The Weekend Planet

Karine Polwart can often be found tramping the hills near her home in southern Scotland. Wherever you look, you’ll be hard-pressed to find her peer, musically. Karine is equally uncanny as singer of traditional songs and as writer-performer of keenly-observant new ones. She has two current releases. Fairest Floo’er is mostly devoted to traditional songs, whilst this earthly spell is her new set of Polwart originals.

Karine Polwart’s site: www.karinepolwart.com

Playlist

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Details of each track are presented in the following order:
BROADCAST TIME
TRACK NUMBER AND TITLE
COMPOSER
PUBLISHING AND COPYRIGHT DETAILS
RECORDING COMPANY AND CD NUMBER
( distributor/ source details, in brackets like this, in lower-case)
ARTIST AND CD TITLE
Duration of track
Description of track, in lower-case.
Where relevant, further info links to information, gigs/events/related programs

’THE WEEKEND PLANET’ SUN 13. 4 08

2205
THEME:
(details below, as per the original CD.. This cut is also on these compilations Ketama - ’ Nuevos Medios Coleccion’ - Nuevos Medios NM 15 820
{ in Australia via MGM www.thegroovemerchants.com
worldwide, via: www.flamenco-world.com/noticias/nuevos.htm }
and ’ Jarabi - the best of Toumani Diabate’ (Hannibal 334352 )

CD CUT 1, ’ JARABI’
TRAD, ARR TOUMANI DIABATE
HAMILCAR MUSIC LTD
HANNIBAL HNCD 1323
( in Australia, some releases through Stomp Enquiries to: ben@stomp.com.au
worldwide: www.rykodisc.com )
KETAMA, TOUMANI DIABATE, DANNY THOMPSON - ’ SONGHAI’
THIRTY SECONDS (EXCERPT)
(retains a stately-Manding air, whilst also embracing flamenco elements. Toumani Diabate’ s kora, Danny Thompson’ s beautiful double bass and Ketama’ s flamenco guitars )

2208
CD CUT 2, ’THOU HAS LEFT ME EVER JAMIE’
ROBERT BURNS, ARR KARINE POLWART AND STEVE POLWART
SONG IS PUBLIC DOMAIN. THE ARR IS BAY SONGS LTD AND MCPS/PRS
HEGRI MUSIC HEGRICD03
( no current Australian distributor.
Readily available online: check the ’shop’ prompt at www.karinepolwart.com )
KARINE POLWART - ’FAIREST FLOO’ER’
2: 57
( Cheerfully-defiant version of a Robert Burns song in the persona of one dismissing the lover who’s not proved true. Karine’s Scots voice with her own and her brother Steven Polwart’s acoustic guitars

YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE THE 1793-VINTAGE LYRIC?

It’s here :
www.robertburns.org/works/431.shtml

SEGUE

2211
CD CUT 2, ’SORRY’
KARINE POLWART
BAY SONGS LTD
HEGRI MUSIC HEGRICD04
(In Australia, through The Planet Company/ MGM
email: info@theplanetcompany.com
website: www.theplanetcompany.com
Worldwide: check the ’shop’ prompt at www.karinepolwart.com )
KARINE POLWART - ’THIS EARTHLY SPELL’
4: 16
(stark and dark: described by its Scots singer/author as ’a bit of a rant’. She says, ’ sorry is a word used far to easily. It is offered to a higher power by people looking for redemption and I don’t buy it.’)

2217
CD CUT 8, ’THE WIFE OF USHER’S WELL’
TRAD, ARR KARINE POLWART
THE SONG IS PUBLIC DOMAIN. THE ARR IS BAY SONGS LTD AND MCPS/PRS
HEGRI MUSIC HEGRICD03
( no current Australian distributor.
Readily available online: check the ’shop’ prompt at www.karinepolwart.com )
KARINE POLWART - ’FAIREST FLOO’ER’
6: 40
( stark, Scottish, tragic - it tells of a mother who grieves too hard for sons, lost at sea. Their ghosts visit her. Karine’s voice, in Scots-dialect English, with ac guitars played by herself and her brother Steven Polwart. Steven also plays banjo and makes electronic sounds with an ebow.

YOU WOULD LIKE TO KNOW ABOUT THE SONG/ ITS INTENT?

Go to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wife_of_Usher’s_Well )

2226
CD CUTS 8 THROUGH 11: ’HAND IN HAND SUITE IN C’
( PART 1: EYES/ PART 2: MIND/ PART 3: HEART/ PART 4: HAND IN HAND )
JOSEPH TAWADROS
(PRESUMABLY) APRA
JT 2008-03-19
( in Australia through Creative Vibes www.cvibes.com
Worldwide: www.josephtwaadros.com )
JOSEPH TAWADROS - ’ANGEL’
27: 34 ( 5:10 + 4: 50 + 6: 29 + 11:05 )
(AUSTRAL COMP AND PERF: A 4-part suite for Joseph’s oud {fretless Arabic lute}, James Tawadros {his younger brother} on bendir {frame drum}, pianist Matt McMahon and clarinettist Dimitri Vouras. In the final part James plays the brighter-toned req {aka ’riq’} - a little frame-drum/tamborine, with jingles in its rim. The music has obviously-Arabic elements, but not those-only. Variously lively and meditative -predominantly, the latter. .

