Music, Guitar, other instruments, Singing, Songwriting; Record/cd collecting; Painting; History; Books; Art; traditional crafts, decor and design; the designs of William Morris; Antiques; handsome old architecture, carved wood and cosy cottages; stained glass lamps and lanterns; paisley; teapots, wooden boxes with little drawers; beauty in nature (countryside, flowers, birds, trees and woodland, dusk, the sea...and taking time to sit quietly and observe); tea; making homemade soup; Travel; museums; Scotland(the Highlands, the islands, the lowlands); Shetland, Orkney (visit www.orkneyjar.com ); Scots and the Gaelic language. England; Ireland. Slainte!
Friends who are honest, kind, sincere, with a sense of humour who have at least somewhat similar interests and a passion for traditional folk music, played on real instruments. Distance means nothing to me (except for the frustration of being so far away) and there are many places I've not been to that I'd love to visit. I've found great people on here from many wonderful countries who are making incredibly good and finely crafted music of the highest quality and dear friends who share a love of good music and who I hope to meet sometime. I love to receive comments from like-minded friends and to give them (and I do try to leave a comment for everyone, although sometimes I do fall behind) but, as I receive so many friend requests (many from people with no common interests whatsoever), I'm just not interested in adding bands or others who have no similar interests just to add numbers to a list, as it's becoming a bit overwhelming trying to keep up with them all. I also tend to have a good look over everyone's page first before accepting invitations, just to see what you are about! So please don't be offended if I don't accept, but I only refuse if your interests are, shall we say, inharmonious with mine, if your page doesn't give any information about you, or if you are a band who plays music of a style I don't like. "To know someone here or there with whom you feel there is an understanding in spite of distances or thoughts unexpressed- that can make this life a garden."Dervish 'An-T-Ull'Dervish 'Lark on the Strand'De Danann, Live at the Embankment, 1976 'Tom Billy's/Ryan's Jig/The Sandmount Reel/The Clogher Reel'Have a look and listen to this amazing Romanian tune from Andy Irvine, Donal Lunny and Paul Brady!
The Tannahill Weavers, Ossian, Dervish, Altan, Back of the Moon, Malinky, Oisin, Jock Tamson's Bairns, Alba, Five Hand Reel, Silly Wizard, Billy Ross, John Renbourn, Robin Williamson, Alan Stivell, Malicorne, Kornog, Cliar, Whistlebinkies, De Danann, Andy Irvine, Planxty, Steeleye Span, Jethro Tull, Genesis, Shirley Collins, Eliza Carthy; too many to name; beautiful voices, Gaelic song; guitar, fiddle (so many great fiddlers: John Martin, Stuart Morison, Gillian Frame, Alasdair Fraser, Frankie Gavin, all those fiddler lads in Session A9 and Fiddlers' Bid...a very long list!) mandolin, bouzouki and other folky stringed instruments, Scottish small pipes and the Highland pipes (Alan MacLeod, Iain MacInnes, Ali Hutton...); Scottish, Irish, English, Welsh, Breton folk music; all the time I'm finding lovely music from other countries too, such as the Netherlands, France, Germany, Scandinavia...; Archie Fisher's Travelling Folk on BBC Radio Scotland; The Thistle & Shamrock; J.S.Bach; Medieval, Baroque music (I love the sound of medieval instruments, like hurdy gurdy and the portative pipe organ)and some rock.
Not films here, ART: Naturalistic painting; the exquisite detail in the great Victorian and Pre-Raphaelite paintings. William Morris; The Arts & Crafts movement in the mid-late 1800's; Art Nouveau; J.W. Waterhouse; the great book illustrators including Arthur Rackham, Walter Crane, Beatrix Potter, Charles Robinson and Howard Pyle; Vermeer; Alphonse Mucha; Burne-Jones; Millais; Samuel Palmer; William De Morgan; Pugin; Harry Clarke; Jessie M. King; pottery; Medieval art; illuminated books like The Book Of Kells and the Lindisfarne Gospels; art that is beautiful and paintings that show the beauty of nature and landscape, among other things.
I watch very little t.v. but: River Cottage series. I think Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is so inspiring and I admire his R.C. philosophy, his ability and enthusiasm to create something wonderful out of nothing and his willingness to try anything, no matter how hard the work is, a real cottage industry that has grown into something wonderful; classic BBC mysteries, comedies, history and archaeology.
The songs and poems of Robert Burns; 'The Scots Fiddle' series by J. Murray Neil; 'The Complete Patter' by Michael Munro (hilarious book of Glaswegian terms); Susan Hill's books 'The Magic Apple Tree', 'Shakespeare Country' and others; 'Albion' by Peter Ackroyd; Charles Dickens; Sir Walter Scott; Sherlock Holmes; Agatha Christie; Joan Aiken; The Irish R.M. stories by Somerville & Ross; Lillian Beckwith's funny fictional tales of life in a remote part the Hebrides decades ago; books on rural/country life (love books about traditional crafts and natural history, landscapes) Scotland and folklore and old legends of the British Isles; History; herbals; old ballads; poetry; funny stories; travel narratives...I'm currently reading various different books'Macpherson's Rant' by Stuart McHardy, one of the most entertaining books I've ever read!folktalesArts&Crafts Style by Isabelle Anscombe, a beautiful book