We can do no better than start our show with Damh singing us in with his song about the Goddess that stirs the cauldron of Awen or inspiration. She is central to the story of Taliesin - possibly the greatest bard and Damh's song reminds us that in search for inspiration we are all "the Cauldron Born".

Damh is a musical storyteller who works within the world of myth that cannot be proved; where the Faerie really do dance on Midsummer's Eve, where the trees talk, and the Hollow Hills take you into the realms of Annwn. Where the Goddess rides her horse, guiding you to magic, and the Horned God of old calls us from the shadows of the Greenwood. So relax, and let the music take you there. [source]

You can find out more about Damh on his website at Pagan Music or on our Contributor Page.

You can find out more about the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids that he represents on their website at druidry.org.

The picture above is a publicity still for The Spirit of Albion: the Movie, © Lusete 2011

Often controversial, Jennifer Emick has kindly written a fascinating piece about Samhain traditions for us. Jennifer Emick is an artist, writer, and religious educator. She has promoted religious understanding in the internet community for over a decade. She is the About.com Guide to Alternative Religions, the most popular source for Celtic spiritual symbolism on the internet. Ms. Emick lives in the San Francisco Bay area.

She is also the Author of The Everything Celtic Wisdom Book which you can find on Amazon which looks at Irish, Scottish, and Welsh traditions. See her Contributor Page for more details.

Cindy Spear

Cindy has written another amazing poem that has been set to music by Colin Mold called "The Realm of the Free". You will find the lyrics below.

To find out more about Cindy Spear go to her website or visit her Contributor page.

Colin Mold

Colin is a talented musician who not only plays the band Karnataka in the UK, performs as a session musician and has two solo albums to his name.

His latest project is a forth-coming album, Girl On the Castle Steps, on which will you will also hear this track as well as another one with lyrics written by Cindy called Green and Gold.

Find out more about Colin on his website or on his Contributor Page.

Isabella Augusta, Lady Gregory (15 March 1852 – 22 May 1932), born Isabella Augusta Persse, was an Irish dramatist and folklorist. With William Butler Yeats and Edward Martyn, she co-founded the Irish Literary Theatre and the Abbey Theatre, and wrote numerous short works for both companies. Lady Gregory produced a number of books of retellings of stories taken from Irish mythology. Born into a class that identified closely with British rule, her conversion to cultural nationalism, as evidenced by her writings, was emblematic of many of the political struggles to occur in Ireland during her lifetime.

Lady Gregory is mainly remembered for her work behind the Irish Literary Revival. [Wiki]

She said:

"The Sidhe cannot make themselves visible to all. They are shape-changers; they can grow small or grow large, they can take what shape they choose; they appear as men or women wearing clothes of many colours, of today or of some old forgotten fashion, or they are seen as bird or beast, or as a barrel or a flock of wool. ..... There are two races among the Sidhe. One is tall and handsome, gay, and given to jesting and to playing pranks, leading us astray in the fields, giving gold that turns to withered leaves or to dust. These ride on horses through the night-time in large companies and troops, or ride in coaches, laughing and decked with flowers and fine clothes. The people of the other race are small, malicious, wide-bellied, carrying before them a bag. When a man or woman is about to die, a woman of the Sidhe will sometimes cry for a warning, keening and making lamentation. At the hour of death fighting may be heard in the air or about the house-that is, when the man in danger has friends among the shadows, who are fighting on his behalf. ....

This is the news I have been given of the people of the Sidhe by many who have seen them and some who have known their power.

A.G.

Coole, February 1916"

The full text can be found on Sacred Texts at
http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/vbwi/index.htm

Kellianna is an American pagan artist internationally performing song and chant inspired by myth, magic, sacred places and ancient times. With guitar and vocals she brings to life the stories and sagas of the Gods and Goddesses. With frame drum and chant she honors the Earth and the Ancestors via primal drumming and powerful vocals.

This track, the incredibly powerful summoning of the Crone, is from her latest album "Elemental" - well worth checking out.

You can find out more about this enchantress on her website or on our Contributor Page.

Astoundingly, Chris is an undiscovered talent - that is, until now! This amazing bard has given us permission to use some of his amazing stories and poems in the show and we're sure that you'll love them just as much as we do.

In this show, you can hears his short poem Forget Me Not and his mythically-rich story, Samhain Story. We hope to bring you much more of Chris in the future and in the meantime check out his Contributor Page to find out a little more about him.

