It's been a while since I introduced any new musicians here.
So, Ta Da ... Drum roll - please welcome Pat Coldrick.
Pat is a self taught classical guitarist from near Dublin who played at our folk club a couple of weeks ago. As well as playing flamenco and classical pieces he also writes his own music and does beautiful arrangements of Irish airs.
Above all else, Pat is a wonderful example that you should never give up on your dream.
He played guitar as a teenager and into his early 20s, then gave up as he couldn't make a living at it. He turned to woodwork and for 25 years ran a successful business. Until the crash came and many small businesses perished in the south of Ireland, including his. He hadn't played guitar at all in that time, but picked it up one evening and decided to go out and busk. People asked for more and the rest as they say is history. Now he plays all over the world and his music and arrangements are sought after.
Our folk club venue is very small - Crawfords Bar - 45 people is the maximum we can put in. On that night it wasn't full because many people hadn't heard of him, but for the 30 or so people who were there it was like a shared experience of being transported to another world. His stories are charming and he fits as easily into playing in front of thousands of people in St Petersburg or New York as to playing in a tiny room.
This is a piece he wrote called Antartica ... it just blew us all away. Enjoy. And please support live music wherever you can. 30 people loving someone playing or singing can be much more of an experience than thousands worshipping at the altar of some rock god.
And something more traditional without the addition of effects - Sevilla by Albeniz ...
The Winter's nearly over when St Patrick's Day comes around - there's blossom on the trees and the whin bushes are in their full glorious yellow. Today it's not sure whether it's Winter or Spring, but warmer days are on the way for sure.
I'm only just recovering from the pneumonia that flattened me although I have been getting out a little bit each day for the past week. Normally I'm a terrible patient and will not stay in bed, but this time I was very willing.. On the bright side, it's been a great way of getting through the winter - it feels like it's flown by!! Hibernation has a lot going for it lol.
And now something a little different for St Patrick's Day Meet the Gaelic singing Muslim cleric
I'd like to introduce you to Sheikh Muhammed al Hussaini who is an imam and a singer of traditional Irish songs.
He is a fellow in Islamic Studies at the Westminster Institute in London, from where he has frequently criticised the actions of Islamic extremists, and at some personal cost.
Muhammad Al-Hussaini fell in love with Irish music a few years ago and has been singing ever since. He is an Irish speaker and sings in the sean nos style and also plays fiddle and whistle.
Here is a clip of him singing on Channel 4 news last St Patrick's Day. Once upon a long ago when I lived in Dubai, I felt there were a lot of similarities between the Arab and Irish languages - Muhammed's voice is a natural in singing in Gaelic (sean-nos literally means 'old bones' and is a very traditional, highly ornamented style of Irish singing).
Muhammed is part of an international peace think tank based in England and recently he spoke in court in defence of a fundamentalist Christian preacher, Pastor McConnell, from Belfast who preached from the pulpit on the evils of Islam. In Muhammed's view and that of most other lay and religious people, the man should be allowed to say what he wants, even if we disagree with him and this imam was prepared to speak on behalf of the man who had demonised his own religion. To him and to other peace activists, freedom of speech is the most important thing.
The Music of Healing - A higher form of disagreement
We're Catholics and we're Protestants
We're Muslims and we're Jews
And we're some who are none of the above.
But we've gathered here together in Rostrevor by the sea
By decree of humanity and love.
- Tommy Sands
In the past week, alongside my good friend Tommy Sands, both Muhammed and Pastor McConnell spoke at a Music of Healing event here in the village and the following day joined with thinkers, victims of the Troubles, and heads of various religious congregations in Ireland - Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Sunni and Shiite Muslims, to come up with a declaration for a higher form of disagreement. Representatives of local monasteries and the integrated school were also present as were members of the non religious section of our community. I'm so sorry to have missed the public concert, but the village has been buzzing with discussion about all that was said.
If you are interested in hearing more about the Music of Healing listen here to Tommy being interviewed on BBC Radio Ulster about the event. This is an annual event - a mixture of debate and music - which Tommy has been hosting since before the Good Friday Agreement 19 years ago, giving a space to (mainly) politicians from opposing sides of our divided community a platform to speak in peace and to have a higher form of disagreement.
By the way, the song "The Music of Healing" (trying to find a recording of it to share with you but my system is not having any of it - but you can check it out on iTunes or Spotify if you have either)it was co-written and co-performed by Pete Seeger and Tommy Sands.
Pete Seeger and Tommy Sands
So Happy St Patrick's Day to you and yours and may peace and tolerance be the main focus of all our lives in the coming months and years.
It is entitled Back There and features 11 songs - some that we have written, and the rest from some of my favourite songwriters.
We are currently in the process of getting the album out into the wide world - radio and folk magazines and updating websites and so on.
To all our wonderful supporters from the Kickstarter campaign way back last Autumn I give you hearty thanks - by now you should have had your CDs or they're in the post to you if they haven't arrived yet. I hope you enjoy it.
We played a set at the festival last month featuring the new songs and allowing Tom to get over his total panic at having his voice featured on record for the first time! I swear he was hoping no-one would buy it! But we're getting good feedback so far so the panic is over :)
Here's a video taken from the audience of the title track, Back There. The song was written by an old friend of mine, Tony Kerr from Derry, who's now living and working in Nashville. It's a gentle theme of looking back to childhood days and I love the sentiment in it.
I have been missing my visits to everyone's blogs in the past weeks - still haven't got my head into some sort of sane place, but it'll happen soon I know and I'm looking forward to catching up with what's going on in your lives.
I've been having fun playing with Lisa Sonora's Dreaming on Paper online workshop over the past few weeks - taking 10 minutes here and there to just splash paint about. It has always been a secret dream of mine to play with paint, not necessarily to paint pictures but just to mess about with colour and this course is perfect. # lisasonora.com
Have a great weekend and I hope you're all enjoying the start of the turning seasons.
