Taken from the album 'The Great Irish Song Book' - Tony Christie & Ranagri - recorded at Stockfisch Studios, released on September 18th 2015 Wrasse Records/Stockfisch Records.
More information at http://www.ranagri.com/the-great-irish-song-book.html
Tony Christie and Ranagri have joined forces to produce an album of 12 of the most well loved Irish Folk Songs.
Tony Christie (born Anthony Fitzgerald) grew up in Sheffield, and was introduced to these songs by his musical Irish grandparents.
Ranagri (pronounced Rana-Grye) are a folk band of Irish and English heritage. This album is the realisation of a dream - to explore a shared cultural history in song.
Tony says "I’ve had many conversations with Dónal Rogers (of Ranagri) over the years about collaborating on a recording of Irish songs, that we grew up with, and which we used to sit around my kitchen table and sing".
The album features an array of songs with outpourings of great joy and deep sorrow; rousing ballads such as 'Black Velvet Band' and 'Star of the County Down', poignant songs of love and loss including 'Carrickfergus', 'When You Were Sweet Sixteen' , 'The Parting Glass'.
"Within this group of musicians we have a very interesting cultural mix. The Twentieth Century saw great waves of emigration from Ireland to Britain and America. We find ourselves now living in a time of peace and extraordinarily good relations between Ireland and Britain.
This recording project gave us the opportunity to explore and find common ground, and what better way to celebrate this than through song.”
“Many of the songs we chose reflect this dual heritage. A good example of this is 'Lord Franklin's Lament' - a song with a perfect blend of lyrics from an English collection, twinned with an ancient Irish traditional melody. What a thrill for us to discover, whilst recording this song, that Franklin's lost ship from his ill-fated 19th Century expedition to the Northwest Passage - HMS Erebus - was rediscovered near Canada."
"Irish blood, English Heart -This I'm made of." - Morrissey
Tony Christie's grandparents moved to Yorkshire from the West of Ireland in the 1920's. Tony's grandfather played the melodeon and his Grandmother played the fiddle in a Céilí dance band. Tony grew up listening to the songs and tunes of his Grandparents' homeland, and went on to have huge international success in the music business.
