Ron - You mean, you weren't trying to say that he's a very singular performer? You know, I read your message completely normally, and only noticed the typo after you pointed it out! (Too tired, or mellowed out from Old songs, I guess.)

Here's some comments and 2 questions at the very end, if anyone knows the answers:

Old Favorites

I was delighted to hear Andy Irvine this weekend, although his Saturday night set was unfortunately shortened due to the weather related concert changes. At one of the workshops, he sang a beautiful song from Planxty Days, Kellswater. Fine singing, and he always has a very distinctive playing style.

Liz Carroll and John Doyle – Just great, as always. I went to the Irish session they led, and Liz's fiddle workshop, and enjoyed both.

Chuck and Albert – Barachois was one of my discoveries at Old Songs in past years, so I'm glad all the members of the group are resurfacing at the festival (the women were there last year, I seem to recall) even if not all together. I see they have a DVD – I didn't buy it this weekend, but I might, as it's really hard to capture what they do on just a CD.

Le Vent du Nord– I enjoyed them, but maybe not quite as much as the last time they were at Old Songs.   (See my question below about the lineup.)

New Discoveries

One of my favorite parts of Old Songs is discovering new performers. Some of this year's crop:

Malinky – Wow! Gorgeous vocals and beautiful arrangements that recall Ossian or Planxty. A cut above some of the other young Celtic bands out there.

April Verch – Another wow! How exactly does someone play great fiddle, do super step dancing, and sing very nicely as well and make it all look so effortless?

Riley Baugus and Ira Bernstein – I had some recordings, but hadn't seen them – I didn't catch as much of them as I would have liked, but enjoyed everything I heard / saw of both the playing/singing and dancing.


I got to two Sacred Harp sings, the Irish and Contradance sessions and enjoyed it all. My vote for favorite workshop goes to the Celtic Song workshop in Area 2 on Saturday afternoon, gamely led by Liz Carroll, the only non-singer among the main performers. (But she did play a beautiful song air on the fiddle.)

Of course, my full list of favorites is too numerous to mention!

If you've read this far, here are my 2 questions:

Re Le Vent du Nord – I knew Benoit Bourque had left the group, and I thought the new member was Réjean Brunet. But from where I was sitting (about halfway back) I didn't see anyone that looked like him. Was he there, and I just didn't recognize him, or was this some different lineup?

Re some song lyrics – I was there with a friend who really enjoyed the Wagnerian parody of Stan Rogers' song Barrett's Privateers, although it turned out he wasn't familiar with that song and in fact had never heard of Stan Rogers. We had a long discussion about the song on the trip home, and I sang some of Barrett's Privateers for him. He sang as much as he could remember of the parody version. My question: Has this (the parody, that is) been recorded, or are there any lyrics available online. (I found short references on other Mudcat threads, but no full lyrics.)

Hope everyone had a good time I guess I should get some sleep now.
Zhenya