|
 In
the following, Shaun gives his own insight into The Pilgrim story
as protrayed in the most recent live performances, on a track by
track basis.
The Pilgrim story is not so much told as suggested. It is suggested
by the combination of;-
-
A musical performances by a range of vocal
and instrumental soloists representing the different Celtic
regions, orchestra, pipeband and choir, each of whom in turn
takes the audience on a journey across the seas and lands of
the Celtic world. A musical pilgrimage in effect.
- A 'narrator' who reads/recites translations of poetry from early
medieval Irish literature, specifically chosen from poems ascribed
to St. Colm Cille, [known in Scotland as St. Columba] or relating
to other early medieval Celtic saints known to have travelled
from one Celtic region to another. The narrator's role is intended
to both link and explain the musical progression, but not to dominate
it.
THE PILGRIM STORY
 |
1] The Battle of Cul Dremne; - instrumental - bagpipers,
wardrums and orchestra.
A bloody 6th cent. battle in Ireland , held by some historians
to have been provoked by Colm Cille, whose subsequent remorse,
[or perhaps compulsion by others], led to his exile in Scotland.
The music builds on this sense, pipers and percussion playing
largely in opposition to the orchestra. Out of this harsh musical
struggle the piece concludes with a form of bagpipes and orchestral
fanfare at which point we should become aware of the presence
of narrator and solo harpist, who enter as fugitives from a
war zone. It is rare for a pipeband to share the same stage
as an orchestra; that they do so in 'The Pilgrim' is an intended
social point as well as practical necessity, for if pipeband
and orchestra are separated by too great a distance they will
not be able to play together with any precision. |
|
2] Colm Cille's Exile part 1; narrator and solo harp.
Speaking in English [or the language of the audience], the narrator
reveals himself as Colm, a prince of the royal family of O'Neill,
now forced into exile for his involvement in precipitating the
terrible battle. He identifies himself as someone who has since
then travelled as a pilgrim, both in penance and as a pioneer
in the spreading of Christianity, who looks back now on his
life from the perspective of the island of Iona and old age,
with the wish that he could travel home to 'fair Derry with
its host of white angels from one end to another.' |
|
3] Gair na Gairbe; - song in old Irish - male vocal
soloist, uilleann pipes, harmony vocals, choir and orchestra.
The song title translates as 'The sound of the [river] Corrib'.
The singer represents the young Colm Cille, with a picture of
an idyllic, comfortable and safe life as a student in a monastic
settlement beside an estuary. He describes the wildlife - stags
and birds - always returning to the image of waters perpetually
advancing and receding up and down the estuary and their power
to mesmerise, impairing his concentration in prayer and which
continually remind him of the existence of a wider world. The
song ends with the entry of the choir and a prophetic prayer
for protection amidst the fury of storms. |
|
4] The Trotting Pilgrim; - instrumental - uilleann
pipes and orchestra.
Here, and for the time being, the pipes portray a world of comfort,
well-being and good humour. |
|
5] Colm Cille's Exile part 2; - narrator and solo harp.
Still in his place of exile, still as an old man, Colm Cille
extolls the virtues of the people and land to the West [i.e.
Ireland] and either with tongue in cheek - or perhaps with genuine
loss of equanimity - conveys his contempt for the peoples and
lands to the East [i.e. continental Europe]. He continues with
the translation of verses from the song from his youth we have
just heard and, as he does so, appears to grow younger. He returns
once again to images of the freshwater river wrestling with
the saltwaters of the floodtide, and to his failure to attend
to his duties as he stands, captivated, at the estuary's mouth
'where it meets the sea'. |
|
6] A Walk in the Ocean; - instrumental - uilleann pipes
and orchestra.
A restless solo uilleann pipes passage, joined increasingly
by the orchestra, builds to a climax where the intention is
to portray a wild seascape with serried ranks of massive waves
advancing majestically across an ocean. A world Colm Cille the
exile, is about to face. |
|
7] The Pilgrim; - narrator and solo harp.
The narrator speaks as his younger self at the moment when he
stands on the shore preparing - actually literally daring himself
- to forgo the comforts of sheltered monastic life in order
to submit to a life of certain hardship and danger 'upon the
wild sea.' He lists the accustomed pleasures he must leave behind,
and focusses instead on the fearsome ordeal that lies ahead.
Resolved, he prays for Christ's protection. Despite the fact
that many flesh-and-blood 'saints' travelled known sea trading
routes, all 6th-century sea travel involved unpredictability
and real peril. This afforded real opportunities for pilgrim
saints to go into the wilderness in emulation of Christ, maybe
to spend time as a hermit in some remote spot, perhaps to found
a monastery, or maybe face martyrdom. On the one hand it was
an opportunity to prove their physical courage, on the other
a chance -possibly a terminal one - to demonstrate their spiritual
faith in Christ's presence and their acceptance of his wishes,
no matter how disadvantageous to themselves. And this, really,
for our pilgrim is the crux; - the tougher things are the better
he will be able to demonstrate his faith. |
|
8] The Pilgrim; - song in old Irish - male vocal soloist,
uilleann pipes, synthesiser.
