Modern Gamelan

Storage 
When I moved from 
one house to another,
there were many things 
I had no room for. 
What does one do? 
I rented a storage space 
and filled it.
Years passed.
Occasionally, 
I went there 
and looked in, 
but nothing happened, 
not a single twinge 
of the heart.
As I grew older 
the things I cared about 
grew fewer but were 
more important,
so one day I undid the lock
and called the trash man. 
He took everything.
I felt like the little donkey 
when his burden is finally 
lifted.
Things! Burn them, burn them!
Make a beautiful fire! 
More room in your heart 
for Love, for the trees.
For the birds who own
nothing; 
the reason they 
can fly.
image, M. JUstice / CGI, mjv6-alpha, Ps.

Storage: Mary Oliver, Soundtrack / Hemi~Sync / Spoken by M. Justice.

For Áine, who sang tenderly to her daughter on an enchanted isle in a sweet, forgotten time.

∞∞∞

Music, words, vocal, and MIDI Irish harp by Diane Rains.
Copyright ©2024 by Diane Laura Rains. All Rights Reserved.

Cover art: The Childhood of Saint Cecilia by Marie Spartali Stillman, 1883

∞∞∞ LYRICS ∞∞∞

Child of mine, 
daughter of stars and of time,
one day your sweet voice will chime
with a melody sublime
for each journey you start.

Cradled in clouds, rocked in breeze.
Someday you’ll fly there with ease, 
traveling up where you please
over mountains and tall trees
with the song of my heart.

You were planned so very long ago.
I knew what grand promise you would show!
And as you grew, you never slipped from my hand.
You are magic! You are special! 
And I love you so.

Now you’ve come into your own! 
All of your childhood fears flown. 
Standing up proud with your art,
singing straight into the heart 
of this island divine.

 Warbling the wind by the sea,
you help the waking stars shine,
sending your songs home to me! 
And to me you’ll always be 
that sweet child of mine.

Lullaby for Inis Aoibhinn

Child of Mine

Child Of Mine

A lullaby from another realm, in the spaces between the stars.

Music, words, vocals, digital keyboards by Diane Rains.
Copyright ©2024 by Diane Laura Rains. All Rights Reserved.

Cover art: Night With Her Train of Stars, by Edward Robert Hughes, 1912.

✦✧✦ LYRICS ✦✧✦

Swaying with stars,
my babies are
traveling with moonbeams
from pillows of dreams.

Milky Way flight
all through the night,
where comets roam
like bright sea foam
’til morning brings them home!

Swaying With Stars

Gentraige (merry), Goltraige (sad), and Súantraige (lullaby) are the three types of magical music unique to the Good Folk (the"fairies") of Ireland.

The album trilogy by Neptune's Keep is a treasure trove of fairy folklore set to music. The first installment, Vol. 1 The Child, was released on Winter Solstice 2022. Two more volumes will eventually emerge from beyond the veil. 

The songs on Vol. 1 The Child are dramatic, Otherworldly, and hauntingly beautiful. You'll meet the Fair Folk in far off realms – a regal Queen of the Sidhe, a mysterious disappearing island, Shadowy Púca Horses, and much more!

Gentraige Goltraige Súantraige, Vol. 1 - The Child

The Fairy Queen

Tuesday, August 2, 2011, Marciac, France.
After Paco De Lucia last year and John McLaughlin three days ago, Marciac hosts a new "Guitar Hero" with Al Di Meola, the third musketeer of a group that was successful in the 1980s. The Italian-American has nothing to envy to the other two in terms of instrumental technique. His is simply amazing and virtuosity has little equal. Where a prolific solo career and ease the crossing of cultures. Jazz rock of which he is one of the stars uncontested (he replaced Bill Connors in the group Return To Forever Chick Corea) Di Meola freely mixes of other influences, beginning with those that come from his Italian roots. Thus the merger, which does not exclude the lyricism or the Latin color, including flamenco, makes it a representative of world music. His collaboration with Cuban pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba often reaches the top.

