A harp is a beautiful instrument. It can be imposing like the sea, it can sparkle like a waterfall, it can dance like a butterfly or it can be sad as the rain on a grey morning.
On A La Source, the first song of Whispering Woods, it is caressing my ears, flowing and sparkling through them like a young stream over small rocks on an early spring morning, the sky full of pastel colours, relaxing yet energising every single ounce of my being.
It’s only one harp I hear, nothing more, she is delicate and soothing, yet she has the power to take me away to those happy moments I’ve spent hiding in the morning mist with my camera, the sun starting to turn the water into diamonds, a wren defiantly hopping around me, closer and closer, as I was waiting for a kingfisher to flash by. This, dear readers, is the beauty of a harp.
I’m listening to Whispering Woods, the ninth album of harpist and singer
Nadia Birkenstock.
Whispering Woods is a title well chosen for this solo harp CD, as the delicate tones of this lovely album indeed take me away to the woods my girlfriend spent hours in during her youth. The place I’ve also learned to love. A place not far from the birthplace of Nadia actually. A small stream flowing through the forests surrounding the Scharpenacker in the hills above Wuppertal and magically called the Murmelbach.
Nadia Birkenstock herself was born in Solingen, Germany a town quite nearby. She started playing the piano at 5 and she started singing with various choirs and vocal ensembles during her teenage years. She first discovered the harp during a concert of the legendary Scottish harp duo
Sileas
formed by
Patsy Seddon
and
Mary McMaster.
At the age of 16, she started to play the harp herself, first teaching herself, later taking lessons with classically trained teachers including masterclasses with
Kim Robertson
in the USA and Scottish harp player
Bill Taylor.
Nadia earned herself a one-year scholarship in the USA and got her first vocal training during her stay at the
Westover College
in Connecticut. She continued her vocal training at the
music conservatory
in Düsseldorf, Germany.
During her vocal studies, Nadia created her first solo performance for Celtic harp and voice and she never looked back, touring the world, playing festivals like
the Southeastern harp weekend (North Carolina, USA),
the Sentmenat harp festival
in Barcelona,
the Rencontres Internationales de la Harpe Celtique
in Dinan, France and the
Celtica festival
in Italy among many, many others.
In 2001 Nadia released her first solo album: Emerald Isles. She herself describes this CD as a mix of Irish harp music, Celtic songs, dance tunes, and original compositions. A CD that got her positive reactions from
Folk World
and Celtic world radio in Australia.
Wondering Between The worlds was released in 2003, followed by Winter Tales in 2006, a lovely Celtic folk Christmas album that indeed mixes the magic of Christmas with the beauty of Celtic harp music. You can find it on Spotify here.
In 2007 Nadia released another themed CD, one I haven’t listened to yet but which sounds really interesting. A mix of lullabies from around the world called Les Berceuses De Coline.
The next album, Strange New Land, came out in 2008 and Nadia sees that as her songwriter debut. In 2011 she did another very interesting project that came out in two languages; The Enchanted Lake (English) and Der Verzauberte See (German). According to Folk World it’s a mix of exquisite harp music and outstanding storytelling by Dublin actor
Mick Fitzgerald and I’ll happily take their word for it. This combination of Celtic harp music and fairytales earned Nadia Birkenstock the global music award 2011.
In 2010 another interesting collaboration started, this time with Welsh percussionist and gong makerSteve Hubback.
The two played the opening concert at the international harp festival at Sentmenat, Barcelona in 2010 and kept making music and playing concerts together culminating in the 2013 album The Glow Within, an album that combines Celtic folk music with more freer, experimental pieces.
Finally, to conclude Nadia’s more than impressive biography she also plays concerts together with the German string quartet
Northern Lights.
In these concerts the five ladies focus both on Nadia’s own compositions and on traditional Celtic songs and dance music.
And now there is a new album, the first one from Nadia’s hand that made it to CeltCast HQ, but it certainly won’t be the last one! Whispering Woods came out in October 2019. Although it still has one or two pure Celtic songs on it -including my personal favourite; The Musical Priest, with a lovely sparkling harp arrangement may I add- most of the songs have a timeless beauty to it. Purely featuring the beauty of the harp and the skills of Nadia as a harp player and songwriter. There are no vocals on Whispering Woods and it’s almost completely done solo. Only occasionally, percussionist and guitarist
Thomas Vogt–
who also recorded and mixed Whispering Woods– joins in to assist Nadia. You might think that there is not too much to say about a pure harp album, but how wrong you would be then. Whispering Woods presents gem after gem. I already mentioned the sparkling opening track A La Source and the Celtic folk classic The Magical Priest, but there are many more.
The second track on Whispering Woods, The Lady Of Gollerus is a bit calmer than A La Source, it has a more gentle melody. But just as in A La Source, Nadia plays really cleverly with stereo effects and different layers in her arrangements, she together with producer Thomas Vogt also added small musical touches all over the CD to enrich the music. Here it is mainly the waves of harp chords sprinkled like fairy dust over the main melody. It may sound like a small touch, but it is so important to keep the music interesting and is therefore really smartly done.
Spesbourg starts with some strong harp chords, going into a fragile almost classical harp intro. If I close my eyes, I can easily see a single ballerina floating over a dark stage. And then suddenly there is Thomas Vogt on percussion and the song turns into a cross between Celtic folk and the kind of instrumental singer-songwriter music
Jyoti Verhoeff
played so expertly well on her latest CD Touches. I love the catchy melody. I also love the layers of percussion, harp chords and the harp lead voice laid over each other. I deliberately say harp voice, of course I know it is a lead melody, but Nadia has the ability to make her harp sing. I never knew pure harp music could be so catchy.
