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Alistair Anderson


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I was lucky enough to see/hear Alistair and his band of young musicians perform his Steel Skies suite at the recent Cheltenham Folk Festival. It's a brilliant composition and he and his band of musicians are superb. I went up to have a chat with him at the end and complimented him on the performance. He in turn, said he had heard me playing some nice traditional English tunes on my concertina, earlier in a musos session in the Pillar room in the town hall and complemented me on my playing. What a generous chap he is. Scored for a group of musicians including fiddles, flutes, mandolins and Alistair Andersons concertina and Northumbrian smallpipes, Steel Skies is a magnificent suite of composed tunes with roots deep in the traditional music of the British Isles. The compositions take from the tradition but expand on it creating a rich and rewardingly-subtle whole. Originally released in 1982, this wonderful album has a justly sterling reputation among those who have heard it, and has now been re-issued by Topic Records on CD. Alistair Andersons mastery of the concertina is legendary, but it is the concept and the beauty of the music here that may take your breath away. However, there is nothing like a live performance, so if he's performing it somewhere near you, details available from his website here , don't miss it!

 

Chris

 

Edited to fix the website link.

Edited by Chris Drinkwater
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I was there too and it made my day. I was enthralled by the music and Alistair's way of playing. The rhythm literally flows through him. That was the highlight of the weekend for me. I'm still thinking and grinning about it even now.

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I remember the original Steel Skies Band whom I saw performing the suite at the Purcell Room in London. I have the original LP recording - I must get round to a CD version.

 

I'm looking forward to being at the workshop in Lewes next month.

 

- John Wild

Edited by John Wild
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there was a recording of 'kid on the mountain' by alistair anderson on youtube ,I think, a couple of years ago which i listened to few times.Having just looked for it now I can't find it.Can any technophiles here find it ...please?

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there was a recording of 'kid on the mountain' by alistair anderson on youtube ,I think, a couple of years ago which i listened to few times.Having just looked for it now I can't find it.Can any technophiles here find it ...please?

 

It's not KotM, but were you thinking of

?
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there was a recording of 'kid on the mountain' by alistair anderson on youtube ,I think, a couple of years ago which i listened to few times.Having just looked for it now I can't find it.Can any technophiles here find it ...please?

Hi Scoopet

 

I couldn't find it on a video. It's possible it's still there, unnamed on one of clips under a search for his name, like the video RatFace suggested. I did find it listed on a couple of albums by Alistar Anderson. Maybe some leads to find it though.

 

http://www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/~zierke/folk/records/alistairanderson.html

 

http://new.music.yahoo.com/alistair-anderson/tracks/kid-on-the-mountain--28698764

 

And I found a short sample MP3 of the tune on the bottom of this page from another album.

http://www.allmusic.com/artist/alistair-anderson-p752/songs

 

and here:

http://ratoomp3.com/mp3/index.php?id=76973

 

That's about the best I can come up with.

 

Thanks

Leo

Edited by Leo
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there was a recording of 'kid on the mountain' by alistair anderson on youtube ,I think, a couple of years ago which i listened to few times.Having just looked for it now I can't find it.Can any technophiles here find it ...please?

 

It's not KotM, but were you thinking of

?

 

 

Jig of Slurs (Jug of Slugs)

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