This song is one of 10 surviving songs from the Red Book of Montserrat (Llibre Vermell de Montserrat), dating from the 14th century.  They were sung by pilgrims visiting the monastery of Monserrat.

I first learned this at a convention with those singing doing so in four parts.  As I wanted to add some nice, crunchy, Medievalesque fifth intervals I thought a canon in four - or even three - parts was going to be a bit much so I stuck with two after the initial pass through the tune

Laudemus Virginem (from the Red Book of Montserrat /Llibre Vermell de Montserrat)

Traditional (arranged by Chantelle Smith, 2015)
(Rough recording, a capella with some reverb added)

The Invocation To St. Bridget is traditionally sung on Candlemas Eve by the women of the Isle of Man - the song welcomes St. Bridget into their homes to bless them for the coming year.

I first heard this song sung by a Manx harpist who visited my school when I was 11 but for a long time I could only remember the first two lines.  Last year I found the words and a pronunciation guide so I could finally sing the whole song through.  As I don't speak Manx Gaelic, my pronunciation may be a little off but I've been told by Gaelic speakers that they understood what I was singing so I don't think I'm that far off.

I added an approximate English translation as a second verse so that non-Gaelic speakers could understand what the invocation means.  Also, Bride (also Breed) is another name for St. Bridget.

Invocation To St. Bridget / Clean Suggane / Arrane y ven−thie

Trad. arr. Chantelle Smith.  2015

Bruton Town is one of the more recent ballads I've learned to date; I first heard a version called 'Strawberry Town' at the Swindon Folk Club and the imagery in it struck me so that a few months later I went searching for versions of it.

The words are mainly based on a version of Bruton Town collected from George Digweed by H.E.D Hammond in March 1906, with further additions from material collected from Mrs Baggs in August 1907 by H.E.D. Hammond and the version in The Wanton Seed (ed. Malcolm Douglas and Steve Gardham).  The tune, on the other hand, is heavily influenced by two tunes of the ballad 'Seaport Town' collected in the Appalachians by Cecil Sharp  1918 from Julie Boone and Florence Fitzgerald respectively.

Bruton Town

This original song by Chantelle Smith was written after she read George Mann's "Wychwood" novel.

Copyright Chantelle Smith, 2018

This is a rough, initial recording of the main vocal line.

Wychwood (Rough Recording)

Original song by Chantelle Smith copyright 2016
Based on the Anglo-Saxon poem 'The Wife's Lament'
Recording from  the show Flight of a Sparrow which was performed as part of Malmesbury History Week 2016

The Wife's Lament

The legend goes that when the true High King of Ireland touches the Lia Fáil (Stone of Fal/ Stone of Destiny), which stands on the Hill of Tara, then it would cry out for joy.

Ard Ri (Rough Recording)

Recorded for #TradSongTues on the theme of 'Dark Songs'

Oxford City

Rough version of Reaphook and Sickle recorded for TradSongTues on theme of Harvest

Reaphook And Sickle - ROUGH

So this came about (after, of course, watching the excellent The Witcher TV series) with me wondering what folk music in the world of The Witcher could be like and also what the Battle of Sodden Hill would have been like for the random background NPCs so I wrote this song.

It uses a lot of references from English folk idiom but references things from the world of The Witcher.

This is a rough(in both voice and hot-off-the-press newness) recording for FAWM; I hope to do a better one at a later date as I'm really enjoying this song.

Tune and words by me, completed 1st February 2020

Demo Tracks for FAWM 2020

Sodden Hill - DEMO

Track 2 to come out of FAWM 2020.  I took part in a selkie workshop at the Soundpost Fairy Gathering in May 2019 and worked with a lady called Val on the start of a song between a selkie's daughter and her aunt.  It didn't quite feel like the direction I wanted to go in so I've had this song percollating in the back of my head for 7 months and today it's come out to play.

Very rough version - better version to be recorded at a later date.
Music and words by me, 4th February 2020.

Chantelle Smith

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