JOSEPH TAWADROS CD LAUNCH CONCERT ALERT ( Sydney )

Wednesday April 16th, 8pm
St Stephen’s Church
189 Church St, Newtown
Bookings: joe@josephtawadros.com )

2255
CD CUT 4, ’THE GOLDEN CITY’
GLYN MACDONALD
(PRESUMABLY) APRA
GM T001
( available direct from website: www.glynmacdonald.com )
GLYN MACDONALD TRIO - ’GLYN MACDONALD TRIO
4: 10 ( excerpt )
(AUSTRAL COMP & PERF: the leader-composer’s piano, with Sam Anning featured on {superb} ac bass, and drummer Michael Perkins. Elegantly lyrical-impressionistic, spacious and spritely jazz trio. Inspired by sunset in Vancouver.

GLYN MACDONALD TRIO GIG ALERT (Perth)

Monday April 14 @ 8.pm
Charles Hotel, 509 Charles Street, North Perth
(enter from Ellesmere St)
Trio is as above, except that Pete Jeavons is the bassist
Tel 9444 1051 www.charleshotel.com.au
More details of this gig, here: www.perthjazzsociety.com

ALL-STAR TRIBUTE/BENEFIT CONCERT { INCLUDES GLYN} ALERT

Same venue - Charles Hotel - 8pm on Monday April 21st

The Alan Corbet Memorial Concert

All proceeds to the late dedicatee’s family. The concert will involve likely the largest/finest gathering of Perth-raised jazz musicians ever gathered in one place. Some of them will cover great distances to be there.

Full details are here:
www.perthjazzsociety.com

You can read an appreciation of Alan ( 1964 - 2008 ) here:
www.jazzwa.com/news )

----
11 PM NEWS
---

2305
CD CUT 4, ’RIVERS RUN’
KARINE POLWART
BAY SONGS LTD
HEGRI MUSIC HEGRICD04
(In Australia, through The Planet Company/ MGM
email: info@theplanetcompany.com
website: www.theplanetcompany.com
Worldwide: check the ’shop’ prompt at www.karinepolwart.com )
KARINE POLWART - ’THIS EARTHLY SPELL’
3: 07
( A Scottish mother’s very loving song, addressed to her baby son. Her words contrast geological and human time-frames. Karine’s voice with ac guitar, thumb piano, mandolin, banjo, bass, harmony vocals )

2310
CD CUT 7, ’THE DEATH OF QUEEN JANE’
TRAD, ARR KARINE POLWART
THE SONG IS PUBLIC DOMAIN. THE ARR IS BAY SONGS LTD AND MCPS/PRS
HEGRI MUSIC HEGRICD03
( no current Australian distributor.
Readily available online: check the ’shop’ prompt at www.karinepolwart.com )
KARINE POLWART - ’FAIREST FLOO’ER’
3: 40
( stark, tragic, haunting. Karine sings { superbly } a Scottish version of a song which may or may not - as is popularly believed - have originally been about the third of Henry VIII’s six wives. Jane Seymour.died on October 24th, 1537 - twelve days after giving birth to Henry’s only legitimate son, who later became King Edward the Sixth.

YOU WOULD LIKE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THIS ANCIENT SONG?

For two quite different accounts/lyrics go to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_Queen_Jane

www.contemplator.com/child/qeenjane.html )

SEGUE

2314
CD CUT 13, ’GREENSLEEVES’
TRAD (OFT-ATTRIBUTED TO HENRY VIII), ARR STEVE BAUGHMAN
PUBLIC DOMAIN
PUB NOT SPEC
TALL TREE RECORDS TTRS8 1020
(no Australian distributor
Worldwide, direct : www.celticguitar.com/album.html )
STEVE BAUGHMAN - ’A DROP OF THE PURE’
6: 00
(Solo, finger-style steel-string ac guitar. V deft, a self-described ’bluesy corruption of an otherwise very sweet piece’. King Henry VIII was/ was not - its composer. Presumably, we’ll never know whether his authorship is a true or false notion )

2322
CD CUT 19, ’AS I WENT DOWN BY FIDDICHSIDE/ DROWSY MAGGIE’
BOTH TRAD, ARR DEBBIE SCOTT
TUNES ARE PUBLIC DOMAIN, ARR PUB NOT SPEC
GREENTRAX RECORDS CDTRAX309
( In Australia, through The Planet Company/ MGM
email: info@theplanetcompany.com
website: www.theplanetcompany.com
Worldwide via: www.greentrax.com )
’PEERIE’ WILLIE JOHNSON - ’WILLIE’S WORLD’
4: 37
( fiddle and ac guitar duo. Scottish slow air, followed by a much more lively also-Scots-trad tune, swung more than would be strictly ’traditional’. Originally on fiddler Debbie Scott’s album ’The Selkies Song’, issued in 1985. Johnson is the excellent acoustic guitarist )

