love the concept and the story in general,  a superb collaborative offering.

Marvellous job by you all guys and you was all in fine spirit with the vocals and well fitting instrumentation to the great folky song and very well enjoyed...

wow... that steeleye span sound..Wonderful!

i feel like i could be in a irish pub jiggin to this.

A wonderful tale and much enjoyed! Congrats to all!

Video clip : https://youtu.be/RH0fMgkFl2E
Please visit my fellow musicians music:
https://soundcloud.com/progrockdan1
https://soundcloud.com/mark-hoogslag
https://soundcloud.com/kellie-rowley



The idea of doing a song about Brendan the navigator came from Dan back in June 2015. We tried different tunes and lines - at one time we had four different ideas about either Brendan's homecoming, Brendan's boat (Currach), Brendan's liberty  and Brendan's brother. We could  have done almost a whole album around this Irish Sailor-Saint. One of the ideas got a Caribbean angle and turned into the Island of Light.

But the Brendan idea never got off the ground until we got Kellie singing along and Mark Hoogslag on board with his flute.  So in the end we made a traditional sounding folk song featuring mandoline, violin, mouth harp, flute, budhran and bass, darbuka and Kellie's and Dick's vocals.

So who was Brendan? Did he actually live, and if so did he manage to reach America in the 6th century, in a boat made of leather?

Just like other Celtic figures from that time (Arthur) Brendan's historical background is a bit sketchy. His date of birth and death are given with some certainty (c. 484 – c. 577) but other than that the tales are like legends. His journey is first mentioned in the Navigatio sancti Brendani abbatis, of which at one time 125 manuscripts have been counted, scattered across Europe. Debate about which is the oldest manuscript is still going on among Brendanologists.

In our text we came up with a ficticious brother of Brendan who stayed on land while his brother went to sea. The land-brother worked in the forest that produced the mast that the sailor-brother needed to travel.

Picture from Flickr - https://flic.kr/p/fCUHha - part of a manuscript depicting Saint Brendan on the back of a whale.

Brendan's brother


Come sail with us to distant lands
to seek out unknown shores
we aim beyond the mighty waves
where no one's gone before

Brendan can you tell me,
when we'll be turning back
this journey feels like ages
and we are loosing track

The season's right to catch some wind,
we leave from the bay of Clare
our boat is filled we things we need
so join us if you dare

You went out from the Bay of Clare
and took a Western course
The forest tells me your mast is strong
that can stand the mighty force


waiting for the sun or waiting for the rain
coming down from glaciers 
or up from the flattened plain
Brendan I am your brother 
don't forget me yet
the wood that will carry you, 
came from the forest bed

I am his son and so are you
I travel through the woods
while you have chosen for the sea 
I hope it brings you good

our father he is waiting still
on any news from us
the tales of all this travelling
will arouse his wanderlust

Brendan's brother (featuring Kellie Rowley, Mark Hoogslag & ProgrockDan)

Comments & ideas for collaborations appreciated. 
Instruments: violin, mandoline, acoustic, bass and electric guitars, harmonica, tin whistle, darbuka, sansula, roland synthesizers. 
Recording with Cubase Elements 11 

Recommending these inspiring musicians: 

https://soundcloud.com/the-plugs ;  https://soundcloud.com/pleudoniem ;  https://soundcloud.com/markjbennett ; 
https://soundcloud.com/dan-lockhart ; 
https://soundcloud.com/julsy ; 
https://soundcloud.com/houckjt ; 
https://soundcloud.com/tante-meli .

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