JR002
|
|
|
|
Arrane Ben Drogh Hraghtalagh |
The Celtic Cradle is Jill’s second solo album. Recorded in England in 1993, it showcases a genre of particular interest to Jill for many years. Her initial impulse for making the album came after many years of collecting lullabies from different cultures, when she read a quote by a famous 19th-century English poet who arrogantly claimed that “The Celts have no lullabies: they are too warlike.” Jill promptly set out to disprove this preposterous, ignorant statement. The result was an album that has become something of a classic.
Jill’s album won two prestigious awards in the USA: the NAPPA Gold Seal for 1995 and the Parent’s Choice Silver Award for the same year, and has continued to be popular not only with new babies and their weary parents, but also with people who are going through stressful times and/or illness, or who simply wish to relax to quiet, evocative music.
“The album came about because a) I’d long realised that lullabies convey a whole lot more than just gooey words to make a little one sleep and b) a chance encounter with a statement by 19th-century Englishman AP Graves (father of poet and novelist Robert Graves) acted as the proverbial red flag to the bull. He claimed that ‘&133;The Celts have no lullabies: they are too warlike.’, which says far more about his ignorance and arrogance than about the culture of the communities where Celtic languages are spoken and sung. Long before I became a professional singer or considered making a commercial recording, I set out to prove him wrong. My research, conducted over many years, revealed a wealth of beautiful lullabies in the different Celtic languages.
“Once I’d selected my 17 songs for the album, I started singing them each night to Tal and Lisa, then aged 10 and 6, respectively&133; until the night came when they sat up in bed and sang along with me on the choruses!
“After my first solo recording experience in Israel (Through an Open Door), I decided to try my luck recording in the region from which most of the songs on the album came. I am very happy that I did, because I was privileged to work with a fine team, from Stewart Field (the studio owner -- a jazz trumpeter, who kept asking whether there wasn’t a part for him to play on the album) and Mark Powell (my co-producer and a multi-instrumentalist), to Steafan Hannigan, a multi-talented native of Belfast who dropped in for three days (from touring with two different bands!) to provide bodhran, low whistle and uillean pipes.
“I arrived in November 1993, bringing snow with me from Jerusalem, and didn’t see the sun again for 11 days; the reason being that I reached the studio each morning at 8a.m. and didn’t surface again until after midnight. It was a crazy, stressful, but heady time: I knew that, with these professionals standing beside me, I could fly as high as I wanted and that they would spread a safety-net under me.
“The result was not perfect -– albums never are; nor am I sure that they should be. People often tell me that I sound better in concert: that’s the way I want it to be. I can allow myself luxuries in the studio –- such as the fun of singing harmonies with myself -– that I cannot repeat on stage. I know I’ve come a very long way –- both musically and personally -– since I recorded The Celtic Cradle back in 1993, but I’m still proud of it, still enjoy listening to it (remembering all the funny things that happened along the way), and am thrilled that some members of my family still do, too.
“I’ll only add one more thing. Surgeon-general’s warning: ‘Do not play while using heavy machinery!’”
To see reviews and comments on this album, click here......
The price of each CD is NIS70/14 Euro/US$17.50 plus postage and packaging (p&p). Because of the local postal tariffs, the larger the package, the cheaper it is per item. Here are the current rates:
Calculate the cost of the CDs alone, and then: for 1-4 CDs, add NIS 11/5 Euro/US$10 p&p per shipment; for 5-9 CDs, add NIS 12/7 Euro/US$13 per shipment; for 10-14 CDs, add NIS75/15 Euro/US$19 per shipment; for 15-19 CDs, add NIS80/16 Euro/US$20 per shipment.
A link with CD Baby has been established for those in North America wishing to order from a little closer to home.