As soon as I saw the theme, I knew instantly which two songs I would present this week: trees are central to the pair of them.
They should be viewed in the order I post them here and they should be viewed together, because the first unwittingly gave birth to the second a year later and the two form a story of sorts.
I used to attend Alasdair Fraser’s Fiddle Camp in Spain, known as
Crisol de Cuerda. The five summers I attended the camp are among the most precious memories I have. I thoroughly recommend any Seasonista with an interest in “folk” music to attend one (he does them in Skye and in California too). He and cellist Natalie Haas are the principal movers and they are both wonderful human beings and great teachers. They are the sort of people who redeem the human race from all the evil you see in the news every day (as are many of those who attend the events).
Anyway, some years back the venue for the event changed to Alarnzon (Burgos). The new venue was wonderful and had a very special place which grew to be our evening gathering point. It was a strip of forested land that was effectively an island in the river which had a bridge going out to it. On either bank of the river the forest continued. It had a magic all of its own and we were convinced that our impromptu musical soirees there were influenced by and added to that magic.
In memory of the times we spent there I wrote the lyrics to the first submission this week. “Between Two Rivers” set to a tune that was being taught to us at the camp. I romantically imagined that the trees would seal in their arboreal memory such festive evenings which were a paean to the glory of life and being surrounded by people of like mind making music and celebrating being alive.
The second song tells of what had happened in the year that had passed before we returned there and my reaction to it. The experience seemed to affect me deeply and probably contributed to me stopping going to the Camp (well, that and the fact that I recognised I was never going to master that devil’s instrument known as the fiddle
).
Anyway , I hope you enjoy these two linked songs and can empathise with my feelings in both.
SONG ONE:
