Spirit of Albion Fan Music Video

I love it when I see how my music has been used in other peoples’ creativity. Here’s one I was sent recently that I hope you enjoy. I love the sparks coming from Rollo and Arthur in Stonehenge!

DruidCast – A Druid Podcast Episode 58

Shownotes for DruidCast Episode 58

Wassail the silver Apple – Mad Magdalen - http://www.reverbnation.com/madmagdalen

Green – Afro Celt Sound System - http://afroceltsoundsystem.net

The Quickening – Spiral Dance - www.spiraldance.com.au

Lughnasadh – Damh the Bard - www.paganmusic.co.uk

Aspects of the Grail – Professor Roland Rotherham - www.unicorn-dreams.freeserve.co.uk

Girl in the Garden – S. J. Tucker - www.skinnywhitechick.com

Turning of the Wheel – Mad Magdalen - http://www.reverbnation.com/madmagdalen

A Day in the Life – Chris Park (www.acorneducation.com) interviewed by Paul Newman -www.storyfolksinger.co.uk

A Distant Drum – Scott Jasper and Susanne Garlick - www.dragonflymoononline.co.uk

DruidCast theme – Hills they are Hollow – Damh the Bard - www.paganmusic.co.uk

For further information on the Druid tradition - www.druidry.org

Direct download: DruidCast_SHOW58_OBOD.mp3

Antlered Crown and Standing Stone

Writing and recording an album is quite some undertaking. Each of my albums have taken on their own personality as each note has been played and recorded. During Herne’s Apprentice I was excited and nervous to see how my music would be received by people. Hills they are Hollow was probably the most gentle ride of all, as I’d found my feet and was thoroughly enjoying finding my way around the recording studio. The difficult third album was not so difficult in the end and, on the whole, Spirit of Albion flowed beautifully.

It was my fourth album The Cauldron Born that gave me my biggest challenge. Songs were coming that were deeply personal (Imramma – A Soul Quest), some political (Only Human), some written with an aim of putting the record straight (Green and Grey), whilst others told of a deep inner need to reconnect to the natural world (Land, Sky and Sea). The Cauldron Born lived up to its title as it felt like it was torn from my very soul, as I looked back into the depths of the Cauldron, and saw my own reflection.

I think it might have been this experience that led me to change direction with my next studio album by recording an album of classic traditional folk songs in Tales from the Crow Man. Some people ask why I did that, and the truth is that I really felt the need to give something back. I’d recorded a few folk songs on my previous albums (such as Raggel Taggle Gypsies and John Barleycorn), and each time I played these songs I became aware of a huge pyramid of ancestors stretching back behind me made up of all of the people who had sung these songs over the centuries. Nobody knows who wrote them, and that to me is part of the magic, but they are still being sung. These old folk songs tell of our human experience, and a folk song has to do that otherwise people will stop singing it, and it’ll disappear. So I chose the songs that had moved me the most over the years and went back into the studio.

I quickly realised that I didn’t just want to re-record covers of these songs, I wanted to really get to know them, explore them, feel them, then make my own mark on them, and that’s what I did, and that’s why Tales from the Crow Man was the hardest album of all. There was a pressure and a responsibility there that I wouldn’t deny. So it took a while, and it also took Cerri coming up with the concept of the Crow Man, this mysterious figure in the field outside the village that had seen the events of all of these songs happen. So he told his tales, and in the end I was really pleased with the result.

Last year I released my first live album As Nature Intended, and it is really lovely to have that available for those who simply cannot get to one my shows, and for those that can, but want to relive the experience.

So where next?

I am now halfway through recording my latest album, and it has already taken on a life of its own. It has taken this amount of time to tell me its name – as I’ve recorded the songs I’ve realised that it is a return to my roots. I am writing and singing about our myths, the land, and the Greenwood again, and it feels wonderful. This return to my roots led me to think about what it is that keeps drawing me to these subjects, and it is the mysticism, the spiritual connection to the beliefs and ways of our ancestors. And when I look into the mists of the green I always find the Lord of the Wildwood staring straight back at me.

So this album will be called Antlered Crown and Standing Stone. I said I was aiming at a March release but as usual I’ve been a little optimistic… So I will keep writing, and recording, and when it’s ready, it will be born.

