3. My Bonny Boy (Traditional English, arr. Gideon Juckes)
This British folk song was first collected in the South of England almost 300 years ago, but is certainly far older.
"I once loved a boy, a bonny, bonny boy
And I loved him, I will vow and protest.
I loved him so well, so very, very well,
That I built him a bower on my breast."
During to the 1918 influenza pandemic which infected 500 million people globally, the great Hungarian composer Béla Bartók was bedridden for 23 days. He suffered an acute inflammation of the ear, which had to be operated on. Bartók was intrigued, as for a while afterwards, anything he heard played on the piano sounded three notes higher than normal.
7. Nagasaki Bura Bura Bushi (Japanese Traditional, arr. Gideon Juckes)
A traditional tatami room Min'yo folksong from Edo period Nagasaki. Over 40 verses, the lyrics mention many things;
the celebration of a good harvest, but also the arrival of foreign ships.
Walking around and hanging out is also mentioned a lot as a form of satire, criticising the social restrictions on the general
public at that time.
長崎県に伝わる民謡。お座敷歌として江戸時代から明治時代にかけて歌われ、賑やかな長崎の街の様子や名物、情景のみならず、そこに暮らす人々の喜怒哀楽をも歌った歌詞は40節を超えるという。
長崎出身の朗らかなミュージシャン達からインスピレーションを受け、Music for Isolationの視点からアプローチを行った一曲。
8. Les Écureuils (Pierre-Max Dubois, arr. Rie Takeuchi)
Pierre-Max Dubois (1930-1995) was a French composer and student of Darius Milhaud. "By nature I am impulsive, but there is a hidden part of me which is certainly more serious."
Bryn Calfaria (On Calvary Hill) is a Welsh hymn tune written by William Owen in the mid 1800s.
It is reputed to have been originally written by Owen on a piece of slate whilst on his way to work at the Dorothea Quarry in Gwynedd, North Wales.
Tokyo-based duo of Rie Takeuchi (baritone saxophone) & Gideon Juckes (tuba)
★★★★ “a
thoroughly absorbing experience…gently resolute in its dark tonality even as it releases you ever further from a tethered sense of time and place. The tracks echo with haunting thoughts of loss and faded memories…superbly realised”
(Iwan Fox, 4barsrest) ...more
Spectral, dark-edged British folk, warped on the latter half by mesmerizing remixes. All proceeds go to Black South West Network. Bandcamp New & Notable Jun 23, 2020
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