African Trilogy - South Africa

Two traditional Zulu melodies are combined with the South African national anthem. The first song, Siyahamba, is now well- known

as the hymn “We are marching in the light of God”. The second item , Shosholoza, is a road gang worksong. The trilogy concludes

 with the anthem Nkosi Sikelel’i  Afrika,  sung in English. The Zulu words are few, repetitive and set phonetically. The addition 

of a traditional African drum is well worth considering.

piano - opt.drum - English and Zulu - with Tenor/Baritone solo.  Cat.no.1538 - price code F - duration c.5'05”

All Through the Night - Wales

Perhaps the best-known Welsh folksong of all (also known as Ar Hyd y Nos). This arrangement features a tenor or soprano soloist.

piano - English/Welsh - with Tenor/Soprano solo . Cat.no.1518 - price code D - duration c.3'15"

 Aura Lee  - U.S.A.

This old American folksong received a new lease of life when it was popularised by Elvis Presley and called Love me tender, love me true.

arr. Alec Gould - piano - Cat.no.1523 - price code D - duration c.2'35"

 Carrickfergus - Ireland

The story of Carrickfergus is common to many folksongs (e.g. The Waters of Tyne, Waly, Waly, etc.) The lovers are separated

by a river – in this case Belfast Lough – and are in desperate need of a ferryman in order to meet for one last time…

 “if I could find me a handy boatman to ferry me over to my love - and die”.  The melody is haunting.

piano -  Cat.no.1543 - price code D - duration c.3'50"

 Country Garden - England

This English folksong receives a new treatment with words by Patrick Rooke. “Many a sweetheart did we escort in an English country garden. That was the place where we would have our sport. You can keep your foreign jardin.”     A nostalgic sort of song!

piano - Cat.no.1514 - price code D - duration c.2'20"

 David of the White Rock  - Wales

This ancient Welsh air was first published in 1794. Tradition has it that on his deathbed a bard named David called for

 his harp and composed this lovely melody, asking that it be played at his funeral.

piano - (English words).  Cat.no. 1562 – price code A  - duration c.2’40”

 Dollia - England

There is consternation on Sandgate Street (in Newcastle-on-Tyne) because the Black Cuffs regiment is moving to another barracks.

 Dolly Coxon is desperate to follow them but Dollia is happy.  She knows that the Green Cuffs are taking their place. "That'll make the lasses grin!". 

This Northumbrian song dates from about 1795.

piano - with tenor solo - Cat.no. 1570 - price code C - duration c.2'00"

The Eddystone Light - England

One would suppose that this sea shanty, with its traditional “Yo,ho,ho” chorus is about the world’s first offshore lighthouse,

 (built at the western end of the English channel in 1696-9), but it’s actually about the affair the lighthouse keeper had with a mermaid.

unaccompanied - with Tenor solo.   Cat.no.1526 - price code D - duration c.2'15"

 The Foggy, Foggy Dew - England

This arrangement was specially written for the celebrated baritone Benjamin Luxon  who gave the first performance with 

 Hart Male Voice Choir of this ever-popular, cheeky folksong from Suffolk.

piano - with Baritone solo.  Cat.no.1516 - price code D - duration c.2'25"

Goodnight, Ladies - England

Another traditional song associated with sailors, and a useful encore for your concert!

arr. Geoffry Russell-Smith  - piano - Cat.no.1529 - price code C - duration c.2'10"

Go Tell Aunt Rhody - U.S.A.

One of the best known of all American songs, this is the amusing story of Aunt Rhody, (or Sally or Nancy). The goose she was

saving to make herself a feather bed has been drowned in the mill pond and the goslings are unhappy.

arr. Geoffry Russell-Smith  - piano - Cat.no.1530 - price code D - duration c.2'20"

Hold the Wind - U.S.A.