Nadia keeps that Celtic pop-folk feel with Toccatta. I can hear hints of the sound of
Omnia’s
Pagan Folklore sound in the intro -people who love Jenny’s Naked Harp album should really check this CD out, you’ll be in for a pleasant surprise- but soon Toccatta flows into another lovely combination of Celtic harp, pop-folk and flashes of classical harp solo. Nadia Birkenstock officially called her CD Whispering Woods – Celtic Harp solos, but that title doesn’t fully do justice to the music. These tracks are far more than just harp solo pieces. They are true songs. With intent and purpose. Just like Jyoti Verhoeff, Nadia is a singer-songwriter by heart, who decided to let her instrument do the singing. And what an amazing voice her harp has. I can’t begin to imagine what would happen if she and Jyoti happened to meet up and start a project together. It would – most likely- be stunning.
Enough of this daydreaming, back to Whispering Woods. As I said this album keeps giving and giving. The Glow Within is another tender ballad ‘sung’ by the beautiful harp voice. It’s amazing how this album works in both ways. You can listen to it as I do now, through headphones, with full attention and you’ll find it’s intriguing, captivating music. But played as background music, it will flow through you. Calming. Relaxing.
This album will show you what happens when a gifted artist becomes one with her instrument and with the music she is playing. It becomes true beauty.
We are not even halfway through the CD, and there are many more gems to come. Be it fragile tender harp solos, beautiful ballads, lovely midtempo instrumental singer-songwriter tunes or up-tempo Celtic folk classics, but I’ve said all I need to say about Whispering Woods. Every extra syllable added would just take away from the music. any extra word more would only be reviewer blah blah blah.
With this album, Nadia has inspired me for pure harp music. She has shown me the versatility of this impressive instrument. And I thank her deeply for that.
– Cliff
Editor: Diane Deroubaix
pictures: Thomas Zydatiß
Twigs & Twine – Long Story Short (2019) review
29Dec
Twigs & Twine started as a good excuse for a group of friends to play music together, but it quickly grew into a fully-fledged folk-pop band with original material.‘ Never was the first sentence of a biography as spot-on as this first line written by
Twigs & Twine.
Somewhere further in the bio the band state: ‘For our music, we use a huge variety of instruments as well as different languages, but most importantly, lots of humor, even in songs that are really about death and tragedy.‘ Again so, so true. Twigs & Twine’s debut album is oozing with good vibes, humor, and positive energy which make it a joy to listen to. So let’s get acquainted with this fun bunch of young musicians.
Twigs & Twine’s story started when five friends:
-Eef – vocals, piano, and bodhrán
-Iris – vocals, cajon, djembe, bodhrán
-Lian- vocals, piano, autoharp, violin
-Luca – vocals, ukelele, lute guitar, mouth organ
-Marijke – vocals, low whistle, tin whistle
came together under the name twibv, short for ‘Tot We Iets Beters Vinden’ (‘till we find something better’), to play Irish folk together. Soon they started incorporating their own material in their music, with lyrics influenced by mythology, old manuscripts, poems, nature, and their own experiences.
In 2015 their first EP, Snippets, came out. In 2017 they won a Dutch street music festival called
‘De Gouden pet’
(the golden cap) and they played the major Dutch festivals:
The Midwinter Fair,
Keltfest
and Castlefest.
In 2019 the band found their way into the studio to record their debut CD.
So here we have it, Long Story Short, the first album by Twigs & Twine and I have to say this is a charming CD. It contains13 fun songs that the band wrote and arranged themselves, carving out their own little niche in folk music I would call theater folk.
All members of Twigs & Twine have a healthy sense of humor and the best example of Twigs & Twines’ sense of humor comes straight away with the first song, Nehalennia. When I first heard it I thought it was an old text put to music, just as it is common in the Medieval/pagan folk scene to do, but I couldn’t be more wrong. The band wrote a song about the ultimate climax between two lovers, and then translated that into Latin! And the best thing about it? it is not a cheese gimmick; it’s really well written. The lyrics are truly poetic, and the music is also well-composed, making Nehalennia a lovely song.
The second song, The Trail, is another pleasant folk-pop song, this time dipped in a wee bit of country sauce, mainly through the vocals. It’s followed by Baídín Fheilimí, a well known Irish children’s tune sung quite often in schools. I love the interpretation of Twigs & Twine. Lian has a lovely voice that blends really well with the piano, low whistle, and autoharp but also with her fellow musician’s voices in this tender ballad.
It says a lot about the band that Lian went to her old Irish teacher to work on her ‘accent’ for this song. The songs and explanations in the extended booklet, (the band actually wrote a separate book for the liner notes called Long Story Longer, as they became too big to fit in the CD), may look witty and fun, but Twigs and Twine do take their music seriously.
‘t Witte Wiefje is a song in Dutch about a farmboy who got caught in a deadly dance with ‘een Witte Wief’ , a cross between a witch and a ghost found in the mist, mostly known in legends in the east of Holland. The whole arrangement of the song sounds so Dutch to me (in a good way though!). In Holland, we have a long tradition of cabaret. Cabaret is a type of comedy similar to stand up comedy, but in cabaret the comedian usually has a general storyline or a main theme flowing through his show, binding the jokes together. Quite often the comedian will also sing some songs that are more serious, more meant to make you think about what the comedian is trying to say with his jokes. Those songs used to be influenced by french chansons, but evolved and became a specific theatrical style of their own, and are usually either voice and piano, or the comedian singing with a small duo or trio of piano, guitar and double bass in the background. For a non-Dutch/Belgium/German reader, think of the song Edelweiss in The Sound Of Music. That comes pretty close to what I’m describing. Many of Twigs & Twine’s songs carry the same ‘klein Kunst’ DNA as songs made by well known Dutch artists like
Acda En De Munnik
or
Claudia de Breij.
