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ALYS HOWE
Phosphorescence
Sometimes after a rain and the sun shines brilliantly, we will see a rainbow and the colours will be so brilliant and delicate, that we want to reach out and touch them. Phosphoresence conjures up that same image and the luminescence continues after the music has just faded.
In the liner notes, there is a picture of Alys Howe with her harp standing on a pebbly beach in her bare feet, arms wide open, looking out to sea. The picture is one of complete peace and tranquility, and it is symbolic of the music of Alys Howe which can transport you to that relaxed state.
Alys Howe has an impressive background in harp and has won many awards. She has appeared in plays and television series. She has written short fiction articles and has received honourable mention for poetry in the York President’s prize competition in Toronto.
Alys began playing harp at the age of seven, and since then she has pursued studies in both Celtic and classical music in Scotland, Ireland and across Canada.
Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Alys credits her early interest in music to the Orff program implemented by the Vancouver Waldorf School, which she attended during her elementary years.
Tracks on Phosphoresence are: Logan Waters; Nigheanag; A Graidh; Ca’ The Yowes; Planxty Shar; Musical Priest; Mary Hamilton/Miss Sally Hunter; O’Keefe’s Slide/Dolina McKay; Solitude; Lady Owen’s Delight/Merrily Kiss the Quaker; Phosphoresence; Miss Shepherd/ Sleep Soond in Da Mornin; Piper of Dundee/Seallaibh Curraigh Eoghainn; Laird of Milton’s Daughter; and An Cluinn Thu Mi, Mo Nighean Donn?
To purchase Phosphorescence and for more information about Alys Howe, visit www.alyshowe.com.
SUSAN MCKEOWN
Blackthorn: Irish Love Songs
Dublin-born Susan McKeown sings Irish love songs in a way that brings every one of us closer to what it means to – and takes – to truly love.
“I don’t think people necessarily think of Irish love songs as bring sensual. Maybe sad and at times strange, but not sensual. But there is a sensuality in the lyrics of the songs on this album. I wanted to bring that out in the delivery and arrangements, to let these songs breathe in a completely different way.”
In her fourth album of traditional songs, McKeown has been building to this moment for quite some time. The youngest of five children, her composer mother encouraged an early interest in music and theatre. At 15 she studied with Ireland’s leading opera trainer but left after a year to immerse herself in the folk, rock and jazz that were taking her country by storm during the Eighties.
McKeown set off for the U.S. in 1990 to study at New York’s American Musical and Dramatic Academy. She soon became part of the East Village and downtown music scenes, headlining in clubs like the Bottom Line and Fez and touring internationally with her acclaimed folk rock band The Chanting House.
The liner notes give the translation of the songs in English and Irish. The singing of Susan McKeown can take you to a soothing Celtic trance...beautiful.
There are 12 tracks on Blackthorn: Irish Love Songs. For more information, visit: www.susanmckeown.com.
DAVID MICHAEL
Kings Road
David Michael is a singer/songwriter from Newfoundland, who now makes his home in Toronto, but he has never forgotten his roots. He is the owner of Brass Taps, a very popular neighborhood pub on College Street in Toronto. As well, he is a founding member of “Writers at Woody Point,” a hugely successful festival of mostly Newfoundland writers and musicians held annually in Newfoundland.
He was born and ...”lovingly dragged up by the scruff of the neck” on King’s Road, a stone’s throw from the long-gone wooden finger piers in the harbour of old St. John’s, in what used to be called the Dominion of Newfoundland.
To say that David Michael is a Newfoundlander through and through, would be an understatement. To give substance to that love of his hometown of St. John’s, he wrote, sang and poured his heart into his first ever CD, entitled Kings Road.
“Anybody who has ever spent time in my hometown of St. John’s, Newfoundland, and opened their hearts, will be familiar with the sense of loss and yearning which can pervade the lives of the people who live there. Loved ones stay with you sometimes. And sometimes depart.” David Michael has captured that emotion in his song, The St. John’s Night.
The 10 tracks on the album are: The St. John’s Night; The Great Hills of Bonne Bay; Mother’s of King’s Road; Miriam; Our Song; Last Night; Gathered Round the Table; I Call My Love Shanghai; It’s a Game (Lonely Boy); and Paris in Love.
You don’t have to be a Newfoundlander ( but it helps), to enjoy the songs of David Michael.
To purchase Kings Road, or for more information on David Michael, visit: www.davidmichael.ca.
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