Kate and Corwen are more than just folk musicians. They are also instrument makers and workshop leaders who perform folk music and drama, recreate Ancient music and instruments, make crafts, run workshops for schools and demonstrate at museums and other events. In some ways, they have become folk music's scientists in that their research is delving deep into the past to discover the songs (one of Kate's specialities I believe) and the instruments (definitely one of Corwen's!) of the past. I've seen Corwen demonstrate an ancient lyre on YouTube! Hold on, let's see if I can find it...

You'll find the link to their YouTube channel on their Contriubutor Page and it really ios worth listening to more of their music and finding out about some of the instruments used by the Celts and how they sounded! I think one of the most amazing things I've read about them is on their website where it says: Never afraid to sing all the verses of a long ballad, or play newly composed material on long forgotten instruments, our music has been described as 'hypno folk'. We aim to make music that their ancestors would understand and appreciate.

You can find out more about Kate & Corwen on their website at Ancient Music.co.uk or on their Contributor Page.

The Wort Hotel, in Jackson, Wyoming, was the first place I began to play music and actually get paid for doing it. Years before, John Fahey and Leo Kottke had sat together on the same stage, under the same lights, playing music that would shape decades of guitarists. Playing there felt like sleeping with a textbook under your pillow, hoping to absorb something through osmosis.

That was in 1990, and after five years of living out of my van and playing shows in the western US and Canada, my hair is shorter and the lines on my face a bit deeper. I'm a single parent, working on a PhD, and I live in a town in Alaska that has no road access.

I have a different approach now to writing and performing music. I no longer record CDs, as I want to reduce the waste headed to our landfills, and I don't charge money for my songs as a deliberate movement away from the bottom line that seems to govern so much of our daily lives.

Every now and then someone asks me how I am ever supposed to make a living as a musician when I don't make CDs and I give my songs away, since most performers make more money on sales than concert fees. I confess: I have no idea! Footsteps in the dark.

So I keep writing my songs, and I sing them when I play a show, and I give them away to anyone who wants them. My graduate work takes me to interesting places on rather short notice sometimes, and I try to plan concerts around that travel, although the short notice can make it difficult.

But if I don't make it to where you live, or even if I do, the Downloads page on my website is full of little digital penguins waiting to march their way across the world, leaving no footprints in the snow.

About this track, The Shores of Wales, he says: Every time I play this, someone comes up to me almost frantic to hear what finally happened in the story. I don't think there's a real answer- the beach is empty, the horse is alone, and William rides still. I do like the Faerie King, though- although he is careless of William's fate and casually cruel, he also lays his own soul on the line when challenged.

Find out more about Kray on his website or his Contributor Page. The lyrics to The Shores of Wales are reproduced below.

The Shores of Wales

The full moon barely had arose, it looked down through the trees
The wind on mouse feet crept along, among the fallen leaves
And William rode his lonely way, beside a murmuring sea
Upon a twilight shore of Wales, it was All Hallows Eve

And thought he of his own sweetheart, he did not hear the horn
That sounded faintly far behind, from beyond the bourne
But soon he heard the pounding hooves, that shook the very ground
And with a mighty rushing wind, the riders ringed him 'round

Their eyes shone in the bladed night, the smelled of earth and air
With voices like a howling wind, their faces cruel and fair
And for to ride on Hallows Eve, demanded they their toll
And gave him then a race to win, for his life and soul

Ride young William, ride tonight
Elfland's on your trail
To take your soul, if you should lose
Upon the shores of Wales

Then came to him a midnight horse, whose rider wore a crown
And gazing at him with a smile, bade him to step down
A steed as red as blood or gold, was given to his rein
A faerie mount to match my own, evens out the game

Know you, sir, the Gallows Oak, that overlooks the sea
A league or more straight on from here, that our goal shall be
And if you win home you shall go, free from curse or pain
But if I catch you, mine you'll be, and come not home again

Then William bravely up and cried, these terms be far from fair
I stand to lose my own dear soul, and you not one small hair
A blacksmith now by trade I am, your risk must match my own
I'll forge your soul into my swords, and steel shall be your home

Ride young William, ride tonight
Elfland's on your trail
To take your soul, if you should lose
Upon the shores of Wales

So be it, cried the Midnight King, to yours I pledge my soul
They brought their horses side by side, and faced them towards the goal
And faster than the wind they flew, William rode the storm
And behind them came the Elven host, winding on their horns

Thw wind danced softly on the sand, it whsipered through the leaves
The moon sat veiled in tangled cloud, and sank down through the trees
And William's horse walked slow and cold, beside a murmuring sea
Upon an empty shore of Wales, it was All Hallows Eve