SEGUE

2327
CD CUT 16, ’BIRKS WORKS’
DIZZY GILLESPIE
EMI MUSIC PUBLISHERS
GREENTRAX RECORDS CDTRAX309
( In Australia, through The Planet Company/ MGM
email: info@theplanetcompany.com
website: www.theplanetcompany.com
Worldwide via: www.greentrax.com )
’PEERIE’ WILLIE JOHNSON - ’WILLIE’S WORLD’
9: 20
( Relaxed, but definitely-hot modern jazz jam session. From 1967 - first Issued, 2007. Hard to believe but true - the players are Shetlanders, in a private house in Shetland. The conspicuously superb players are double bassist Ron Mathewson and the electric guitarist - the very same Willie Johnson. 20th century Scottish folk music’s most influential guitarist was in fact, primarily a jazzman - albeit, one who only now - posthumously - has a largely-jazz album! Other players on ’Birks Works’ are pianist Harold Mathewson and the drummer at whose house this was recorded - Drew Robertson. The CD’s previously-unissued jazz cuts were recorded in private houses - mostly, at Billy Kay’s house. ’Peerie’ means ’small’ - it’s the Shetland and Orkney equivalent to the Scottish mainland’s ’wee’.

LIKE TO KNOW ABOUT ’PEERIE’ WILLIE JOHNSON {1920 - 2007 }?

His Shetlopedia page is here:
http://shetlopedia.com/Peerie_Willie_Johnson

Here are two good obituaries for an amazing musician - and person:
www.shetland-music.com/prominent_artists/artistes/peerie_willie_johnson

www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/peerie-willie-johnson-450820.html )

2339
CD CUT 6, ’FIRETHIEF’
KARINE POLWART
BAY SONGS LTD
HEGRI MUSIC HEGRICD04
(In Australia, through The Planet Company/ MGM
email: info@theplanetcompany.com
website: www.theplanetcompany.com
Worldwide: check the ’shop’ prompt at www.karinepolwart.com )
KARINE POLWART - ’THIS EARTHLY SPELL’
3: 30
( has the ’feel’ of a traditional Scottish lament, but its subject is very contemporary. In persona of the mother of a son who has dementia, via his having AIDS. An extraordinarily potent song - and performance )

SEGUE (CONTINUOUS)

2343
CD CUT 7, ’BEHIND OUR EYES’
KARINE POLWART
BAY SONGS LTD
HEGRI MUSIC HEGRICD04
(In Australia, through The Planet Company/ MGM
email: info@theplanetcompany.com
website: www.theplanetcompany.com
Worldwide: check the ’shop’ prompt at www.karinepolwart.com )
KARINE POLWART - ’THIS EARTHLY SPELL’
4: 47
( same Scots female singer-songwriter. Her words here say - in part:
’And in the waking hours
hope keeps its power concealed
It’s like a field before reaping
Sleeping behind our eyes ’ )

2350
CD CUT 2, ’HWAHWA’
THOMAS MAPFUMO
PUB NOT SPEC
ANONYMOUS WEB PRODUCTIONS/ CHIMURENGA MUSIC (NO CATALOG NUMBER)
(no Australian distributor
Worldwide via: www.anonymousweb.com
THOMAS MAPFUMO AND THE BLACKS UNLIMITED - ’LIVE AT EL REY’
8: 58 ( complete )
(’live’ and hypnotic: Thomas’s Zimbabwean voice, with one electric bass, a drum-kit and two mbiras - ’thumb pianos’. The song is about drunken-ness.. and overcoming it. Its title means ’beer.’

THOMAS MAPFUMO AUSTRALIAN TOUR ALERT

MELBOURNE - Thursday 17 April. 8.00pm til late
Supported by Chris Gudu & DJ Systa BB
The Prince Bandroom, 29 Fitzroy Street, St. Kilda
Tickets: The Prince Bandroom | www.princebandroom.com.au or call (03) 9536 1168

SYDNEY - Saturday 19 April. 8:00pm til late
Supported by Chris Gudu & DJ Scrim
The Gaelic, 64 Devonshire St, Surry Hills
Tickets: The Gaelic | www.thegaelic.com/home/ or call (02) 9211 1687

ADELAIDE - Wednesday 23 April 8:00pm til late
Supported by Musiki Manjaro
The Gov, 59 Port Road, Hindmarsh
Tickets: The Gov | www.thegov.com.au/contacts.htm or call (08) 8340 0744

PERTH - Friday 25 April 8:00pm til late
Supported by Shangara Jive & DJ Ulli
Fly By Nite, 1 Holdsworth Street, Fremantle - Entrance off Parry Street
Tickets: Fly by Night - www.flybynight.org | Heat Seeker - www.heatseeker.com.au or call (08) 9430 5976 or (08) 6210 2850 )

Presenter

Doug Spencer

Producer

Doug Spencer