive if you claim a hotline to God and use a mailed fist to impose unanimity on the people. It begins with Kristallnacht in well-heeled Whiteshill and among the 97.9% White population of Stroud District, but where will it end?

FRIDAY MUSIC: Steve Wickham, by JD

You may not know the name but Steve Wickham is/was fiddle player with Scots/Irish band The Waterboys in the 1980s and here are a few songs from his solo career as well as some tales.

Steve Wickham is an Irish musician. Originally from Marino, Dublin, but calling Sligo home. Wickham was a founding member of In Tua Nua and played violin on the classic U2 song "Sunday Bloody Sunday", as well as recordings by Elvis Costello, the Hothouse Flowers, Sinéad O'Connor, and World Party. He is a long-standing member of The Waterboys. Wickham plays both rock and roll and traditional Irish music, and has developed a rock music technique for violin he calls the "fuzz fiddle".

Wickham is also accomplished with the mandolin, tin whistle, concertina, saxophone, piano, guitar and bones.

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

Not a Theme Night - Saints and Angels (Steve Wickham)

Pascal - Steve Wickham

Recorded live as part of Theme Night #31 - Hawk's Well Theatre, Sligo, Ireland.

Steve Wickham plays The Gold Ring

Pascal - Steve Wickham

Recorded live as part of Theme Night #31 - Hawk's Well Theatre, Sligo, Ireland.

All Will Be Well - Steve Wickham

Stopping By Woods 

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In 1984 Wickham was in a band called InTuaNua who were one of the supporting acts when Bob Dylan played at Slane Castle in county Meath Steve tells how he met Dylan and was invited to perform with him:

"A tall American guy came over and told us that Bob would like to meet ‘the fiddler and the singer’. He brought Leslie Dowdall and myself over to see Bob in his quarters, an oasis of peace and tranquility away from the madding crowd. Bob came out of his tent to greet us, casually smoking a cigarette. Dylan’s eyes were startling and lined with heavy black eyeliner. He was wearing a jungle print shirt hanging open to the waist and a very robust looking pair of biker boots with brass hoops at the ankles. He looked otherworldly and spoke quietly. Bob praised InTuaNua and asked if Leslie and I would join him for a song during his set. Bob suggested that we play ‘Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat’. ‘It’s a regular blues’ he drawled in his familiar voice."

You can read the full tale here -

https://www.stevewickham.ie/blog/you-would-not-think-to-look-at-him-but-he-was-famous-long-ago-for-playing-the-electric-violin-on-desolation-row

FRIDAY MUSIC: Linda Ronstadt, by JD

Canciones de Mi Padre - Linda Ronstadt.

"Singer Linda Ronstadt was born in Tucson, Arizona, and grew up surrounded by music. One of Ronstadt's early musical influences was the Mexican songs her father taught her and her siblings. Her mother played the ukulele and her father played the guitar. Following in her father's footsteps, she learned to play guitar and performed with her brother and sister as a trio.

In 1987 Ronstadt explored her Hispanic heritage by recording a Spanish-language album, Canciones de Mi Padre (1987), which was filled with traditional Mexican songs like the ones her father loved."

https://www.biography.com/musicians/linda-ronstadt

(In Mexico and other S.American countries the word 'linda' means beautiful and her parents and grandparents would be well aware of that when they christened her Linda.)

LA CIGARRA - Linda Ronstadt (Live - 1987)

Linda Ronstadt - El Crucifijo de Piedra - Yo soy El Corrido

Mi Ranchito (2016 Remaster)

Linda Ronstadt - Yo soy el corrido

Linda Ronstadt Opens Up About Health, Career, Mexican Heritage

Linda Ronstadt "Frenesi"

Linda Ronstadt - Lo Siento Mi Vida

NYE: Dinner For One, by JD

 A perennial celebration in Germany and justly famous. A happy, healthy and successful 2024 to all!

JD's 2023 Advent Calendar: Christmas Day!

In 1858 Camille Saint-Saëns composed his Oratorio de Noël for five vocal soloists, mixed choir, strings, organ and harp. The work, sung in Latin, is based on texts from the Old and New Testaments, the Psalms and Gospels, as well as the Catholic Christmas liturgy. A distinctive chamber music-like instrumentation, with lyrical soloistic parts and a modest choral part combine to create a basic pastoral mood which has led this Christmas Oratorio to become one of the most performed works by Saint-Saëns.

Saint-Saëns: Weihnachtsoratorium / Christoph Poppen / DRP

(00:32) 01 Prelude In the Style of J.S. Bach

(03:54) 02 Et Pastores erant; Gloria (chorus)

(08:40) 03 Expectants expectavi Dominum (soprano)

(11:39) 04 Domine, ego credidi (tenor, chorus)

(14:37) 05 Benedictus qui venit (soprano, bass)

(18:42) 06 Quare fremuerunt gentes (chorus)

(21:58) 07 Tecum principium (soprano, tenor, bass)

(26:42) 08 Alleluja (soprano, soprano, alto, bass)

(28:55) 09 Consurge, Filia Sion (soprano, soprano, alto, bass, chorus)

(34:28) 10 Tollite hostias (chorus)

JD's 2023 Advent Calendar (24): Christmas Eve

A small selection from around the world of other, and very different, Christmas musical offerings Including what is possibly the earliest Christmas carol (if carol is the right word for it.)

Christmas Song by St. Gregorios Orthodox Church, Trivandrum

Veni Redemptor Gentium

This is the oldest Christmas carol ever documented. Dates back to 4th century Rome. (Come, Redeemer of the nations) is a Latin Advent or Christmas hymn by Ambrose of Milan

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

Theshbuhtho | Syrian Orthodox Nativity Hymns | Crystal Chords | 4K

Yehoodhiyayile Oru Gramathil Super hit Malayalam Christmas song