Messe Ocus Pangur Bán is the next song with a clear klein kunst DNA. The ukelele and cheerful flute make it a song that could easily be in the repertoire of Dutch comedian
Brigitte Kaandorp.
Just a fun little song to fully enjoy. I really love the bluesy mouth organ in it. And saying all that about a song that is actually a 9th-century poem by an Irish monk put to music. Talking about making a song your own!
The Nightingale is -again- an older text that got the Twigs & Twine makeover. It’s an adaptation of a poem from Brittany, the general melody makes me think a lot of the Dutch folk band
AmmA,
but with that clear Twigs & Twine sauce poured over it.
Maiden in the Mor Lay is probably my favorite song on Long story Short. A song Twigs & Twine found in the back of a book about Middle English. It features all of the beautiful voices of Twigs and Twine, Luca taking the lead in this one and all the others following suit, only accompanied by guitar and cajon, making the song almost a capella and very reminiscent of Omnia
in this specific case. It is sung really beautifully.
As is the next track: Song of the Exiled. A lovely ballad in the style of
|Gwendolyn Snowdon
with some beautiful harmonies: one of Twigs and Twine’s standout trademarks.
Which brings me to the only downside of Long Story Short. I wish that the band would have gotten a better sound on this album. For some reason the studio engineer and mixer decided to use a lot of reverb on the voices, making them sound very indirect. Sometimes there is so much reverb that it seems the microphone is standing in the middle of the room, with the singers standing some meters away from it. I have to be honest, I am not a fan of that sound. In my opinion, it takes away a lot of the beauty of the voices and the fragile yet beautiful piano, harp or guitar arrangements the band so carefully thought out which is such a shame. Songs like This Is Fun, the stunning instrumental Epiphany In D, Mirie It Is or indeed songs like Nehalennia and The Trail could have sounded so much better with a more direct mix.
All in all Twigs & Twine have made a lovely debut. Their Klein Kunst (theater) folk is positive, vibrant and full of energy and I really enjoyed listening to it. People who enjoy the music of AmmA, Omnia’s Poetry album, or the music of theatre acts like Claudia the Brey of
Reinhard Mey
will most likely enjoy Long Story Short too. I myself am already looking forward to the next album of this young band.
– Cliff
– Editor: Gwendolyn Snowdon
– bandportrait: Marlike Marks
CeltCast Classic – Back of the Moon – Luminosity (2005)
17Dec
The last months we started a new series of reviews that we call the CeltCast Classics. In this series, we feature older albums that we feel deserve to be in the spotlight one more time either because of their importance, their influence on the scene, or just because they are stunningly beautiful. Now the collective CeltCast record collection will be quite enough to keep us going for a good while, but we felt it would be way more interesting if we would ask well-known people from the scene to nominate a CeltCast classic. The very first we asked to do so was no other then
Vana‘s
creative director and one of the masterminds behind
Castlefest
and
Keltfest,
Mark van der Stelt.
His answer came swiftly:” I’ve narrowed it down to 3 options,
The Corrs,
Back of the Moon
or
Loreena Mckennitt.
It’s gonna be Luminosity by Back of the Moon, that’s the album I play the most. The first time I heard this CD I knew I wanted to invite this band on one of our podia. The music comes together perfectly. Delightful timing, and the voice of the singer is brilliant.
Sadly they split up. It would be really something if they would be willing to grace Keltfest for a one-time reunion concert!”
So the research began. Who were Back of the Moon? What did their music sound like? What are the band members up to nowadays? And most importantly, can we still get a hold of their music?
Well, Back of the Moon are a Scottish band that formed in 2000, first under the name Gillian Frame & Back of the Moon. The founding band members were Gillian Frame (fiddle, vocals), Simon McKerrell (border pipes, uillean pipes, whistle, vocals) and Hamish Napier, (piano, vocals). In 2001 Findlay Napier (guitar, vocals) was asked to join the band and with that line-up, the band released their first album Gillian Frame & Back of the Moon on the
Foot Stompin’Records label.
In 2003 their second record Fortune’s Road came out. A lovely Scottish folk album, mixing Scottish instrumental folk songs with traditional sounding vocal songs. At that point, they shortened the band name to Back of the Moon.
Fortune’s Road won the band their first accolades, winning Best Up and Coming Act at the
Scots Trad Music awards
back in 2003 and Best Celtic Group” at
Festival Interceltique de Lorient.
After that Simon McKerrell left the band and was replaced by Ali Hutton (border pipes, whistle, Bodhrán) and in that formation Back of the Moon recorded Luminosity which was also released by Foot Stompin’Records in 2005 and is still available through them as digital album. (for information click
here)
With Luminosity, Back of the Moon won the title of Best Folk Band with the Scots Trad Music awards. A well-deserved reward! Sadly, in November 2007 the curtain was drawn for the last time, as Back of the Moon played their very last gig at the Kennedy Centre in Washington DC.
As far as I can see only Luminosity is still officially available with Foot Stompin’, but CD’s are still regularly available second hand through eBay and Amazon, and that is how we got our copy of this brilliant CD, ’cause I can already tell you this really is a gem. So let’s dive into it!