New Lyric – You are Sacred Moon

Yesterday I started recording a song I wrote last year called Silent Moon, but as I worked on it I realised that I just wasn’t happy with the lyrics I’d written. This is one of the reasons that, although I’ve been playing a number of the new songs at concerts, this one never got played. So I went back to the beginning and wrote a new set of lyrics that I am much happier with.

So the song continues, it might even be the one I share with people who have signed up for my monthly newsletter as the demo progresses! If you want to hear the song as it changes, the newsletter signup form is on the front page of my website at www.paganmusic.co.uk.

So, here are the lyrics!

 

You are Sacred Moon

by Damh the Bard

Verse 1:

Silver you fly, a ghost in the sky,

Like a ship on an endless deep sea,

You are a Goddess to this holy novice,

A spiritual refugee.

Bridge:

So to you I dedicated my Rites,

Keeper of the Mysteries of the Night.

Chorus:

You are Sacred Moon

You are Sacred Moon

Verse 2:

My right hand it catches your power as it waxes,

A silver smile in the night,

I feel you growing the seeds I am sowing,

Blessed by the Maiden’s moonlight.

Bridge:

On this night when you are born anew,

Lady I will share my dreams with you.

Verse 3:

When you are waxing and times they are changing,

I offer into your care,

In a world gone insane you heal the pain,

As the Mother you’re always there.

Bridge:

Lady you are Mother of the Tides,

Standing here where land and sea collide.

Verse 4:

I cannot see you but I can feel you,

When the veil has hidden your face,

And as the Crone you lead the dead home,

To the comfort of your embrace.

Bridge:

I know it’s true that everything must die,

But for now I ask you pass me by.

Chorus:

You are Sacred Moon,

You are Sacred Moon.

Can’t get your head around the Oak/Holly King cycle?

Since my last post I’ve heard from a number of people who cannot get their heads around the Oak/Holly King cycle. I was always confused about this too until I realised that I was trying to fit a ‘cosmic’ event into an agricultural cycle. It clicked when I realised that the Oak/Holly King is about light and the Sun, and this is personified by the evergreen Holly and the mighty Oak.

So at the Winter Solstice, at the time of greatest dark, the King of the Waxing Year is born and crowned, symbolised to many as The Mabon, and within this mythos as The Oak King. His light grows throughout the Waxing half of the year until the Summer Solstice, his Zenith, the Longest Day. But at this time the Holly King is also born, and the crown is passed over to the King of the Waning Year who rules until the Winter Solstice when the Wheel turns once more.

So the Oak/Holly King cycle doesn’t fit very well into the agricultural cycle of the 8 festivals of the modern Pagan Wheel of the Year as that is more about temperature and things that grow. This cycle is much more about the activity of the great Eye of Bel, the King of our Solar System, our Sun. The Oak/Holly King cycle is his mythos, the symbolism of his Journey.

At least that’s how it works for me.

The Holly King

I shall be as the Dark Holly King,

Darkness and cold in my cloak I will bring,

And on Winter’s nights to me you will sing,

Til the air around me starts changing,

And on the Noon of the Solsice I’ll give up my crown,

To the Light, and the mighty Oak King!

- Noon of the Solstice from Spirit of Albion

The Dark Lord, the Holly King, Arawn, Lord of Winter, a deity known by many names, one whose Zenith was marked at the Winter Solstice on the Longest night of the year, yet whose power and strength only seems to get stronger throughout these first few months of the Waxing Year. I have a deep and personal connection with the Oak King, Lord of Summer, but I have sadly not always felt that same connection with his darker brother. This is something I am addressing this year.

I remember playing a talk given by Professor Ronald Hutton on DruidCast where he said something like, “Pagan Gods are great, and full of hoof and horn, and sweat, and the men’s locker room, but which Pagan God would a parent take their sick child to for healing, or to offer love and comfort if that child had passed away?” Our Pagan Gods are wild, as is Paganism itself, but sometimes I feel that reflection, peace, calm, prayer, silence and love are too quickly labelled as ‘fluffy’. The irony is that, although Winter can be a harsh time of year, it’s also a time where the Earth appears to be hibernating, is calm, peaceful, and often silent. Of course there are storms, but there is also a stillness that is tangible. Walking through a woodland in late Autumn/Winter I can see deeper into it, I find the leaves underfoot comforting, and the oasis of the green of Holly and Yew remind me that although the God I know well is resting, or growing as a small child, I am still not alone, as the eyes of the Green Man’s face of evergreen is still watching me.