This semi-spiritual was collected by Alan Lomax from the singing of a Negro blacksmith in

 Louisiana State Penitentiary in 1933. He was an ex-slave, newly converted to Christianity.

opt. piano. Cat.no. 1549 – price code C  -  duration c.2’45”

 Jamaica Farewell - West Indies

A gentle calypso. A tourist has arrived in Kingston (the Jamaican capital) and meets a girl. However, the chorus tells us,

"I’m sad to say I’m on my way, won’t be back for many a day.  Me heart is down… - I had to leave my love in Kingston Town”.

piano -  Cat.no.1542 - price code D - duration c.2'20"

 Kalinka - Russia

A new treatment of the Russian folksong made famous by the Red Army Choir, plus  a new English lyric.

piano - Cat.no.1509 - price code D - duration c.2'45"

 Lamorna - England

A curious little tale from Cornwall, all about a young man who tries to seduce his own wife,

 having failed to recognise her in the “pale moonlight”. She was not too pleased.

unaccompanied.  Cat.no.1535 - price code D - duration c.2'40"

 Li’l Liza Jane - U.S.A.

An imaginative, amusing and lively  new arrangement of a very well-known song

 about a southern beauty from Baltimore, (just north of Washington D.C.).

arr. Geoffry Russell-Smith  - piano - Cat.no.1528 - price code D - duration c.1'50"

 Londonderry Air - Ireland

This popular melody is also known as ‘Danny Boy’ and needs little introduction here. However, the usual assumption that the song is

about a girl who is sad that her boyfriend is going away and pleading with him to come back is probably not correct.

 It is more likely to be the boy’s mother. In the second verse she tells us she will have died before he returns.

 piano - Cat.no.1539 - price code B - duration c.3'15"

 Skye Boat Song - Scotland

Charles Edward Stewart, the Young Pretender to the English throne, was defeated on Culloden Moor in 1746. Aided by Flora MacDonald, Bonnie Prince Charlie escaped from the battlefield to the island of Skye. The tune is said to be based on an old sea shanty,

and it was often used as a lullaby.

piano - Cat.no. 1560 - price code D - duration c.3’50”

 The Sloop John B - Bahamas

This popular calypso comes from the West Indies, and vividly describes the violent and

alcoholic activities of the crew aboard a merchant ship on the Seven Seas.

piano - Cat.no. 1513 - price code E - duration c.3'40"

Songs from the Land of the Long White Cloud - New Zealand

The Maori name for New Zealand is Aotearoa, meaning "land of the long white cloud", hence the title of this group of four Maori traditional songs.  The oldest item in the collection is Kamate! Kamate! ("It is death! It is death!") and is a war chant or Haka.  These days the chant is perpetuated by the New Zealand Rugby team. (The traditional arm and leg actions are illustrated and explained in an appendix to the score). The second song is the perenially popular Pokarekare, a love song that first appeared in 1919. The third, Hine e Hine, is a love song from the same period. It is a lullaby and remains to this day one of the country's favourite songs. The final item is, in fact, a hymn.  Missionaries introduced the Maori to Christianity in the 1830s, and today the majority of Maori are practising Christians. Au, e Ihu, Tirohia is the Maori for "Jesu, lover of my soul" and the tune a favourite with Maori congregations.  It features in the Maori Anglican hymnbook. The English words are an approximate translation of the Maori ones. They owe much to Charles Wesley.

piano - English and (a little) Maori - Cat.no.1568 - price code F - duration c.7'20"

Sospan Fach - Wales

This arrangement was premièred by a choir of 1000 voices celebrating the 21st anniversary concert of Canoldir Male Choir in the National Exhibition Centre.  The first section is faithful to the Welsh words, cataloguing the troubles of a harassed housewife (Sospan fach means "little saucepan"),

while the second half of the song is a somewhat irreverent English translation.

piano - English and Welsh - Roberton Publications 53111 - price code Y - duration c.2'45"

 Watching the Wheat - Wales

One of the most beautiful and enduring of Welsh folksongs with a new English version by Patrick Rooke

as well as the traditional Welsh words.

unaccompanied - English/Welsh. Cat.no.1511 - price code D - duration c.2'45"

  Worried Man Blues - U.S.A.

A song that tells the story of a criminal on the run who is caught by the police, taken to court, and sentenced to 21 years hard labour,

  (in a railroad construction prison gang). Astonishingly, he doesn’t sound in the slightest bit  worried about it!

piano - Cat.no.1532 - price code D - duration c.2'15"