Wow, that opening stands. That’s the first thing I thought as I heard the powerful first piano chords of Lumsden’s Rant. This sounded more like a pop album, a bit like
Keane
actually, not like the Celtic folk I was expecting. Not for long though. Soon enough the pipes, violin and whistles join in the fun for a good old Gaelic dance tune, full of energy, full of cool variations in the melody. Still, it’s not in your typical folk style, the piano chords and pop arrangements under it give it some extra dynamics, as if Keane indeed started playing Scottish folk. Back of the Moon has me wide awake after this strong opener.
I actually expected the band to carry on with that same full-on energy but no, they change down gears all the way with the second and third song; Glenlogie and Nine Stone Rig. Both are beautiful ballads that wouldn’t look out of place on any good singer-songwriter album.
Glenlogie is – according to the booklet – one of the few traditional Scottish ballads with a happy ending and it features the beautiful voice of Findlay Napier. You can compare it to Belgian singer-songwriter
Milow.
Findlay has the same pleasant, friendly tone that Milow has. Your mind instantly calms down when he starts singing. Mesmerising. And Back of the Moon had two such those voices! As you can hear on Nine Stone Rig, Gillian Frame is blessed with an equally mesmerising voice, a wee bit like
Shantalla’sHelen Flaherty.
It’s rare for a band to have two singers of this calibre and luckily Back of the Moon makes full use of them.
Both Glenlogie and Nine Stone Rig are lovely calming ballads, played ever so tenderly, weaving a blanket of soothing notes around the vocalists, making them sound even warmer and softer than they already are. The lovely trumpet ‘solo’ in Glenlogie or the flute improvisations in Nine Stone Rig are the icing on the cake. What a wonderful start to this album.
Back of the Moon performing The Brewer lady at
the Philadelphia Folk Festival,
2007
The fourth song, Eggs In The Kitchen, is the second of the six instrumental folksongs you’ll find on Luminosity. This time it starts more traditional, a gentle violin melody opens this song, named after a remark grandpa Napier once made:’There are eggs in the kitchen!.’ Well, it must have been scrambled eggs, cause when the pipes come in the tempo accelerates fast and Eggs In The Kitchen becomes a tasty mix of Celtic folk meets upbeat pop music. I actually love the pop arrangements Back of the Moon added to their instrumental songs. It gives them something extra. A bit of extra punch.
It always sounds so easy, recording a Gaelic jig or reel, but it actually is really hard. First, you need a catchy tune, then the talent to keep the variations interesting and lastly the imagination to give it the arrangement that makes it stand out from all those other dance tunes out there. Back Of the Moon combined all those talents. This includes the cool stereo effects in Eggs In the Kitchen, the lovely melodies and variations in songs like Lumsden’s Rant, Eggs In he Kitchen or Goodfellas, or the lovely pop arrangements and trombone halfway through the latter song. Back of the moon has it all.
With Joey Beauty and Voodoo Chilli, the band even recorded two instrumental ballads! And good ones at that. Joey Beauty, for instance, is a beautiful love song, sung not by vocals, but by Gillian on fiddle and Hamish on flute.
Now that I’ve mentioned them, ballads are the speciality of Back of the Moon. I already mentioned Glenlogie and Nine Stone Rig, but there are way more gems like that on Luminosity. Gillian’s beautiful voice (and also Ali’s lovely whistle melodies) shine once more in The Final Trawl.
Brewer Lad is a positive upbeat folk song, sung by Findlay Napier, reminding me a lot of the German band
Cara
who we featured in our previous CeltCast Classics. I especially like how Findlay and Gillian’s voices blend together here. A match made in heaven.
I’ve saved the best for last though. A song that is also Mark van de Stelts favourite: Ship In A Bottle. It starts with a stunning violin and flute intro that made me totally tear up the first time I heard it. I still get goosebumps all over when this song starts. Findlay’s voice is absolutely beautiful in this touching ballad of what could have been but never was. One of the best ballads I’ve heard in a long while. Celtic singer-songwriter folk at its very, very best! I fully understand why Mark nominated Luminosity to be a CeltCast Classic. This song alone makes this album worth that title. You may need to search a bit to obtain it, but it will be so worth the effort. Luminosity is a wonderful pop-folk album. I can only hope that Mark manages to make his wish come true and that Back of the Moon will grace the stage one more time. I know that I’ll be standing right there, front row, taking it all in. Guaranteed
-Cliff
-editor: Diane Deroubaix
Special thanks to Mark van der Stelt and Diane Deroubaix for providing me with the music and inspiration.
Epilogue
After the breakup of Back of the Moon, all bandmembers remained extremely active within the Scottish folk scene. Here is a small summary:
– Simon McKerrell
now has a PhD. To quote his biography: ‘Dr Simon McKerrell is a Reader in Music and Society at Newcastle University and has previously worked at the Universities of Sheffield, Glasgow and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. He is interested in the social impact of music and the creative industries. His current research focuses on music in the creative economy in rural areas and takes an interdisciplinary and mixed methods approach to the relationship between culture and policy. He is the author of Focus: Scottish Traditional Music (Routledge), and the Co-Editor of both Music as Multimodal Discourse: Media, Power and Protest (Bloomsbury) and Understanding Scotland Musically: Folk, Tradition, Modernity (Routledge).”
He is also still actively playing the pipes.
More info on that can be found on his website: https://simonmckerrell.com/
– Ali Hutton has been extremely busy since 2007 sharing his talent with numerous folk acts and bands, building up a discography that counts well over thirty records! Among them are
Ross Ainslie,
with whom he has the
Ross and Ali
project, which at the moment is BIG news in the UK and the band
Old blind dogs.
