…and so it is (almost) Xmas – but the horrific war not too far from our doorstep has been going on for almost two years now – maybe not enough people want it to be over?
Let’s just say that with that nightmare, and a few other tragedies around the world, I’m finding it extraordinarily hard to sense the Festive Spirit that should be approaching just around the corner. And I’m a Xmas person to the core, for chrissakes, a veritable disciple of Scrooge’s nephew, so it’s kind of worrying the “blah” way I feel now. M
Maybe some new and newly discovered older Xmas albums would help? Let’s see…
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It’s pretty unbelievable, really: Light Years is the always fab Kate Rusby‘s SEVENTH – count ’em – Xmas album! That indicates such an infatuation with The Season I can’t but admit I’ve been bested when it comes to liking Xmas. Whew…
As for the music, if you have heard Kate’s previous Xmas music, there’s little to surprise you. The brass band is here again, there’s a Rusby-ized take on a familiar carol (Rusby Shepherds this time), there’s the surprisingly inspired and fun cover of a corny American tune (It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year), there’s the sincere, reverent and no-frills reading of an ancient tune (The First Noel, here titled Nowell, Nowell).
The production (and much else, I presume) by Damien O’Kane is spot-on and so, as before, a Kate Rusby Xmas album takes us on a great ride with great scenery and some surprising turns.
The only song I don’t exactly love is A Spaceman Came Travelling – the telling of the First Christmas as a sci-fi / close encounters scene is just a bit… cheesy and von Däniken to my taste, and the tune doesn’t stick with me either.
But that’s small potatoes, since otherwise Light Years is a another brilliant Kate Rusby Xmas album (is that genre unto itself by now?)
https://katerusby.bandcamp.com/album/light-years-2
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The McDades from Edmonton, Canada, released a Xmas album – and it’s not their first of this kind, either – just in time for this year’s celebrations.
A Winter Collection is a pleasant, relaxed, assured outing from this Folk and Celtic band, with songs both very familiar and not-so-familiar. Most come with nice arrangement ideas, my favorites being God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen with its relentless but light percussion groove (on a tabla, I think) and clever use of woodwinds that have echoes of a Klezmer band sound, and the lively instrumental set Jezebel Carol / Brightest and Best.
But the high point for me is The Little Drummer Boy, a song I usually don’t care too much about. Here, the McDades have turned it into an instrumental piece of traditional Indian music – or an approximation of it. It works stunningly well and I give the band high marks for pulling this off and creating something truly interesting from a tune that’s never inspired me.
Thanks guys – have a Merry Xmas out there in the Great White North! 🇨🇦🎄
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I recently bumped into American folk and world music fiddler Andrew Finn Magill‘s Christmas Carols for Violin and Guitar, from 2019. He plays both the violin and the guitar here and the music is what the title says it is – that, and nothing else, all instrumental. You will know almost all the tunes already, there was just one I didn’t know before.
And you know what?
This works, even when some of the tunes come pretty much as they are, with little or no new twists and surprises. When a dedicated, sensitive musician just plays these tunes with skill, concentration and heart, that’s all you need. Right now, Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming is playing in my headphones and the peace and atmosphere Magill plays it with, note by lingering note, make it feel fresh and touching, almost new.
The same goes for the entire album. And it’s easy to sing along to this, too, should the spirit you so inspire 😊
https://andrewfinnmagill.bandcamp.com/album/christmas-carols-for-violin-guitar
FolkNotes 