Debateable Lands

This is a sort of continuation from last week in that I came across this indirectly as a result of the musical journey BBB started me on.  In an idle moment, whilst listening to Afro Celt Sound System I hit Wikipedia to find out more about Uilleann Pipes.  From there I looked at Northumbrian Smallpipes and that page lists notable players of the Northumbrian Smallpipe at the bottom.  I was intrigued to see a woman listed there as women folk musicians seem to be in the minority.  I went to  look at the page about Kathryn Tickell and then hit YouTube….and then Amazon.  The album I came away with (and it was very hard to only pick one!) was Debateable Lands.  I will buy the rest when I win the lottery!

I really like all the tracks but my out-and-out favourite is Dunstanburgh.  I think this is very evocative of the ruined keep looming over the surrounding landscape and how intimidating it must have seemed in its heyday.  One of the other reasons I find her work interesting is that English folk music seems so less visible than Irish and Scottish folk music.  Although Kathryn Tickell does play celtic music she also plays a lot of English traditional music.  Maybe it’s because the English always seem to be so apologetic about being English these days.  Being a pretty much equal mix of English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh (A true Brit!) I feel no particular affinity to any of those cultures over and above any of the others I take equal pride in all of them…except where rugby is concerned, then it’s Wales all the way.