He is also a founding member of
the Treacherous Orchestra,
which, according to Findlay Napier, is a HUGE band in the British folk scene -and I’ll gladly take his word in it.
For all info:
https://alihutton.com/–
– Hamish Napier has been just as active as Ali Hutton, working as a tutor; a composer; a producer and co-arranger a solo artist and a live performer. He does that as part of the duo
Nae Plans
with fiddler Adam Sutherland; withDuncan Chrishom’s ‘gathering’;
as well as the
Jarlath Henderson band.
He also works together with Ross Ainslie in his
Sanctuary band.
Next to that, he has received many more accolades over the years. Among them, Best composer and Best tutor of the year with the Scots Trad music awards, AND has his own
solo work
out. The lovely albums The River (2016) and The Railroad (2018). Both cd’s I’m sure will find their way to my review table at some point in time.,/br>
More info:
https://www.hamishnapier.com/
-Gillian Frame, just as all other former Back of the Moon members, has been an active contributor to the Scottish folk scene, as a tutor but also a session musician with acts such as
The Unusual Suspects,
Breabach,
Treacherous Orchestra,
Rachel Sermanni,
Deaf Shepherd,
Mairearad Green and
Anna and Duncan Lyall’s infinite reflections.
In February 2016 she released a solo album called
Pendulum,
a CD of which she herself says:
‘This is a collection of songs and tunes that have cemented themselves into my repertoire over the last 15 or so years. Favourites from both performing and teaching contexts and arranged here with the support of the wonderful Mike Vass, Anna Massie and Euan Burton. ‘
Together with her husband Findlay Napier she has also been active in the
Findlay Napier Trio
and a soon to be launched new project called
The ledger
More info is found here:
https://www.gillianframe.com/
– Last but not least is Findlay Napier, who has also been busy, releasing three solo albums,
VIP: Very Interesting Persons in 2015; the mini CD
very Interesting Extras in 2016 and
Glasgow in October 2017.
Furthermore, he is touring with The Findlay Napier duo, trio, quartet or band, depending on the wishes of the venue. he is about to launch a new project with his wife Gillian Frame called The Ledger; he also became a tutor just like Gillian and Hamish and organises the
Glasgow Songwriting Festival.
More info on Findlay Napier is to be found here: https://www.findlaynapier.com/
Ritual Duir – The Path Of Druids (2019) review
15Dec
This is going to be a review that is very, very dear my heart. It all started in 2018 when Rose Avalon – who had already left
Cuélebre
at that moment- and Belenosa Alba – a flutist and horn player Rose met the previous year- gave me, among others, a 3 track demo with the request to give some honest feedback. On that demo were three acoustic tribal pagan folk songs with some amazing vocals from Rose. So my feedback was short and sweet. ‘Rose, I love this!’
Over the next one and a half years, Rose and Belenosa kept sending me updates that kept whetting my appetite. At this year’s summer
Castlefest
I finally got the full demo version of The Path Of Druids. And although still not in it’s final mix, the music blew me away. ‘This can’t get any better.’ I thought. But listening to the finished album I realize how wrong I was. It CAN, and it DID! And the best thing about it? I can FINALLY break the silence!!! Everybody!! Rose Avalon has a new pagan folk CD out! It’s called The Path Of Druids!! And it sounds A-MA-ZING!!!!!
Of course we know Rose Avalon as the lady who replaced Marta Gálves as the lead singer of the Spanish pagan folk band Cuélebre. A band she joined because she wanted to express her love for folk music and her passion for nature. But Rose has been making music her whole life. At the age of 18, she recorded her first pop-rock demo under the name
Equivocada Humanidas.
She studied drama and acting and did some cinematic work in Barcelona, having one of the lead roles in the movie
Pactar con el gato
for instance. She even wrote a vampire novel called
Nocturne Para Violín – Nocturne For Violin that is still easily available as eBook.
In the last seven years, she has been making progressive folk metal with her band
Rose Avalon,
recording a first album called Northern Strengths that came out in 2014. During those metal years, her desire to make pagan folk became bigger and bigger, so a wish came true when she was allowed to join Cuélebre as their second lead singer.
In September 2017 Rose left Cuelebre again to focus on her own music as a singer and bagpipe player and formed
Ritual Duir,
together with somebody who crossed her roads, who had an equally big interest in Celtic music, had the same passion for nature and who became a dear friend: Belenosa Alba on backing vocals, flute and horns.
Belenosa also dedicated her whole life to music, she started playing music when she was 6. In a chat she told me: ‘Learning music is really expensive, but luckily I could join a music school founded by people who were willing to do that for free so that the kids could experience other skills than only sports or dance.’ It was a project that inspired her so much she now does the same thing herself, running a music school that teaches the kids for free.
In the end she was able to study classical flute at the Conservatory of Music of Barcelona.
But she always had a love for Celtic music. When she and Rose finally met, everything changed. Ritual Duir was born.
The band’s line up was completed when drummer/ percussionist Jose Mouro and guitarist David R joined Ritual Duir prior to the release of Path Of The Druids. Rose explains on her webpage that Ritual Duir was created in honour of the trees, the forest, the fauna, and the ancient druidic wisdom. The band does that with a powerful mix of tribal pagan folk music and touches of Rose’s metal background. A mix that makes them unique in the pagan folk scene. A mix that makes The Path Of Druids, one of the best, most powerful pagan folk albums I have ever heard.
