Reviews

Artist:Windborne
Album: To Warm The Winter Hearth
Label: Wand'ring Feet
Tracks: 12
Website: https://www.windbornesingers.com/

Unaccompanied save for the occasional sprinkling of guitar, whistle and guest fiddle from Katy Mcnally, this is, as you might gather, seasonal outing from the celebrated American polyphonic four-part a capella group, a collection of traditional numbers, mostly from Europe, that gets into the mood with 'Here We Come A-Wassailing', learnt from The Watersons and the first of two marking the tradition, the other, also from The Watersons, 'Malpas Wassail' from Cornwall, here the arrangement tinted with the group's affection for Corsican music.

Carols obviously are part and parcel of any such album, the first being the 15th century 'The Boar's Head Carol' , sung at the Christmas day banquet at Queen's College, Oxford where a roast boar was paraded around the hall, the version here adding a verse adapted from another carol with Macaronic Latin (a mix of Latin with vernacular words). Then, back to back, you get 'The Holy Holly', which you'll recognise as 'The Holly And The Ivy', but, their voices overlapping and set to a melody composed by contemporary Scottish musician Ali Burns, with new lines celebrating the return of the sun at the winter Solstice and featuring a kankl?s, a lap harp from Lithuania, and that's followed by a dirge-like rendering of 'The Cherry Tree Carol' set to the uneven metre of the tune of 'Searching for Lambs'. And mentioning Lithuania, that' s the origin of the a cappela (with a dash of what I assume is bhodran) 'Aisim Bernai Kal?daut (Come On Boys, Sing Kal?da!)' , a song which describes the traditions of Kal?da, similar to wassailing. Things then shift to France for a twinning of 'Satan Es Ben Estonat/Lo Paure Satan (Satan Was Very Surprised/Poor Satan)' which, with percussive rhythm, were written by 16th century monks from Avignon, France in the Occitan language telling the nativity story from the perspective of Satan who throws a bit of a tantrum and gets very depressed.

It heads towards the end with 'Time to Remember the Poor', a 19th century broadside ballad to which they've added a contemporary message ("Old Winter comes calling with its snow, wind, and sleet/And the question: whose lives have worth?/Is it those by the fireside or those in the street/Should it all be the luck of your birth?/For their lot could be yours by a small change of fate/We're no different in worth at the core/If by fortune's fickle favor your estates were reversed").

A well-known traditional tall tale number from the 18th century, 'The Derby Ram' comes with the version learnt from Mike Waterson, a driving itchy, banjo dappled rhythm sung by either (the notes don't state and the booklet wasn't included) Jeremy Carter-Gordon or Will Rowan. A more contemporary choice, written by Zoe Mulford, 'Welcome In Another Year' with its the rhythmically urgent percussive stomp and harmonies was, with its themes of reflection, renewal, and togetherness, inspired by New Year's customs from China, Iran, and Celtic pagan traditions ("Light the bonfires, another year has flown…All the hungry spirits will be coming by tonight …make them welcome, offer them release/Offer them atonement and pray they may find peace/Give them your blessing but do not let them stay/Beat on the cans and the pots and pans and send them on their way").

It ends with a parting song, the wholly unaccompanied 'The Turning Year', written by Jennifer Cutting in response to the pandemic and acknowledging that pain and loss can be intertwined with hope and celebration ("We live in hope, we pray for peace/We meet with joy the year's new lease/The falling snow, the icy moonlight shining clear/So let us sing to welcome in the turning year… So let us toast to absent friends -/To those we've hurt let's make amends/And those we love, let's set them free, yet hold them near").

It can perhaps get a little relentless heard at one sitting, most especially with a six minute voice and feet percussion 'Come And I Will Sing You,' a variant of the antiphon counting song 'Green Grow The Rushes-O', that threatens to extend its 'I will sing you one o' into infinity though actually ends at twelve, but it will certainly live up to the promise of its title.

Mike Davies

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