SP28 - Spring Holiday Special 2012

Magicfolk produce a traditional and modern blend of folk, celtic, prog and rock, writing original and alluring songs with mythological and mystic leanings. They also love their roots with fiery fiddles and pipes, and will sometimes burst into traditional reels and jigs on stage.

They continue to absorb new influences, including traditional sounds along the lines of Capercaille, prog-rock timings in the style of Dream Theater, or world music influences such as Greek or South American drum rhythms.

Grounded in acoustic instrumentation, their songs often develop into raucous rock, jazz and psychedelic improvisations. They also have gentle songs which take you to other more restful places.

You can find out more about Magic Folk on their website or on our Contributor page.

Walter Yeeling Evans-Wentz (February 2, 1878 – July 17, 1965) was an anthropologist and writer who was a pioneer in the study of Tibetan Buddhism. He was born in Trenton, New Jersey, and as a teenager read Madame Blavatsky's Isis Unveiled and The Secret Doctrine and became interested in the teachings of Theosophy. He received both his B.A. and M.A. from Stanford University, where he studied with William James and William Butler Yeats. He then studied Celtic mythology and folklore at Jesus College, Oxford (1907); there he adopted the form Evans-Wentz for his name.

This is one of the most in-depth and scholarly attempts to explain the phenomena of the Celtic belief in fairies. Based on Evans-Wentz' Oxford doctoral thesis, it includes an extensive survey of the literature from many different perspectives, including folk-lore, history, anthropology and psychology. The heart of the book is the ethnographic fieldwork conducted by Evans-Wentz, an invaluable snapshot of the fairy belief system taken just on the cusp of modernity.

There are regional surveys of the fairy-faith in Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Brittany and the Isle of Man.

You can read the whole text on Sacred Texts.

We also mention 'Armorica' and wonder whether this is meant to be America or some part of Brittany.

From Wiki, we learn that Armorica or Aremorica is the name given in ancient times to the part of Gaul that includes the Brittany peninsula and the territory between the Seine and Loire rivers, extending inland to an indeterminate point and down the Atlantic coast.

The toponym is based on the Gaulish phrase are-mori "on/at [the] sea", made into the Gaulish place name Aremorica (*are-mor-ika ) "Place by the Sea". The suffix -ika was first used to create adjectival forms and then, names (See regions as Pays d'Ouche < Utica, Perche < Pertica ). The original designation was vague, including a large part of what became Normandy in the 10th century and, in some interpretations, the whole of the coast down to the Pyrenees. Later, the term became restricted to Brittany.

A Celtic harpist/singer/songwriter, Phil Holland has performed all over Europe as a soloist.

Phil is a classically trained musician with Celtic roots. Her music contains many influences from classical to traditional including jazz and minimalist inspired sounds. Phil’s music however transcends category and genre.
Her peaceful, reflective style touches the heart and souls of people of all ages, from all walks of life, all over the world.

Phil is of Irish and Scottish origin, rooted and educated in Celtic music and western classical music. She has to her credit 5 CDs for Celtic harp, voice and violin; “LAGAN” in 2004, “STORIES” in 2005, “GOING HOME” in 2006, “FAERIES” in 2008 and “SEASCAPES” in 2009. Her music takes inspiration from her ethnic roots, but also reflects her eclectic background. Her latest work, “Seascapes” is a musical meeting of the Greek and Celtic cultures.

Here you can hear Laoche Sidhe from the album Faeries which is the tale of a Warrior or Hero Faerie in the Battles of the Tuatha De Danaan

You can find out more about Phil on her website or on her Contributor Page.

This story is the first part of a tale, "The Wife or the Wuddy' by Mr Wilson who was famed for collecting hundreds of tales from the Scottish Borders. I think they went up to about volume 23! This story is a little lengthy, and is the main reason that we split this Holiday Special into two parts.

If you find the accents or the vocabularly somewhat difficult to follow, then please follow along with the text which you can find at Project Gutenberg listed below. But no cheating! :) Wait until part 2 before finishing the story!

I bet you can't! :)

You can read the original of this book on Project Gutenberg.

Founded by Ukrainian Eva and Englishman Paul, musicians with experience touring in Great Britain and Ukraine, international ethnic-fusion project Dark Patrick is gaining speed, taking part in all the biggest Ukrainian folk festivals. Each member of the group has mastery of several modern and folk instruments (often playing more than one at once).

You can read more about this original and fascinating Celtic music on Dark Patrick's website or on their Contributor Page.