The musical magic starts right after the spoken intro, with a cool keyboard melody line that reminds me a lot of that used by bands of the new age/dance scene in the ’90’s like
Sacred Spirit
or
Dance to Trance
in their big hit American Natives. But Ritual Duir doesn’t put a big beat under it, nor do they flow into a mellow soundscape, no they use that same sound to create a dark mystique musical carpet, just as bands like
Trobar de Morte
do so well. Those Trobar the Morte like keyboard soundscapes run through every song on The Path Of Druids, giving the album an ancient, slightly dark feel.
This feel is even enhanced by the deep shamanic tribal drum that not only drives the first song –When The Human Arrives– on, but is found all over The Path Of Druids. Rose and Belenose managed to capture a strong ancient feel in really catchy songs that draw you in instantly. And then I didn’t even mention the biggest highlight of The Path Of Druids yet. The vocals! Rose Avalon is blessed with an amazingly versatile voice, powered by some huge lungs. She can do it all! powerful clean metal vocals, soft angry whispering, high classical soprano, soulful rock vocals, and jazzy singing lines, she throws it all in as if it is nothing.
It’s the combination of her strong vocal performance and the dark intense music that gives the lyrics of The Path Of Druids its power. And those lyrics are important. Rose, who wrote all the lyrics, has something to say. When The Human Arrives, for instance, is a clear statement about how she feels the human race is mistreating and polluting the earth.
The second song Samonios is dedicated to the Samhain ritual. In this song Ritual Duir takes us through the veil into the ancient world of the Celts, the age of Boudica, and again in a very powerful way. Ritual Duir doesn’t think in style boundaries. They give the music what it needs. We already met Rose’s powerful metal voice, and the band isn’t afraid to through in a strong electric guitar chord when the music needs it either. They play ever so cleverly with the contrast between clean acoustic guitar and recorder and the dramatic powerful sounds of the keyboards and rock guitar. It is if you are listening to a jam session between Cuélebre, Trobar de Morte and
Wadruna
who invited Josh Elliot of
The Dolmen
to add his guitar sound. Deep, dark and powerful! Just listen to that deep male choir under Rose her vocal solo escapade! So clever. So well arranged.
Wild Balance is a cheerful upbeat song. This is Rose is at her best as a singer. Her voice is so expressive, she uses her acting background so well. She can sound cheerful and loving -as she does here- angry and vicious, deeply sad -as she does astonishingly well in the song Tears For Ynys Mön– or seriously threatening. That alone makes this record so appealing to me. But it is not only that. It is also the wonderfully written and well-arranged songs on The Path Of Druids. Every song is a delight for the ears. a rock opera in itself. That is what this album actually is. A pagan-folk rock opera.
In Wild Balance Rose’s loving friendly voice, together with the upbeat tribal drums; Belenosa’s recorder melody; the acoustic guitar and Rose’s bagpipe, invite us all to connect with mother nature in the ancient Celtic way. Again that Josh Elliot electric guitar riff at the end of the song gives the music an extra layer. A deeper dimension. And I’m loving it.
Not all songs are about nature, To Come Back Home addresses three strong topics at one go: The stupidity and destructiveness of war; female independence, and the hurt of someone who loses a loved one. Rose throws out some impressive ‘panting’ vocals as
Eivør
does in the song Trøllabundin. Again the message is packed in that stunning mix of pure pagan folk and female-fronted metal power. Electric rock guitar, recorder, bagpipe, keyboards, they all add up to create a really strong sound that it is truly mesmerizing me.
Now I could really go on and on about The Path of Druids, taking every single song and going into every detail of why I love it, but that would take away all the fun of discovering this wonderful album yourself. So I won’t mention the bagpipe on Your Memories Will Rest In The Trees that make it seem like
Corvus Corvax
just joined this pagan folk extravaganza. I won’t tell, how Rose’s acting skills really shine on Tears Of Ynys Mön. How she acts out the grief of a whole Celtic tribe whose lands have been burned to the ground by an enemy. Nor will I mention the lovely, almost theatrical ballad Stars, or the fun energetic folk party that is called The Magic Feast Of Lugnasad. But I do want to compliment producer Marcel Graell at the
Nowhere studio
in Barcelona who gave The Path Of Druids such an amazing sound. he managed to capture every note, every detail in the music, amplifying that beautiful contrast between acoustic and electronic instruments and making the most of the talents of all members of Ritual Duir.
The Path Of Druids is one of the best pagan folk albums I have heard to date, better yet, I personally think it is one of the best albums to grace my CD player ever. The last time I was so taken by a record was the first time I heard Dies, Nox Et Omnia,
Cesair’s
debut masterpiece. And that is where I want to place The Path Of Druids too. Although I have to add a small side note to that. The power of The Path Of Druids comes from the deep tribal drums, the clever layers of low synthesizer chords contrasting with the clear acoustic melodies and the low electric guitar chords amplifying the powerful vocals. Most of the time I’ve listened to this album through my headphones and then you become part of the music, You hear it, you feel it, it incases you. Listen to this album on a sound system that lacks that bass sound, well, you’ll probably be wondering why I am so enthusiastic about The Path Of Druids. This record is just like the music of Heilung. You need a full-body experience to really make it work. Play this album as the band had in mind while making it, and you will find that is is a true tribal pagan folk masterpiece! A must-have for all who love the dark pagan folk of Cuélebre, the epic folk of Cesair and the powerful sound of symphonic metal legends as
Ayreon
orLeave’s eyes.
To answer Rose and Belenosa’s question when they send me the album: ‘Do I like it? Yes, I LOVE it!!!!!”
