Album Notes

Greetings Ariella,

I wanted to let you know that I recently played a set from your wonderful new CD "LEAVE ONLY YOUR FOOTSTEPS BEHIND" on my radio show. I do believe that this is some of your best work yet, and I particularly loved the creative re-workings of the older ballads.
Keep up the great work, and keep me posted on any new projects.
Cheers,
Kelly
Kelly Clement
Celtic and Beyond
KTAO 101.9 FM
Taos, NM USA

TO ALL MY FRIENDS ONLINE: check out this radio...http://www.ktaos.com it plays some very good music (mine included!!) and it runs on Solar Power !!!!! ARIELLA

Evocative of beautiful atmospheres and melancholic landscapes and ...what a rendering of those great ancient ballads, ALLAN WATERS, THE FALSE BRIDE and HOUSE CARPENTER... though my favourite song has to be track No. 3...Robert Burns' RED ROSE !
J.M.Singer, New England

TIP OF THE MONTH
Do you love Jane Austen's dances? If yes, check out MR. BEVERIDGE'S MAGGOT (track n.5) .
If you like baroque music you will also enjoy MINUET (track n.8).
They are both downloadable as MP3s from major online distributors. MusicariE, the Publisher

NOTES FROM THE BOOKLET
After an intense and emotional trip to the Isle of Wight, I came back to London with a tune and a few words fixed in my mind : LEAVE ONLY YOUR FOOTSTEPS BEHIND.
Long stretches of the beautiful coast that I had visited and loved a few years before, were subsequently transformed into costly residential estates and made inaccessible to walkers. Nevertheless, we found a route to the West and discovered sceneries, colours, smells, sounds and the pure energy of a land apparently untouched by man’s technology.....

SOUTHBANK RIVER SONG is a London song. I have a dear friend, Ruth, who lives opposite the Tower, on the South Bank. From her window I can see the Thames and Tower Bridge. To go to her I often walk along the embankment from Waterloo station: I mingle with the crowd and I lose myself . It’s like floating in the air, above the waves of soft voices and footsteps... and the gentle sounds rising from the River.....

I travelled to Italy in the early spring to finish recording this album and stayed two weeks in a small resort on the Adriatic coast. At times the Adriatic Sea reminds me of the English Channel or the North Sea: the mist and the northerly winds carry with them an element of magic. So, for a few days, the small Italian town with its sandy beaches provided the ideal setting for the recording of HOUSE CARPENTER and ALLAN WATER.....

The surrounding countryside, with its medieval castles and ancient hilltop villages, was also a source of inspiration while working with the local musicians on THE WRAGGLE TAGGLE GIPSIES, O MY LOVE'S LIKE A RED, RED ROSE and THE FALSE BRIDE.
In regards to the latter, it is interesting to note that the ‘false bride’ theme appeared for the first time in Europe in the frame-story of Lo Cunto de li Cunti, the earliest collection of traditional fairy-tales. It was compiled in Italy by the writer, poet and courtier Giambattista Basile in 1634-6. The work, written in the dialect of Naples, exerted great influence upon antiquarians, poets and writers of the Romantic era.

This brings me to LA SIMINZINA (the pretty seed) a lullaby from Sicily. I learned it from a Sicilian lady who lives in Milan and all my friends and fellow musicians fell in love with it. The English version is mine, translated directly from the dialect. Again, the lyrics of La Siminzina and those of House Carpenter have something in common. Both stories tell of a supernatural creature (the Saint/the Lover) coming to take a mortal away (the Child/the Wife).

As usual, I have included two period dances in the programme: MR. BEVERIDGE'S MAGGOT (also featured in Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice) and MINUET, both chosen from the repertoire I perform with a London-based dance company. However, the music arrangements I have devised for them are, as my friend Paul would say, rather quirky, as usual…says I!

Finally, UNTITLED is a song by Renzo that I managed to rescue from the recycle bin and finish!!!
ARIELLA