Christmas music in March

A Celtic Christmas: Peace On Earth; A Windham Hill Collection

I lied. Last December 9, I implied that Celtic Christmas IV concluded the Windham Hill Celtic Christmas series. God bless ‘em, they made another one … and I have it. And … y’know what? … They even made another one after that … And I have that one, too.

I don’t have much to say about this one. It’s more of the same. But with the high quality that Windham Hill has delivered, more is definitely better

Irish musician Michael O Domhnaill produced this album and released it in 1999. Mr. Domhnaill played with four Irish bands over the course of fifty-four years: Skara Brae, The Bothy Band, Relativity and Nightnoise. “Flight Into Egypt” and “No Room At The Inn”, on this fifth Celtic Christmas album, feature the band Nightnoise. “Green Fields Of Amerikay” pairs the keyboard work of Mr. Domhnaill with the fiddle playing of Paddy Glackin.

Michael O Damhnaill died from a fall at his home in Dublin in July of 2006. He came from a family of musicians. His sister, singer Triona Ni Damhnaill, joined him in the formation of his band Nighnoise. From all that I’ve read about this wonderful recording artist, his musicianship was world class. The world-wide fan base of traditional Irish music considered him quite a hero.

Guitar duo William Coulter and Benjamin Verdery perform a lovely version of “Flow Gently Sweet Afton” on this album. Americans know the tune better as “Away In A Manger”. Scottish author and poet Robert Burns wrote the evocative words that fit this tune.

Flow gently, sweet Afton, among thy green braes,

Flow gently, I’ll sing thee a song in thy praise.

My Mary’s asleep by thy murmuring stream,

Flow gently, sweet Afton, disturb not her dream.

Though stock-dove whose echo resounds from the hill,

Ye wild whistling blackbirds in yon thorny dell,

Thou green created lapwing, thy screaming fore-bear,

I charge you, disturb not my slumbering fair.

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How lofty, sweet Afton, thy neighbouring hills,

Far marked with the courses of clear winding rills.

There daily I wander, as morn rises high,

My flocks and my Mary’s sweet cot in my eye.

How pleasant thy banks and green valleys below,

Where wild in the woodlands the primroses blow.

There oft, as mild evening creeps over the lea,

The sweet scented birk shades my Mary and me.

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Thy crystal stream, Afton, how lovely it glides

And winds by the cot where my Mary resides.

How wanton thy waters her snowy feet lave,

As gathering sweet flow’rets, she stems thy clear wave.

Flow gently, sweet Afton, among thy green braes,

Flow Gently, sweet river, the theme of my lays

My Mary’s asleep by thy murmuring stream,

Flow gently, sweet Afton, disturb not her dream.

Forgive me, Great Ireland, as I honor you with this Scottish poem. I am sure that your picturesque River Shannon possesses all of the charms, and more, of the sweet Afton of Scotland.

Credits: To the strong shoulders of Michael O Domhnaill, upon which the tradition of Irish music will stand for years to come.