– Cliff
Editor: Sara Weeda
pictures: Ritual Duir
Ye Banished Privateers – First Night Back In Port (2017)
06Dec
It is June the 30th, in the year of our Lord 1717. Under the black shroud of a storm-swept night, a dark ship creeps into an unknown harbor of a forgotten town, somewhere deeply hidden on a jagged coast. Her dark, battered sails are flapping in the stormy winds. Her black flags all down, mourning the loss of all those who were left behind; in the treacherous waves of Cape Horn; the deep seas of the Pacific and the distant shores of far-away Georgia.
As the ship, loaded with the bounty it seized in the last two years of her travels, finally moors for a well-deserved rest, her crew, pockets filled to the brim with gold and pearls, sneak off the gangboard into the dark alleys surrounding the old wharfs of this godforsaken place.
Silently we follow suit. Making sure we hide in the shadows of the old houses in this dark side of town. Nothing moves in the relentless rain. All sounds are muffled in the gusts of wind that shriek through the broken windows of abandoned buildings. A big rat slips into a gutter as we see the crew disappear in a black alley.
We wait until the gusts of rain die down for a brief moment. From the alley comes the soft sound of laughter and music. At the end of it, a bright light pours under an old crooked, wooden door. A black cat, jumping into the window opposite of it, pushes open some filthy rags that once were curtains. For a brief second, it reveals a huge figure, using a huge knife to tickle a poor sailor’s neck.
As we near the door, it suddenly cracks open, as the poor sailor is thrown into the cold night, his head is soon to follow, rolling down the alley till it stops in front of our feet.
Through the – now open – door we can see a busty lady singing on top of a dirty bar, holding a big bottle of rum. Around her are the locals, their mugs raised as they roar along with her song. Amongst them are the crew. Their eyes already red from the smoke of pipes, the many pints of beer and the sight of the ladies sitting there on their laps. The ladies’ eyes are firmly fixed on the filled purses of the men, whose cheeks they are now kissing.
As one of the sailors joins in with the song, the busty lady nonchalantly crashes the bottle on his bold head, sending him swirling for the floor. With a loud roar, the men grab him, head and feet. Within seconds he’s flying out the window, scaring the living daylights out of the black cat that is grooming herself just at that moment. The men return to their drinks, one or two of them counting the gold they suddenly have in their hands.
Welcome in the Schwarzer Kater. The only place Ye Banished Privateers can call home. As they celebrate their first night in port.
Ye Banished Privateers
are a Swedish pirate crew that sails the concert halls and festivals with their catchy pirate folk music. The origins of the band go back to 2008 when Peter Mollwing (last picture below) and Björn Malmros (left) started asking other musicians to join their pirate folk idea. The idea clearly caught on because 23 (!) different musicians are listed as band members in the credits of First Night Back In Port, which is their 3rd CD. At a concert you can easily expect 12 to 15 band members to be there at any given time, putting up a show that is as much a visual spectacle as it is a concert. If they are in the neighborhood, this is a band of pirates you don’t want to miss.
The basis for Ye Banished Privateers’ pirate folk sound is a mix between shanty songs and traditional folk with an occasional gypsy flavor to top it all of. Ye Banished Privateers’ main weapons of choice are a fiddle, flute, accordion, and banjo, giving the music a real positive, feel-good vibe. All poured into some grand, musical like arrangements, bound to get a big smile on your face. But the strongest point of Y.B.P are the vocals. At least 5 crew members share the lead vocals, male and female, covering the whole range of 17th/18th-century sailor and buccaneer life. Quite often, the whole crew is enlisted to do the backing vocals. The big sound of this choir and the 23 piece band is what gives Y.B.P’s pirate folk its unique folk/musical feel.
As I said, lyrically Y.B.P tells the tale of the early 18th century sailors. It all starts with the story of poor Annabel buried in Georgia, a really strong ballad impressively sung by Magda Anderson. We hear stories of sailors making deals with the devil. Tales are told of sailors press-ganged in service. There is a homage to rum -not just any old rum, no Cooper’s rum!- and there is the sad love song of a man trying to keep his lady (!) onshore, all of them sung with the same power and authenticity.
And that is the real magic of Ye Banished Privateers. Their music doesn’t feel like a gimmick. You believe them. They ARE the crew of a ragged ship. The scum of the seven seas. The whole CD pours out sailor’s folk. If it’s ballads like Annabel, Skippy Aye Yo or A Mermaid’s Kiss, mid-tempo sing-alongs like Cooper’s Rum, All The Way To Galway, I Dream of You and A Night In The Schwarzer Kater, or up-tempo dance songs like First Night At Port, they are all well-composed , instant sing-a-long, feel-good songs. So get out your sailor’s hat, your eye patch and your bottle of rum. And welcome to the world of Ye Banished Privateers!
-Cliff
-Editor: Diane Deroubaix
-Pictures: Cliff de Booy
Nadia Birkenstock herself was born in Solingen, Germany a town quite nearby. She started playing the piano at 5 and she started singing with various choirs and vocal ensembles during her teenage years. She first discovered the harp during a concert of the legendary Scottish harp duo
Sileas
formed by
Patsy Seddon
and
Mary McMaster.
At the age of 16, she started to play the harp herself, first teaching herself, later taking lessons with classically trained teachers including masterclasses with
Kim Robertson
in the USA and Scottish harp player
Bill Taylor.
Nadia earned herself a one-year scholarship in the USA and got her first vocal training during her stay at the
Westover College
in Connecticut. She continued her vocal training at the
music conservatory
in Düsseldorf, Germany.
