Thursday, 3 January 2013

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all our lovely followers. I hope you all had a great holiday full of laughter, singing and parties.

Talking of singing, here is a link to The Big Orkney Song Project's version of the New Year Song. Every year we have a little bit more information about this song, which was once sung throughout Orkney on New Year's Eve.

And this year all the details, words and music can be found in a book & CD which was published in 2012. It's called "Voices in Chorus Songs and their stories from The Big Orkney Song Project" by Sarah Jane Gibbon. In this book you'll also find lots of information about other Orkney songs which the project gathered from our archive collection and the Orkney community.

"the men of a district travelled around the houses performing the song. An older man led the singing, the other men joined in the chorus, and one man carried a caisie (creel) on his back in which to gather food and drink. The bounty was shared out at the last house visited, where the men held a party." http://www.reverbnation.com/bigorkneysongproject/song/2535631-the-new-year-song

The book can be purchased here: http://www.orkneycommunities.co.uk/ORKNEYSINGERS/index.asp?pageid=3863

No comments:

Post a Comment

Are you delighted by what you have just read? Are you revulsed and appalled? Do let us know, we'd love to hear from you.