The song expresses the moment of choice after which there can
be no turning back; the triumph of a spirit of faith and daring
and the decision to voyage into the unknown. Here, between the
preceding narrative and this song, vocalist and narrator merge
into one identity, both expressing the same motives and resolve,
each reinforcing the other. |
|
9] Colm Cille's Farewell to Ireland; - narrator, solo
harp and orchestra.
Colm Cille, once more given form by the narrator, is now far
out to sea, mid - channel in his 'humming currach', between
the North coast of Ireland and the Western Isles of Scotland.
He examines his feelings as he watches his homeland dip below
the horizon. Turning, he identifies the isle of Iona as his
destination. He prepares himself for the ordeal ahead. |
|
10] Land of the Picts; - instrumental - pipeband solo.
The music is an aggressive tune, originally designed to be played
while marching, demonstrative of a formidable culture. The impact
of the pipeband, here complete with drum corps, is immense,
and of course, represents our arrival in Scotland. |
|
11] Iona; - instrumental - bagpipes solo with orchestra.
A lone bagpiper plays The Pilgrim air with orchestral accompaniment.
It loosely portrays Colm Cille's arrival at Iona and his involvement
with the monastic settlement on the island, his new spiritual
home. |
|
12] Briochan and Colomba; - instrumental - pipeband
and orchestra.
Colm Cille, known in Scotland as St. Colomba, was successful
in his mission to bring Christianity from Ireland to Scotland.
But in order to do so he had first to dislodge the Pictish Druids
from their position of supremacy. Legend has it that Columba
discredited the senior Druid, Briochan, in a duel of 'magic'.
On the day Christian magic was perceived to have the edge over
the [hitherto apparently satisfactory] 'pagan' magic which involved
worship of natural phenomena, sun, moon, stars etc. Early Christianity
absorbed many of the conventions of the earlier religions. |
|
13] Storm at Sea; - narrator and solo harp.
An early medieval poem describing the power of the wind over
the sea, a geographic, birdseye, description of the winds blowing
from either side of the Irish sea, north to the Isle of Skye
or from the south over the 'land of the saxons', and the creation
of wild beauty as the winds rise to gale force. |
|
14] Storm at Sea; - song in old Irish - male vocal
soloist and orchestra.
The above set to music in which the singer acts as the god of
winds, summoning the storm. Through a tremendous orchestral
crescendo he calls for God's protection from the tempest. This
song is placed here to represent the Isle of Mann. |
|
15] The Irish Sea; - instrumental - solo harp, uilleann
pipes, whistle and orchestra.
A haunting and serene passage designed both to represent our
passage down the Irish sea towards Wales, and as a prelude to
the next episode. |
|
16] Ymadawiad Arthur ['The Death of Arthur']; - narrator.
The narrator relates the epic tale of King Arthur's death on
the battlefield at Camlan, the last battle fought by Arthur
at the head of the Christian Celtic armies against the pagan
continental invaders [Vandals, Goths etc.]. According to legend
Arthur was roughly contemporary with Colm Cille and, as a Celtic
hero is celebrated equally in the lowlands of Scotland, Wales,
Cornwall and Brittany. |
|
17] Ymadawiad Arthur; - song in Welsh - choir, uilleann
pipes and orchestra.
The first of two songs specially written for choir, both in
a Celtic language, and both preceded by a reading in English
by the narrator. This has at its heart King Arthur's dying words
'Be brave, dare to suffer,' contains his description of the
isle of Avalon [paradise] and the final disappearance of his
burial ship in mist. |
|
18] Samson Peccator Episcopus; - narrator and solo
harp.
[In this Latin title Bishop Samson followed the convention of
the time by acknowledging himself to be also a 'sinner']. A
contemporary of Colm Cille and a fellow traveller and founder
of monasteries, Samson was Welsh-born, served as abbot of Howth
monastery, spent time as a hermit in a cave in the Severn Valley,
before the episode narrated here; i.e. his crossing of Cornwall
along the famous isthmus route between Padstow and Fowey. As
with the previous song, here the narrator gives us the English
translation of the Celtic lyrics we are about to hear in the
following song. His manner of delivery may imply personal knowledge
of Samson, certainly a sense of appreciation, of kinship. |
|
19] Samson Peccator Epscopus; - song in old Cornish
- choir, whistles and orchestra.
Unlike Welsh, its close cousin Cornish is now a dead language.