During her vocal studies, Nadia created her first solo performance for Celtic harp and voice and she never looked back, touring the world, playing festivals like
the Southeastern harp weekend (North Carolina, USA),
the Sentmenat harp festival
in Barcelona,
the Rencontres Internationales de la Harpe Celtique
in Dinan, France and the
Celtica festival
in Italy among many, many others.
In 2001 Nadia released her first solo album: Emerald Isles. She herself describes this CD as a mix of Irish harp music, Celtic songs, dance tunes, and original compositions. A CD that got her positive reactions from
Folk World
and Celtic world radio in Australia.
Wondering Between The worlds was released in 2003, followed by Winter Tales in 2006, a lovely Celtic folk Christmas album that indeed mixes the magic of Christmas with the beauty of Celtic harp music. You can find it on Spotify here.
In 2007 Nadia released another themed CD, one I haven’t listened to yet but which sounds really interesting. A mix of lullabies from around the world called Les Berceuses De Coline.
The next album, Strange New Land, came out in 2008 and Nadia sees that as her songwriter debut. In 2011 she did another very interesting project that came out in two languages; The Enchanted Lake (English) and Der Verzauberte See (German). According to Folk World it’s a mix of exquisite harp music and outstanding storytelling by Dublin actor
Mick Fitzgerald and I’ll happily take their word for it. This combination of Celtic harp music and fairytales earned Nadia Birkenstock the global music award 2011.
In 2010 another interesting collaboration started, this time with Welsh percussionist and gong maker
Steve Hubback.
The two played the opening concert at the international harp festival at Sentmenat, Barcelona in 2010 and kept making music and playing concerts together culminating in the 2013 album The Glow Within, an album that combines Celtic folk music with more freer, experimental pieces.
Finally, to conclude Nadia’s more than impressive biography she also plays concerts together with the German string quartet
Northern Lights.
In these concerts the five ladies focus both on Nadia’s own compositions and on traditional Celtic songs and dance music.
And now there is a new album, the first one from Nadia’s hand that made it to CeltCast HQ, but it certainly won’t be the last one! Whispering Woods came out in October 2019. Although it still has one or two pure Celtic songs on it -including my personal favourite; The Musical Priest, with a lovely sparkling harp arrangement may I add- most of the songs have a timeless beauty to it. Purely featuring the beauty of the harp and the skills of Nadia as a harp player and songwriter. There are no vocals on Whispering Woods and it’s almost completely done solo. Only occasionally, percussionist and guitarist
Thomas Vogt–
who also recorded and mixed Whispering Woods– joins in to assist Nadia. You might think that there is not too much to say about a pure harp album, but how wrong you would be then. Whispering Woods presents gem after gem. I already mentioned the sparkling opening track A La Source and the Celtic folk classic The Magical Priest, but there are many more.
The second track on Whispering Woods, The Lady Of Gollerus is a bit calmer than A La Source, it has a more gentle melody. But just as in A La Source, Nadia plays really cleverly with stereo effects and different layers in her arrangements, she together with producer Thomas Vogt also added small musical touches all over the CD to enrich the music. Here it is mainly the waves of harp chords sprinkled like fairy dust over the main melody. It may sound like a small touch, but it is so important to keep the music interesting and is therefore really smartly done.
Spesbourg starts with some strong harp chords, going into a fragile almost classical harp intro. If I close my eyes, I can easily see a single ballerina floating over a dark stage. And then suddenly there is Thomas Vogt on percussion and the song turns into a cross between Celtic folk and the kind of instrumental singer-songwriter music
Jyoti Verhoeff
played so expertly well on her latest CD Touches. I love the catchy melody. I also love the layers of percussion, harp chords and the harp lead voice laid over each other. I deliberately say harp voice, of course I know it is a lead melody, but Nadia has the ability to make her harp sing. I never knew pure harp music could be so catchy.
Nadia keeps that Celtic pop-folk feel with Toccatta. I can hear hints of the sound of
Omnia’s
Pagan Folklore sound in the intro -people who love Jenny’s Naked Harp album should really check this CD out, you’ll be in for a pleasant surprise- but soon Toccatta flows into another lovely combination of Celtic harp, pop-folk and flashes of classical harp solo. Nadia Birkenstock officially called her CD Whispering Woods – Celtic Harp solos, but that title doesn’t fully do justice to the music. These tracks are far more than just harp solo pieces. They are true songs. With intent and purpose. Just like Jyoti Verhoeff, Nadia is a singer-songwriter by heart, who decided to let her instrument do the singing. And what an amazing voice her harp has. I can’t begin to imagine what would happen if she and Jyoti happened to meet up and start a project together. It would – most likely- be stunning.
Enough of this daydreaming, back to Whispering Woods. As I said this album keeps giving and giving. The Glow Within is another tender ballad ‘sung’ by the beautiful harp voice. It’s amazing how this album works in both ways. You can listen to it as I do now, through headphones, with full attention and you’ll find it’s intriguing, captivating music. But played as background music, it will flow through you. Calming. Relaxing.
This album will show you what happens when a gifted artist becomes one with her instrument and with the music she is playing. It becomes true beauty.
We are not even halfway through the CD, and there are many more gems to come. Be it fragile tender harp solos, beautiful ballads, lovely midtempo instrumental singer-songwriter tunes or up-tempo Celtic folk classics, but I’ve said all I need to say about Whispering Woods. Every extra syllable added would just take away from the music. any extra word more would only be reviewer blah blah blah.
With this album, Nadia has inspired me for pure harp music. She has shown me the versatility of this impressive instrument. And I thank her deeply for that.
– Cliff
Editor: Diane Deroubaix
pictures: Thomas Zydatiß
