I have recently released my second cd.. Both are available for secure purchase below, either by paypal or by mastercard or visa. For each of the cds click on the track name to see detail. Click the name again to hide. See the special offer at the bottom of the page!!
With Friends
1
Number 26 in Child's The English and Scottish Popular Ballads is a traditional Scottish Ballad from the same family as the English Three Ravens this version however, gets a little closer to the realities of life.
3:12
With Friends, my second compact disc, arrived on April 27, 2009 and was produced and recorded at Locrian Records‘ Banjo Frog Studio.
It continues the exploration of hurdy gurdy and nyckelharpa begun with The Organ Grinder.
From the confines of traditional music emerges new sounds and directions. Danny Spooner brings out the roots, then the album heads towards a newer African/Jazz influenced sound.
The album ends at the very edge of “traditional music” with David Lang's “Jabberwocky”.
$AU25.00 includes packing and postage, anywhere in the world.
You can pay with Paypal, Mastercard or Visa, just click on the Buy Now button.
2
A traditional Boda polska. Troll, in Swedish, loosely translates to magic and enchantment. The sympathetic strings on the nyckelharpa enhance this feeling.
3:08
3
This song is said to have been collected in Australia, however it is maybe better known through the Spencer Tracey film, "Captains Courageous". Spencer Tracey is seen playing a hurdy gurdy while singing "Yea ho little fish".
2:57
4
Written by English hurdy gurdy player, Nigel Eaton (See www.myspace.com/nigeleatonhurdygurdy), this tune fits nicely with "Yea ho little fish", while still continuing the theme of the film.
6:45
5
From the French South Seas Sperm Whale fishery. This rowing song, a Chanson á ramer, is one of the few survivors form that trade. The words roughly translate as I will sail the oceans until I find my true love and then we shall roll together in each others arms at the bottom of the sea. Ho hum.
3:45
6
This piece achieves a unique, haunting sound through the sympathetic strings on both instruments, the Indian Bendir drum and the hurdy gurdy.
6:40
7
Written by Erik Gooding in the 1970's this tells part of the story of the decline of heavy industry in Britain. Erik, a mathmatics student, worked a holiday job with the Dorman Long Company in Teeside.
4:28
8
A drone driven tune where the sax and hurdy gurdy swell of two melody instruments, quietly accompanied by an ever moving beat from various drums and percussion.
4:31
9
This was written by Colin Campbell in the 1970s when he used to live in Sydney near Kings Cross and was friendly with a few of the local ladies of the night who lived in the area.
2:12
10
A Traditional Finnish/ traditional Danish/ Wolfgang Meyering (See http://www.malbrook.de/) Jeri and I decided to record this set after a concert about a week before our day in the studio! Jeri arrived at my gig with a fiddle, and I asked her to play a few tunes with me, one of which (Emma), she had only seen once before. After we had run through the tune, Jeri looked at me and started playing Five jump, it worked so well that we recorded it.
5:52
11
This song appears both in areas of the north of England and in Scotland. It is essentially advertising brooms made from heather for sale and is said to have been popular in the 19th century. It is believed to have been the work of a blind fiddler, Willie Purvis.
2:28
12
After mistakenly asking South Australian composer, David Lang to write me a “slightly tonal piece”, I received this masterpiece for my eighteenth birthday. You can imagine the hilarity that occurred when the studio had to be re-arranged for the electric beater to be recorded!
9:12
The Organ Grinder
1
Recorded live at Crafers Church of the Epiphany in 2006. A small church in the Adelaide hills with lovely acoustics, where my parents were married. This was part of a performance of renaissance and medieval music.
1:45
My first compact disc The Organ Grinder was completed in June 2008 and features mainly live performance recordings of my own compositions.
You can pay with Paypal, Mastercard or Visa, just click on the Buy Now button.
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$AU20.00 includes packing and postage, anywhere in the world.
2
An African lullaby, for mbira and hurdy-gurdy. While there are probably very few hurdy-gurdies in Africa this track combines the delicate tones of the mbira with the strength of the gurdy.
3:05
3
A poor old hurdy-gurdy player stands alone, a social out-cast, busking to earn enough for a few crusts of bread. One of the many classical hurdy-gurdy pieces.
2:47
4
One day, while in Vienna to learn hurdy-gurdy from Matthias Loibner, I became lost. The bells of the Stephansdom, Vienna rang out and I was able to find my way to the train station and home. This inspired me to record the streetscape which I now use in performance.
5:26
5
The hurdy-gurdy started me on a path which led me to the Nyckelharpa. Three days after being given this instrument I wrote this piece which mixes a traditional Swedish instrument with Irish influences, depicting a Mongolian horse race!! Performed at the 2008 National Folk Festival.
3:20
6
Whale is my protest at the killing of whales by the Japanese fishing fleet. The whale sounds, created on the drone strings of the hurdy-gurdy, are combined with Japanese influences. Minimal distortion is provided by a Digitech RP6.
3:29
7
I was taught this ungainly feeling, traditional Swedish folk dance-tune at the Francis Folk Gathering, 2008. It is one of my favourite nyckelharpa tunes to play.
3:06
8
Live at the National Folk Festival, 2008. Written with aspects of Gregorian chant, these two pieces also take features from Hildegard von Bingen’s writing. The simple melody, with drone accompaniment, takes Hurdy-Gurdy playing back to the basics. Played on a Simphonie.
3:18
9
Live at the National Folk Festival, 2008 - My musical description, in three movements, of the shortest day of the year. After Midnight and After Dusk are both played on the drone strings to represent darkness.
4:20
10
Bringing together Macedonian and Arabic influences, this was my first piece using an RO6 effects pedal.
2:41
11
I was invited to do a solo at the Woodford Folk Festival in January 2007 and I offered to do an improvisation. This piece has now become my usual concert finale.
3:28
If you would like to purchase both of my compact disks you can have both of them, posted to you anywhere in the world, for $Au40.00. Use the button alongside to take advantage of this special offer.
Payment will be made to my management (Alpaca Management) who will despatch the CD within 24 hours of payment.
If you wish to buy more than one copy contact me via the Contact page.
Processing is done securely by Paypal but if you wish to pay by Mastercard or Visa instead just follow the same link
