The Highland Sessions BBC4

Subject: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: ard mhacha
Date: 14 Nov 05 - 07:40 AM

Anyone in the UK with Digital TV should tune in to The Highland Sessions on BBC 4 on Friday 18th at 10pm,, this is an excellent Series featuring Irish and Scottish musicians, well worth a look and the Series runs for six weeks, Mary Black, Karen Matheson, Donnie Murdo McMacCleod, Liam Og O`Flynn, are some of the featured musicians.

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: Strollin' Johnny
Date: 14 Nov 05 - 07:44 AM

Shame about the strange antipodean Salvador-Dali-Wannabe on there. What's that all about?

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: GUEST,mrs punkfolkrocker
Date: 14 Nov 05 - 09:04 AM

..and not a single mention of the WELSH !!!???

depite this being a BBC Wales production !!!!!!!!!!????????

TRAITORS !!!!!

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker
Date: 14 Nov 05 - 09:08 AM

the wifes not too happy about that..


i'm not the least bit celtic..
but can understand why she's annoyed

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: MuddleC
Date: 14 Nov 05 - 09:31 AM

are there dvd's or videos available for these sessions?
after all there was a lot of recording guys/stuff around.
I'd like to watch/hear some of it again

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: GUEST
Date: 14 Nov 05 - 09:34 AM

DVD Recorders are now lowest price ever..

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: GUEST,SELDOM SEEN KID
Date: 14 Nov 05 - 05:04 PM

Amazing how some helpful information attracted so many head-bangers.

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: GUEST,over exposed chap
Date: 14 Nov 05 - 11:11 PM

seldom missed either !!!!!

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 14 Nov 05 - 11:20 PM

I missed the first one, but the writeup was quite specific that it was based on modern interpretations of the Gaelic tradition shared between Ireland and [parts of the West of] Scotland. That would be the main reason why Wales wasn't included.

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 01:47 AM

my mrs's predictable reply is..

"titling it Gaelic instead of Celtic is just yet another elitist ploy
to deliberately exclude the Welsh !"

..seems like i've got another 5 weeks of her hard done by nationalist grievences to put up with..

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: GUEST,Obie
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 05:07 AM

The Celtic languages are divided in two. P-celtic comprises Welsh and Breton and Q-celtic is the Gaelic of Irish, Scottish, and Manx Gaelic.
Therefore a program in Gaelic would have little to do withj Wales.
                              Slainte,
                                     Obie

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: ard mhacha
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 05:34 AM

Weird, wonderful and sensible replies, just have a look and listen to a great Series, enjoy the music, that`s what it is all about.

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: Polly Squeezebox
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 06:02 PM

Let's be thankful for a good programme on traditional music - and let's be pro-active in contacting programmers to encourage more - including Celtic (Welsh) traditions. Give praise for a good, appreciated series - and encourage more of like ilk. Respond positively - and they'll know they are appreciated and be encouraged to do more.

Polly

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: akenaton
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 09:36 PM

Well said   Ard Mhacha.

I saw the first of the series and I thought it was excellent.

I'm not a Gaelic speaker, but just caught the end of the old Gaelic culture when I was a boy.
We dont realise what we have lost .....If we were real folkies we would all be singing Gaelic songs, that is our authentic tradition...Ake

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: ard mhacha
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 07:45 AM

Thanks Ake, through digital it is good that all of the UK can enjoy this RTE-BBC production.

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: Mrs_Annie
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 09:26 AM

Shame about the strange antipodean Salvador-Dali-Wannabe on there. What's that all about?

That was Steve Cooney, a really great musician who has appeared on loads of albums. He was also a regular in the Donal Lunny series Sult which was shown quite a few years ago on satellite (Tara TV)

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 11:29 AM

I just wish the BBC would put in as much effort for English (and Welsh) folk music as it seems to for Irish, Scottish and American! It's not just BBC4 but their national and local radio stations too. I live in Sheffield, a hot bed of folk music, and all we get is one hour a week in total (if you count Mike Harding - grrrrrowwwl!)