However in sound it seems to have had, as one would expect,
close ties with both Welsh and Breton. Here the lyrics of this
song for the choir takes the form of a snapshot of Bishop Samson
in his Irish chariot as he rides over the back of Cornwall,
performing a miracle en route, cheered by the people, towards
Gurnesey and Dol in Brittany, where he founded his monastery.
Like Colm Cille, [and Arthur], Samson's life provides the context
for us to travel from one Celtic region to another. |
|
20] St. Mathew's Point; - narrator, harps, solo bombarde
and orchestra.
Travelling on, the narrator delivers the words of of Bishop
Patrick [not the same as the patron saint of Ireland]. In terms
of character the image and emotion expressed in this poem would
have been appreciated and shared by Colm Cille so no psychological
shift is required of the narrator; we still see him as Colm
Cille, now riding the prow of a well-found sailing vessel. He
likens the ships potential to traverse huge distances to the
potential of his book of gospels to spread the message of christianity....'Speed
on my book, an angel go with you....Learn, my ship, to safely
race upon the plains of the ocean'. In this passage the narrator
conveys the fact that at this time, while the rest of Europe
was in chaos [the Dark Ages'], it was in the Celtic world that
Christianity was able to be practised and preserved. This early
medieval poem, composed on behalf of Bishop Patrick, demonstrates
how effective were the Celtic 'saints' of the 6th century in
returning Christianity once again to Europe [the Irish St. Columbanus
founded monastic settlements on the Rhine for example]. This
expression of the inexorable onward movement in the spreading
of Christianity provides a powerful moment to launch a new voice
in the concert - the very distinctive Breton bombarde, in a
passage designed to portray the exhilaration of a successful
navigation of the dangerous reefs and rocks which lie off the
coast of NW Brittany. |
|
21] Danse Plin; - instrumental - bombarde and biniou.
After a lengthy period of full orchestra the concert now depends
on just two musicians, playing bombarde and the smallest member
of the bagpipe family, the Breton biniou. It is an opportunity
for something both intimate and earthy, for a' plin' is the
most primitive of Breton dance steps, thought to have originated
with the dual purpose of stamping on the freshly-harvested corn.
Such music is still played at the 'fest-nos' in Brittany, typically
a local village dance. |
|
22] Bal Plin; - instrumental - bombardes and orchestra;
Typically in Breton tradition an energetic dance is followed
by a slow one. The Bal Plin has a graceful, stately quality.
At this point in the concert there is no story, but the effect
of these dances is celebratory, a relief from the more serious
affair of the spreading of Christianity and the dangers of medieval
travel. These dances also, by contrast celebrate our more normal,
entirely 'pagan' urges to dance, party and procreate. |
|
23] Danse An Dro; - instrumental - bombardes and orchestra.
The third of the Breton dances, this picks up the tempo again
in the manner of the first, this time with a playful role for
the orchestra. Our rhythm band [featured guitar, bass guitar,
percussion and keyboard] start to kick in. We are about to enter
the final quarter of the concert in which a driving rhythm section
plays a central part. Again, no story as such, more the highest
point and conclusion of a party. |
|
24] Kenavo d'an Naoned ['Farewell to Nantes']; - narrator.
As before, part of the function of the narration is to give
the audience advance understanding of a Celtic language song.
These words give us once more a glimpse of our pilgrim saint,
but more distant, seen, perhaps at dusk, re-embarking on the
ebbtide for another sea crossing, again embracing the perils
of the pilgrimage, this time out into the enormous Bay of Biscay.
|
|
25] Kenavo d'an Naoned; - song in Breton - male vocal
soloist, harmony vocals and orchestra.
After the celebrations in Brittany, this is the only truly sad
song in the whole work; as it should be when the subject, as
here, is a farewell exchanged between people who know that they
will never meet again. Though we, the audience will in fact
meet the narrator twice more before the concert's end, this
song is designed and placed to give a strong intimation of mortality,
that all good things and all good people come to an end, and
that all that comes in the meanwhile is a bonus. |
|
26] The Pilgrim's Sunrise; - instrumental - gaita [Galician
bagpipes], uilleann pipes, harps and orchestra.
In the sense that a darkness, night, fell in the previous song
and, at the same time a chapter in our 'story' ended, this piece
starts with the lights extremely low and begins the final section
of the concert. It is constructed on the lines of a traditional
Galician 'Alborada' ['Sunrise' in Gallego], a music with which
Galician gaita players serenade the dawn while slowly walking
around a town or village on Fiesta day. Our solo piper begins
offstage and, as he advances into the hall, so he brings with
him the sunrise, the stage bathed in warm light that intensifies
as the piece develops. He is joined by uilleann pipes, harps
and orchestra; it is time to celebrate once more. In terms of
story, we have arrived in Galicia, the southernmost part of
the Celtic world. |
|
27] Two Galician Dances; - instrumental - gaita, bombardes,
bagpipes and orchestra.
