Name: Ragamuffin Rag by Stephen Smith
Duration: 2 min 50 s
Description: A boisterous rag with a slightly "tousled" quality. In the 1920's and 30's, "ragamuffins" were people who dressed up and went house to house at Thanksgiving--a kind of Depression-era forerunner of our modern-day Hallowe'en.

A boisterous rag with a slightly "tousled" quality. In the 1920's and 30's, "ragamuffins" were people who dressed up and went house to house at Thanksgiving--a kind of Depression-era forerunner of our modern-day Hallowe'en.

Ragamuffin Rag

From the moment it was released in 1995, Kiss Closed My Eyes, the debut album from Canadian singer and composer Laurel MacDonald, garnered widespread critical acclaim. An excerpt from the original press release: 

With Kiss Closed My Eyes Laurel MacDonald uses her voice to create extraordinarily direct, often abstract, and utterly compelling expressions of emotion. Where lyric is used, the language is hauntingly elusive; much of the singing is in Gaelic, and one piece uses an early Christian liturgical chant sung in Greek. Vocal textures range from a delicate whisper to a ghostly soprano to a raw, pleading lamentation. The mood shifts from one of gentle vulnerability to one of driving emotional intensity. 

And then there is the eccentric array of instrumentation: you will hear the reedy pipes and cantankerous creaks of an antique harmonium, the spinning, whirling turns of an Irish whistle, the richly strident timbres of a hurdy-gurdy, the lush resonance of a bowed bouzouki. 

Fragments of the Celtic, Balkan, Middle Eastern and Indian musical traditions are woven into tapestries of found sound, the manic manipulations of producer Philip Strong. A delayed guitar barrels through a fragile soundscape of staccato whispers. The unearthly ambiance of a subterranean reservoir provides the setting for a prayer. A spellbinding chorus of radio noise and an intoxicating piece of plunderphonics grip and seduce the soul. Such are the cacophonies of another world. 

Kiss Closed My Eyes is by turns ethereal and pandemonic. The murmuring, wailing vocals may well make you weep; the riveting soundscapes will leave you breathless. It is crucial, often heart stopping music, and it is an essential sonic experience.

Oran Na h-Eala

Premier Kyrie

composer: Stephen Smith
publisher: Cypress Choral Music

visit cypresschoral.com to learn about the composer and study the score while you listen

Ragamuffin Rag

Stephen Smith

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