Darren

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: Brakn
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 11:37 AM

I enjoyed it. I just hope they don't fill it out with scenes of mountains and rivers etc.

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: GUEST,Donal
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 12:58 PM

Does anyone know what one of the female singers was called?
Not Mary Black, I think she was Scottish. Unfortunately I cant remember much about it other than her voice blew me away, completely effortless and pure, something you rarely hear nowadays.

I've scoured the web and cant find a full line up anywhere, if anyone could list off some names I could at least identify her through pictures.

Thanks alot, Donal.

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: MuddleC
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 01:06 PM

probably karen matheson (capercaille)
but then there's also karan casey (solas)
and maire brennan (clannad)

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: Drumshanty
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 01:17 PM

I believe you'll find that one or two of the participants in the programme frequent the forum at Foot Stompin'. I think I know the singer who you mean, Donal, and I agree about her voice, but I can't remember her name.

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: ard mhacha
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 01:46 PM

I agree Muddle C the singer was Karen Matheson, although there are a host of Scottish and Irish singers, the emphasis is on the music and song, apart from some short and informative introductions, the participants just get on with the music.

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: Effsee
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 02:58 PM

Donal, I have a feeling that you may be talking about the divine Mary Ann Kennedy.

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: Kevin Sheils
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 04:29 PM

Donal, I have a feeling that you may be talking about the divine Mary Ann Kennedy.
Best in the programme for me

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: Drumshanty
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 05:34 PM

Hmm.. yes, sorry. I was thinking of Kathleen MacInnes, but I don't think she sang in the first one. Some of the programmes have already been shown by STV with Gaelic speaky bits - she's in a later one I guess.

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: GUEST,Donal
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 05:50 PM

From looking at her website I think it was Karan Casey that I was thinking of. I also downloaded her samples which were great. Wow what a pair of lungs!

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Nov 05 - 05:35 PM

At least in wales they have a welsh language tv station, the Gales in scotland can only dream about having a station in the gaelic.
Instead they have one evning a week for about 2 hrs on BBC2 Scotland and a few sporadic offerings from ITV at stupid times like 2:30 am. Och well, maybe next time they'll do the Celtavision song contest.
8)

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: Strollin' Johnny
Date: 19 Nov 05 - 03:59 AM

Windy again up there in Alba is it, or do you mean Gaels?

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: MuddleC
Date: 19 Nov 05 - 08:39 AM

glad I could help donal... happy listening

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: akenaton
Date: 19 Nov 05 - 12:27 PM

Another great session last night.
As Ard Mhacha says the blend of real Irish and Scots tradition is fascinating.

Great music, not just the usual jigs and reels, but spiritual stuff which stirs the blood in a much deeper way.

Maybe we should start a thread to discuss Gaelic culture ...Ake

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: ard mhacha
Date: 19 Nov 05 - 04:42 PM

Yes Ake a different light on our great Gaelic heritage of song and music, bringing the hidden heritage to the masses.

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Nov 05 - 07:54 PM

Och tha mi gle duilich Johnny.

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: Strollin' Johnny
Date: 20 Nov 05 - 04:49 AM

:-)

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: akenaton
Date: 20 Nov 05 - 03:24 PM

"Tha I fliuch".....on Mudcat!

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From:
Date: 22 Nov 05 - 06:04 AM

can anyone advise where i might find these sessions for purchase on cd?

thanks
tobie

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: Drumshanty
Date: 22 Nov 05 - 07:18 AM

There's lots of info on the BBC website. Nothing that I can see about a CD though.

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: GUEST,Alan Day
Date: 22 Nov 05 - 07:28 AM

Worth watching for the last song
Absolutely fantastic
Al

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: GUEST,Frannie
Date: 25 Nov 05 - 05:51 PM

Can anyone give me the name of the male singer of the penultimate song in the first session - he was probably Irish.

I was totally enraptured by this song.


Thanks Frannie.