With this music the concert goes into rhythmic top gear; the
gaita leads first the bombardes and then the pipeband in a statement
of increasingly wild and exultant celebration. With the added
weight of the bagpipes it gains a martial feel and contains
a reprise of Colm Cille's fanfare first heard in the 'Battle
of Cul Dremne.' It is by far the loudest piece in the concert
and generally delights the audience with its abandon. It also
provides our male vocalist, Liam O'Maonlai, with the perfect
opportunity to demonstrate his skill with the bodhran, invariably
a strong visual feature of the performance. These two 'Galician'
pieces provide the extended sense of crescendo and fulfillment
that prepares the way for the contrast of what follows. |
|
28] St. Manchan's Prayer; - narrator and solo harp.
The narrator, still a manifestation of Colm Cille, and still
accompanied by his faithful harpist, describes the building
of a monastery in a wild and secluded place. It represents journey's
end. Whether it is in Galicia, or Scotland, or back in Ireland
is not important. The importance of what the narrator describes
is that, to him, the process of bringing into being such a place
represents heaven on earth. We see Colm Cille finally at peace.
As a point of interest, St. Manchan's church and grave are on
the southern tip of the Dingle peninsular, Co, Kerry. They are
situated on a pilgrimage route which terminates at the top of
Mount Brandon, named after the most celebrated of 6th century
seafaring saints, St. Brendan. They also lie just a short distance
from a traditional embarkation point for the most famous of
all pilgrimage destinations, Santiago da Compostella. |
|
29] The Deer's Cry; song - female vocal soloist, choir
and orchestra. (also known as I Arise Today)
The original old Irish text is also known as St. Patrick's Breastplate
which, for many centuries, has been used as a travelers prayer
for protection. Indeed, in reciting it very much gives the effect
of putting on a suit of armour, piece by piece. With this musical
setting the female solo vocalist, Rita Connolly, onstage but
held in reserve for so long, finally comes into her own, providing
, with the choir a spiritual tour-de-force in which the voice
of the individual rings out in defiance against a world's danger,
both natural and man-made. Had this piece occurred earlier in
the sequence it would have appeared to be a prayer to benefit
our journeying saint, Colm Cille. Coming here, towards the close
we, the audience recognise that it is for us, a prayer for our
own protection. The lights begin to dim before the end, gradually,
in simulation of sunset; some light remains on the female solo
vocalist. |
|
30] A'Ghrian; - Narrator.
A short traditional prayer from the Outer Hebridean isle of
Barra, translated from Scots Gaelic, in which one salutes the
sun as it sets and prays that one may live through the night
to see it rise the following day. It is significant that the
prayer addresses both the Christian God and the 'pagan' sun
in almost equal measure.......'I am in hope, O great and gracious
God, that thou will not put out for me the light of grace, even
as thou dost leave me this night.' This has a special poignancy
when spoken by our narrator, Colm Cille, now in the darkness
of night and now, as at the start of the concert, in his old
age. |
|
31] A'Ghrian; - song in Scots Gaelic - female vocal
soloist, pipeband, other soloists, choir and orchestra.
The above words set to music in their original form, with their
strong association with an earlier religion, with its worship
of the sun and careful attention to the natural world. The first
3 verses for solo female vocal [the soaring voice of Rita Connolly
again] are serene; then, as light begins to return and the sun
rises once more, a transformation occurs with the entry of pipeband,
choir and brass section, who invest a simple melody with a power
that is both graceful and assured. The huge increase in scale
is further emphasised by the participation of all soloists.
Once more, the music returns to a mood of celebration; of life
certainly, but more particularly perhaps, of kinship, the underlying
reason for the original commissioning of the music by Lorient
Interceltic Festival. |
|
32] segue coda; - instrumental - The Irish Sea [variation];
everyone. This is a melody we have heard before through the
concert, which reappears after' A'Ghrian' ends, as an unexpected
reprise. It has the effect, initially, of delaying the audience's
applause, for it is evident we have reached the end of the concert.
Yet, as it too builds in momentum and power, it gives the artists
a chance to participate in a less formal manner and make contact
with the audience in a shared celebration of the end of the
concert. The combined effect is designed to produce an emotion
as close as possible to celebrations in a football stadium where
the home team has just won. This is important, for while on
the one hand it does tend to reinforce a sense of tribalism,
of more consequence to the general tone of the concert is the
underlining of the fact that 'The Pilgrim is not a 'religious'
work. Its impulses are secular; it aims to commemorate Celtic
saints as ordinary people; the sense of pilgrimage is to do
with the journey of the individual, independent of a particular
church; with the passage from birth to death accompanied equally
by the religious and the profane, the Christian and the pagan. |
Get Shaun Davey recordings online
|
