When I Was On Horseback

We first heard this Irish folksong on Steeleye Span's Ashley Hutchings drenched "Ten Man Mop" album in the 70s and this is the version we follow here. For me its brooding atmospheric electric droning fiddle and thunder bass was like a folk track had strayed onto the first Velvet Underground album and I could never get enough of their version (Still can't.) Being a folk ballad, it speaks volumes by leaving a lot of the narrative unsaid and the suggestions of doom and betrayal amid the hybris of youth can be applied to many situations about the potential shortness of life and love. In our arrangement, we've veered toward the military suggestion rather than disease. (The obscure Steeleye cover notes about 'Another young man cut down in his prime... tasted and wasted.. sickness and disease pull you down" always baffled me but now I know what they might mean I wish I didn't.)

The Avatar ( the full mix)

Our musical evocation of hope in dark times.

A musical interpretation of "The Avatar" with added instrumentation 
a Discourse by Meher Baba (excerpts below but do read the complete thing) using harmonium, bass, drums, common flute, lyre, ocean recordings and, above all, Maz's voice singing the author's Name to His own tune. You can hear this divine tune (based in a morning raga) and the divine words He wrote for it sung by his women mandali here - trustmeher.org/meher-baba-places…/prayers-and-arti(see under Gujarati Arti)

"Avataric periods are like the springtide of creation. They bring a new release of power, a new awakening of consciousness, a new experience of life – not merely for a few, but for all. Qualities of energy and awareness, which had been used and enjoyed by only a few advanced souls, are made available for all humanity. Life, as a whole, is stepped up to a higher level of consciousness, is geared to a new rate of energy. The transition from sensation to reason was one such step; the transition from reason to intuition will be another.

The Avatar appears in different forms, under different names, at different times, in different parts of the world. As his appearance always coincides with the spiritual birth of man, so the period immediately preceding his manifestation is always one in which humanity suffers from the pangs of the approaching birth. Man seems more than ever enslaved by desire, more than ever driven by greed, held by fear, swept by anger. The strong dominate the weak; the rich oppress the poor; large masses of people are exploited for the benefit of the few who are in power. The individual, who finds no peace or rest, seeks to forget himself in excitement. Immorality increases, crime flourishes, religion is ridiculed. Corruption spreads throughout the social order. Class and national hatreds are aroused and fostered. Wars break out. Humanity grows desperate. There seems to be no possibility of stemming the tide of destruction. At this moment the Avatar appears....

Peace will come. Joy will come. Light will come."

( meherbabainformation.org/what-is-the-avatar/)

Annunciazione

In celebration of spring, equinox and Annunciation, we sing you our setting of this exquisite 14th century lyric. Magical realism from the 14C where the magical is real and the real is magical.

I sing of a maiden
That is makeles;
King of all kings
To here sone che ches.

He cam also still
There his moder was
As dew in April
That fallit on the gras.

He cam also still
To his moders bowr
As dew in April
That fallit on the flower.

He cam also still
There his moder lay,
As dew in April
That fallit on the spray.

Moder and maiden
Was never non but the;
We may switch a lady
Godes moder be.

I Sing Of A Maiden: Magical realism from the 14C

I sing of a maiden That is makeles; King of all kings To here sone che ches. He cam also still There his moder was As dew in Aprille That fallit on the gras. He cam also still To his moders bowr As dew in Aprille That fallit on the flower. He cam also still There his moder lay, As dew in Aprille That fallit on the spray. Moder and maiden Was never non but che; We may switch a lady Godes moder be. In celebration of spring, equinox and Annunciation, and with the magic of the Middle English poetry as real as the real is magical, we sing you our setting of this exquisite 14th century lyric. Like our local church, this lyric is 700 years old and still singing. We sing it in a 14th century style and recapitulate in a 20th century version marking the genesis and septuacentenary of that (and other such) church. We wrote the Early Music style tune on the harmonium it's performed on and the Modern rock tune is built on an arrangement of the famous Jack Bruce bass riff on Cream's "Sunshine of your Love". The paintings are Fra Lippo Lippi's Madonna and Child, Far Angelico's Annunciation and Gustav Klimt's Mother and Child.

All You Need Is The Pancakes You Make A Shrove Tuesday Special from Mag...