Jarle Bernhoft

Just discovered this guy on YouTube – some wonderful delay/loop work, and a great voice.

Iain Anderson show interview

Iain Anderson

I was interviewed about the Burnsong project on BBC Radio Scotland’s Iain Anderson show. Here’s the audio file.

JB interview.mp3

Burnsong 2009 – The Big Gig at the Parliament

Images from the Scottish Parliament Burnsong Big Gig, 30th November 2009.

All images © Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. Click on an image for a short interview with each artist.

Burnsong 2009 setlist

BURNSONG set list 30-11-09

(1st set to be broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland 11pm)

The staging and skylights in the Garden Lobby area of the Parliament.

Scottish Parliament
1st set – 4.10pm-5pm

 

1.         Inveresk          4:01         Alex Hodgson

2.         Days Gone By          4:06         Marie Claire Lee

3.         Put Good Knickers On And Go Into Town         3:02         Roberto Cassani

4.         Tinto Hymn         3:27         Lisa Rigby

5.         The Poet         2:45         A. J. Roach

6.         Guthan Air A’ghaoith (Voices On The Wind)         3:30         Fiona J Mackenzie

7.         Spielberg Moon          4:37         Andy Tucker

8.         Thinking Hybrid Redirected         4:13         Emily Elbert

9.         Plate Smashing Song          2:39         Nuala Kennedy  & Ziggy Campbell

10.         All Is Not Lost         3:41         Yvonne Lyon

BURNSONG set list 30-11-09

Scottish Parliament

2nd set – 5.10pm-5.55pm

1.         Hang on in there Sunshine         3.02         Alex Hodgson

2.         Housework of the Heart         3.14         Andy Tucker

3.         Fill Asophocles          3.32         Nuala Kennedy and Ziggy Campbell

4.         I Don’t Want To Love         3.30         Marie-Claire Lee

5.         Mutton Dressed as Lamb         3.10         Roberto Cassani

6.         Only In Your Love I Am         3.45         Yvonne Lyon

7.         Thuirt Thu Riumsa         3.30         Fiona McKenzie

8.         Clockwork Music Box         3.20         AJ Roach

9.         Everything’s Changed         3.30         Emily Elbert

10.         Hey Honey I’m Home         3.30         Lisa Rigby

11.         A Man’s a Man for A’That         2.52         Robert Burns

At the Parliament

We’re here at the Scottish Parliament building, and this may be the last chance to post a blog entry before the show begins. Here are some pics of the soundcheck in the Garden Lobby area.

 

Chris The Bass

 

AJ Roach; there's a photo of John Lennon in this exact pose from around 1967, I think...

 

Burnsong director Ronnie Gurr (centre) chats to songwriters Alex and Andy about the Burnsong project.

 

Lisa Rigby writing a quick song on the mandolin (well, the tempo isn't apparent from the photo so it could be a slow song). http://www.myspace.com/lisa_rigby

Guitar geek central

The staging and skylights in the Garden Lobby area of the Parliament.

 

Yvonne Lyon fingerpicking on the 4-string tenor guitar; http://www.yvonnelyonmusic.com/

 

The staging is built out of the main stairwell.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If You’re Ready

The songwriting part of Burnsong 2009 is be complete and I’m blogging this from the back of a splitter van, on the way to the Parliament gig (see Burnsong site for more info about the project). We have a luxurious 4-hour soundcheck booked today, then an evening off in Edinburgh. The gig itself runs 4-6pm tomorrow (Monday 30th Nov 2009) and will be broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland (the Iain Anderson show) we think between 11pm and midnight the same evening. Iain will be at the gig providing links and chatting to the songwriters.

We (me, Chris Blanden on bass and local session drummer Blair McMillan) have been rehearsing with the songwriters for the last two days, and now have two 45min sets. The first set consists of the ‘winning’ 10 songs – the tracks from which the songwriters were selected, and the ones that will be broadcast initially. These were easy to rehearse because Chris and I had time to work out the chords and structures before the project began, so all we’ve had to do is work out a band arrangement and write the backing vocal harmonies. The second set is a bit more tricky because some of the songs were only finished on Thursday, but there’s some great stuff there, including Lisa’s particularly rabble-rousing up-tempo song ‘Hey Honey I’m Home’, which should serve as a nice ending to the show (although we finally close with the even more stirring Robert Burns song A Man’s A Man For A’That). Needless to say I have not compromised on (over) arranging vocal harmonies – when you’ve got a room full of great singers who love working together the temptation is impossible to resist!

And I learn that every audience member will get a ‘wee dram’ in the break between sets. Proper Scots hospitality!

Mutton Dressed As Lamb

Roberto Cassani

Mutton Dressed As Lamb (MP3 download)

Roberto Cassani

You say that you’re as old as you will feel
That you can wear whatever’s on the rail
You’re floppy as an accordion
But there’s a plastic surgeon
To lift you up where wonderbras will fail

But that’s a total load of tripe
You’re young, you’re old and then you die
There’s lots more dignity
In ageing gracefully, because…

Nobody likes a mutton dressed as lamb
Nor a 50-something year old man
Still wearing a tight speedo
To highlight the torpedo
For the benefit of all the female fans (aye, right…)

There is nothing
More off-putting
Than the look of Barbie’s granny
With the long nails
And the high heels
But a wrinkly old fanana-na-na-na-na….

Nobody likes a mutton dressed as lamb
Just try to look your age please, if you can
Stay young inside your head
But please do not forget:
Nobody likes a mutton dressed as lamb.

• Bass and production: Chris Blanden
• Additional guitar: Joe Bennett

Steal Away (Before The Night Falls)

Yvonne Lyon

Steal Away (Before The Night Falls) MP3 download

Yvonne Lyon

Sun on wet rooftops and gun metal sky
So good to stop and step inside for a while
Come away from the striving and let it all cease
To be who I am for a moment

Steal away all the moments and days
Steal away before the night falls

There are pictures in glass that still hang on the wall
With a permanence unlike reality calls for
These faces and places they comfort me still
And call me to cherish the moment

Steal away all the moments and days
Steal away before the night falls

Produced by Chris Blanden

Tasks 2009

 

The 'song factory'

It occurs to me that we haven’t blogged any information about the tasks. Here’s some background. There are basically five methods we use (at Burnsong and at the UK Songwriting Festival in Bath). They are, in no particular order;

 

• Analysing your own songs.
• Analysing ’successful’ songs i.e. songs that have demonstrably moved an audience, shown through commercial success or longevity.
• Peer review – trying songs out in front of other writers and getting comments
• Practice i.e. lots of writing.
• Tasks that are designed to break habits and increase a writer’s range.

This week’s tasks are;

1. Write a lyric in its entirety and pass it to someone else for setting to music.
2. Write a chorus-form song suitable for audiences to sing.
3. Write a song without using a musical instrument (or for writers who usually work this way, to use an unfamiliar instrument).
4. Write a song in AABA form.
5. Write a song about a place or inanimate object.

The MP3s will be coming thick and fast now. Chris and I will be meeting our session drummer Blair today, then rehearsing the Parliament set for the next 48 hours. Busy!

Everything’s Changed

Emily Ebert http://www.myspace.com/emilyelbert

Everything’s Changed (MP3 download)

Everything’s Changed
Emily Ebert
I get the feeling when I open up both of my eyes
I steal the morning start at smilin’ on the moment I rise
I must have had a dream that brought me right back down to my size
I wasn’t sure before but all of a sudden I realise

Everything’s changed
Everything’s changed
Everything’s changed now

There’s something reeling me in, it’s got me feeling alive
I was afraid for my heart but now I’m not going to hide
But down my weapons machine and throw away my disguise
Been waiting here for a while I guess it’s finally time

Completely different, my life’s been since you are here
Broken the system I’ve been locked to for years

Everything’s changed (etc)