Double Concerto LIVE. Marciac, France

A song for my beloved Druid grove, Northern Roots Grove.

∞∞∞

Vocals, piano, and MIDI cello by Diane Laura Rains.
Hammered dulcimer by Stu Janis.

Words and music Copyright © 2020 by Diane Laura Rains. 
All Rights Reserved.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ LYRICS ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

NORTHERN ROOTS GROVE

Where rushing rivers run
into lakes wide and blue,
where lyrics of the loon
sound beneath a strawberry moon,

Where trembling aspen leaves
sparkle gold in a turquoise sky ––
I found my people there.
I found wings to fly!

We each walk our separate path
with its own Spirit song.
We lend each other our hand
to help us along.

The gift of community
keeps us all strong.
We’re a family;
a place to belong.

What does the future hold?
What’s on that far misty shore?
Will there be less of us?
Will there be more?

We carry the wisdom
of those who’ve gone before.
Together we walk unafraid
toward that open door.

All that you’ve meant to me.
All that you’ve done.
Those sweet times we stood beneath the trees
welcoming the sun.

Our bold diversity ––
the tapestry we wove ––
grows so deep and shines like rainbow leaves
in our Northern Roots Grove.

∞∞∞

Northern Roots Grove

Here's to new beginnings!

∞∞∞

Words and music by Leonard Cohen.
Vocals by Diane Rains.

Hallelujah

Listen to all of the Musicmakers Harps side by side to compare the tone.

All the harps were recorded in one session with harpist Stephanie Claussen.  The same microphone set up was used for each harp.

Jolie Harp (33 Strings)

The wisdom of Crows is deep and sharp and quicksilver. Their hearts beat with the fearless bravery of the Warrior, a fierce devotion to Family, and the melt-into tenderness of steadfast True Love. Crows rollick with the crafty humor of the Trickster, and their feathers gleam with the stunning, sleek obsidian beauty of Nature’s artistic hand. Keenly perceptive and skillfully confident, they are masters of Air. Crows are fashionably modern and unfathomably Ancient. They are the Avian Dark Matter that knits together this world and Hidden Realms. They are magnificent. They are sacred. My heart beats with the delicious mystery of Corvidry. 

∞∞∞

Kråkedansen – The Crow Dance – is an old Swedish folksong. Its exact origins and meaning are lost to time, but it may have originated in the 17th century.

I learned the song – with delight! – from the teaching of Eva Tjörnebo. I have been in love with Crows since childhood, and I immediately fell in love with this song! I shared Kråkedansen with my local Crow family (of which I am an honorary member), and they were enchanted by the song, too!

∞∞∞

This track is my a cappella version of Kråkedansen. Singing and Kulning by Diane Laura Rains (human)and Brubeck (American Crow). Cover art: Brubeck, by Diane Laura Rains. 

Music and art Copyright © 2021 by Diane Laura Rains. All Rights Reserved.

Coming soon: A fully instrumented version of Kråkedansen by Neptune's Keep, with vocals by my Crow friends and I, along with harmonium, handpan, hammered dulcimer, and Celesta.

Watch for a spooky cool music video coming to our YouTube channel this Spring!

https://tinyurl.com/OrnithovoyanceYouTube

Kråkedansen A Capella With Crows

Ceol Sidhe is the married musical duo of Diane Rains (aka Crow Bard) and Stu Janis. [How do you say our name? "Kyohl SHEE"]

The Irish Good Folk (known also as "fairies") make astonishing music, called "ceol Sidhe" in Gaeilge, the Irish language. Bewitching, alluring, sometimes a little dangerous! It travels on the wind and lands where it will.

The music of Ceol Sidhe duo explores and celebrates the beauty and mystery of fairy music. We sing of the vast splendor of stars. Of an enchanting island hidden in magical mist. Of ancient goddesses and the alluring realm of Fairy. We sing of hearts both human and Fae.

∞∞∞


Header art: Greek Girls Picking up Pebbles by the Sea, by Frederic Leighton, ca. 1871

Swaying With Stars

Ceol Sidhe

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