Whereas the Spring and Summer are times of bursting activity, it is the Autumn and Winter that give me these times of reflection. So although the Holly King’s face is thorny and tough, I feel it is to him I can go to in times of pain and hurt, for healing, for comfort. Less hoof and horn, and more a reminder that I am never truly alone, even in the darkest of times.

Spirit of Albion movie – Full trailer

What way to start 2012 but with a look at the full trailer for the forthcoming Spirit of Albion movie. Role on Beltane!

The cast, crew, extras, the Pagan community, have been amazing, and have put in such a huge amount of work on this film it’s going to be a real treat. I hope you enjoy the preview!

 

Spirit of Albion Fan Music Video

A few months ago I was contacted by somebody who wanted to create a music video to one of my songs for a college project. I, of course, agreed and here is the result!

Some great images here – I love the little spheres of light that jump from Rollo and Arthur’s staffs – great fun. You’ll see. Enjoy!

 

DruidCast – A Druid Podcast Episode 57

Shownotes for DruidCast Episode 57 - Direct download: DruidCast_SHOW57_OBOD.mp3

 

In this moment – Brocc - www.brocc.org

On Midwinter’s Day – Damh the Bard - www.paganmusic.co.uk

 

OBOD Eisteddfod Perfomances

Tom Goddard

Leah and Kieron

Barry Patterson - www.redsandstonehill.net

 

The Mari Llywd – Chris Wood - www.chriswoodmusic.co.uk

 

OBOD Eisteddfod Perfomances

Liv Torc - www.livtorc.com

Kate and Corwen - www.ancientmusic.co.uk

 

13 Moons – Brocc - www.brocc.org

 

DruidCast theme song – Hills they are Hollow – Damh the Bard -http://www.paganmusic.co.uk

For more information about the modern Druid tradition - http://www.druidry.org

Direct download: DruidCast_SHOW57_OBOD.mp3

Concert at the Royal Albert Hall? Make it so!

It’s good to have role models in life. People who have achieved something that you admire, and maybe aspire to yourself. To look at how they did what they did, and maybe use that as a model. One of my role models is the folk band Show of Hands. They are a folk duo made up of Steve Knightley (the main song writer) and Phil Beer (the instrumental genius who takes Steve’s songs to an altogether higher level). They have, from the beginning, remained independent of any major label, they set up their own tours, they are in control of their music and life direction. All wonderful inspiring things. Then one year they decided that if all of their fans came along, they could fill the Royal Albert Hall. It was a huge risk for an independent folk band, but they went for it, and it worked. they had the support of their fans to do something outstanding. It had to be the Royal Albert Hall too. It’s a venue full of tradition and beauty with great acoustics.

So when I saw this it must have laid an idea in my head. When my Facebook page reached 5000 likes I jokingly said, “If you all came along we could fill the Royal Albert Hall,” and a lot of people said they’d come along. I’m now at just over 7000 likes on the page and I thought it was about time to get the ball rolling!

So at this early stage I’ve set up a Facebook page for the concert. In the first day it got 615 likes, but I’d like to keep the momentum going, hence this blog post. If you would come along just ‘like’ the page, and over time we might reach that magic 5000 likes and we can make it a reality.

So what about some detail?

I see this happening in the next 2 years.

At the moment the lineup for the evening is myself and possibly two or three other acts. I really don’t know how long you get the venue for. Who these other performers will be is still a way off any announcement yet.

My concert will not be a regular Damh the Bard concert. For just this gig I will form a band to play with me, there will be guests, lots of surprises, it will be a magical, one off, night, and it will be recorded for a live album. Maybe a live DVD also – well you’d have to wouldn’t you!

It’s going to cost a lot of money to put this event on, and there is quite a lot of financial risk, to say the least. But it would be my aim to keep the concert as affordable as possible, taking the venue and costs into consideration.

This is all a way off yet, but imagine, a Pagan music event at the Royal Albert Hall. Around 5000 people gathered to sing, chant, meet up, and celebrate where we have come from, and how far we have come. It would really be something. So click the link below, and like the page. Let’s ‘Make it so!”

Pagan Music Concert at the Royal Albert Hall