viernes, 19 de abril de 2013

Música: Hard Times Come Again No More

Canción sobre tiempos difíciles y la esperanza de que no vuelvan.



Hard Times Come Again No More (también conocida como "Hard Times") es una canción compuesta por Stephen Foster, publicada en Nueva York por  Firth, Pond & Co. en 1854, y que rápidamente se hizo popular tanto en Norteamérica como en Irlanda. La primera grabación se realizó en un cilindro de cera de la compañía Edison (1905), y desde entonces se han hecho innumerables versiones.

En tiempos recientes, se incluyó en el recopilatorio Songs of the Civil War grabado por Kate and Anna McGarrigle. También fue grabado por Bob Dylan en su album Good as I Been to You.  Bruce Springsteen lo cantó en los bises de su gira Working on a Dream Tour. También figura en el disco Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief, interpretado por Mary J. Blige and The Roots.


"Hard Times Come Again No More," ("Hard Times"), de Stephen Foster


Let us pause in life's pleasures and count its many tears,
While we all sup sorrow with the poor;
There's a song that will linger forever in our ears;
Oh hard times come again no more.
Chorus:
Tis the song, the sigh of the weary,
Hard Times, hard times, come again no more
Many days you have lingered around my cabin door;
Oh hard times come again no more.

2.
While we seek mirth and beauty and music light and gay,
There are frail forms fainting at the door;
Though their voices are silent, their pleading looks will say
Oh hard times come again no more.
Chorus

3.
There's a pale drooping maiden who toils her life away,
With a worn heart whose better days are o'er:
Though her voice would be merry, 'tis sighing all the day,
Oh hard times come again no more.
Chorus

4.
Tis a sigh that is wafted across the troubled wave,
Tis a wail that is heard upon the shore
Tis a dirge that is murmured around the lowly grave
Oh hard times come again no more.

De Dannan acompañados por Mary Black, Maura O'Connell, Eleanor Shanley & Tommy Fleming.


Kate & Anna McGarrigle and friends (Rufus Wainwright - hijo de Kate -, Emmylou Harris, Mary Black, Karen Matheson, Rod Paterson) en Transatlantic sessions (BBC).





lunes, 1 de abril de 2013

Música: The Gathering (Islas Orcadas)


Disco grabado en directo en el Orkney Folk Festival (Stromness Town Hall, 2011) por los mejores músicos de las islas Orcadas dirigidos por el violinista Douglas Montgomerie:

Jennifer Austin (piano), Brian Cromarty (vocals, mandolin, banjo, guitar), Kris Drever (double bass, guitar, vocals), Gavin Firth (guitar), Kristan Harvey (fiddle), Billy Jolly (moothie), Erik Laughton (bodhran, drums), Douglas Montgomery (fiddle, banjo), Billy Peace (accordion).
Otros invitados: Kirsty Drever (fiddle), Sarah Jane Gibbon (vocals), Andrew Gifford (fiddle, double bass). Aimee Leonard (vocals), Eric Linklater (fiddle), Graham Low (fiddle), Kenny Ritch Sr (accordion), Kenny Ritch Jr (fiddle), Emily Turton (vocals).

The Gathering, Orkney Folk Festival 2011. 
Camera: Mark Jenkins & James Stead. Editing: Mark Jenkins.



The Gathering, 27 artistas de las islas Orcadas en el Celtic Connections (Glasgow) 2013.