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: concertina ceol
Date: 25 Nov 05 - 07:19 PM

Saw it tonight first time. Niall Vallely was on for about thirty seconds but didn't get a mention or an interview. Has he been more prominent on any of the previous shows?

I have to say it's all a bit worthy, staid and slow for me. I would prefer to see Filska and/or Dochas with Nomos/Solas. I don't mind slow airs or ballads but mix it up with something else. I was looking at my watch after 15 minutes.

As Darren said earlier I could not imagine the BBC airing a similar programme on English Folk music, which is a shame.

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: Effsee
Date: 25 Nov 05 - 09:26 PM

Frannie, I think the singer you're referring to might be Iarla o'Lionaird, definitely Irish, but then again it might be young James Graham, definitely Scots.

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: Effsee
Date: 25 Nov 05 - 09:32 PM

Having done a wee bit more research, the song is titled "I am asleep", and it was Iarla, (who also sings with Baka Beyond).

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: ard mhacha
Date: 26 Nov 05 - 02:49 PM

Karan Casey`s singing of A Chomaraigh aoibhinn was beautiful, and Kathleen MacInnes, Mary Black,Liam O`Maonlai and the rest of the performers made this a most enjoyable programme.

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: akenaton
Date: 26 Nov 05 - 04:48 PM

The young man with the golden voice!!

I think his name is James Graham....absolutely perfect.

Did anyone notice how the language is cherished by these performers, especially the Irish....They burn with emotion.

Unlike the majority of Scots, the Irish value their culture and try to understand it.

As Grassic Gibbon wrote in "Sunset Song"
"you saw their faces in firelight, father's and mother's and the neighbours',before the lamps lit up, tired and kind, faces dear and close to you, you wanted the words they'd known and used, forgotten in the far off youngness of their lives, Scots words to tell to your heart, how they wrung and held it, the toil of their days and unendingly their fight. And the next minute that passed from you, you were English, back to the English words so sharp and clean and true - for a while, for a while, till they slid so smooth from your throat you knew they could never say anything that was worth the saying at all".

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: Manitas_at_home
Date: 27 Nov 05 - 02:50 AM

Don't forget that for many Scots their traditional/ancestral language has never been Gaelic. It's been discussed here a few times but there is great interest in Scots (considered as a seperate language to English or as a dialect) nowadays.

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: GUEST,Bella
Date: 27 Nov 05 - 05:37 PM

I missed it, but my father wants to know who the harpists were on this week's programme - does anyone know?

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: GUEST,Hen Harrier
Date: 27 Nov 05 - 09:45 PM

GUEST,Bella.

I think you are referring to Laoise Kelly & Mary Ann Kennedy

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: GUEST,Female Scottish Singers
Date: 28 Nov 05 - 05:56 PM

Margaret Stewart, Mary Smith, Kathleen MacInnes, Mary Anne Kennedy, Karen Matheson

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: akenaton
Date: 03 Dec 05 - 01:00 PM

In my opinion last nights was the best so far.

Its truly inspiring to see how these performers are committed to the music.
The tunes and songs where all the performers join in are a joy.
The sight of Mary Black holding the hand of one of the other performers as she sang, brought a lump to my throat.

The final tune which involved Bagpipes , tin whistle,flute, guitar, piano,harp,and washboard was perfect.
The combination of pibroch and Irish march worked very well...Ake

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Dec 05 - 02:48 PM

Two highlights of this latest Programme was the singing of Iarla O Lionaird his performance of "Caoineadh na dri Muire", the [Lament for the three Marys] was a classic, Mary Black and Allan MacDonald holding hands in rhythm with the music is common in the west of Ireland.

Allan MacDonald`s playing of "Cumha Dhonnchaidh Mhicrath" was a treat the gradual build-up of the tune was well done, this was the same tune as "The March of the King of Laois", the Programme is of the highest standard.

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Highland Sessions BBC4
From: akenaton
Date: 03 Dec 05 - 05:57 PM

Thanks for the information guest.

I agree on the standard of the programme, in fact I think this is about the finest series screened so far.

Must thank Ard Mhacha for bringing it to my attention...Ake