Wow. My last Weekend Watch was posted on March 14th. To make up for lost time, here are 2 videos with the Camino theme. The first is from Camino podcaster and musician Dan Mullins who has released this song “Somewhere along the Way”. Much of the footage was shot along the Camino Frances. See if you recognise where. The second video was produced by Irish filmmaker Tom Quinlan. He walked the final week into Santiago in May 2017 and he recorded his experiences. The end result is effective.
I’ll let you into a little secret..
In another lifetime..well, not too long ago, I used to enjoy putting one word after the other to create sentences. From the age of 12 right up to my mid-20’s, I got great enjoyment out of writing and playing guitar on a regular basis. It was a pretty fun thing to do and I was even in a band at one stage. Sure, every 20-something was! It was a rite of passage in life.
However, in time, life got in the way and writing reports and reaching deadlines replaced this little obsession of mine. I have still listened to music all along, but my two guitars are now gathering dust in the corner of my room and my collection of songs are in a box alongside them. I haven’t looked at them in years.
But tonight something happened that hasn’t happened in quite a while. I put pen to paper and wrote eight lines. It’s not much, but it could be the spark. My inspiration? The Camino, walking and its memories.
I’ll probably forget about it tomorrow and leave these few lines lying where they are but this whole thing surprised me. Will I kick on from here? I’d love to. If I can write a part of a song without music I’d be pretty happy. It’s all about being creative I suppose and this is a great way. I had also thought about buying a ukelele before Christmas as it is so easy to learn (plus they only have 4 strings).
Imagine the scene..
You have left your albergue, it is 7am in the morning and you are setting off alone. The sun has risen behind you and you have 7 hours of walking ahead of you. Sounds great, doesn’t it? You look around and there are one or two other pilgrims behind you, while there are three ahead of you. You could slow down or speed up to talk to either group, but you prefer your own company. Silence is golden and all that…and there are only so many questions you can answer while talking to your self. I usually listen to music at this stage. Before a Camino, I make up a playlist on my phone ready and waiting. There are some days I wouldn’t listen to any music as I could be chatting with other peregrinos. But I don’t use the music as an excuse not to meet and mingle with other pilgrims. So here is my Spotify playlist for my upcoming Camino Finisterre. I probably won’t even listen to it, but it’s handy to have.
You can have a listen to the playlist here. Unfortunately, WordPress is unable to embed playlists from Spotify.
It’s worth bearing in mind that you should download the music onto your phone before you leave to avoid data costs. If you are making your own and don’t have a Spotify account, you could do the same on YouTube. Enjoy!
It’s been quite a while since I have been to the Olympia in Dublin. It’s one of my favourite venues to watch bands and musicians, no matter the type. After a good many years, I went to Neil Finn’s gig..the first time seeing him live since he toured with his brother Tim back in 2004.
The venue was full when Neil and his new band came on stage. We were greeted by Tiny Ruins who played a solid 30 minutes before the main act. I enjoyed her and am listening to her album while I type.
Neil started off with a Crowded House oldie ‘Black and White Boy’ and throughout the night we were treated to songs dating back to his Split Enz days right up to his latest album ‘Dizzy Heights’. I must admit I didn’t know much of the music from this latest album but sang along to his Crowded House tracks and music from ‘Try Whistling This’, his solo album from the late 90’s.
He was joined on stage later on my Nick Seymour who was the bassist in Crowded House. Nick has been living in Ireland for 16 years and has recently been given Irish citizenship. They all had a Guinness to celebrate.
We had a great night and I’m sure he will be back in the near future.
Ps: We had to leave the concert before it finished so I could catch the last train home. I later learnt that Neil performed until 11.50pm!!
I didn’t pay much attention to music during my time in Spain. It didn’t bother me. Before I left, I spent hours working on a playlist on my iPhone. I had this romantic image of me starting out a walk at 5am while listening to Sigur Ros or Eddie Vedder watching the sun come up. But I didn’t listen to much music, mainly on 1st day walking out of Logrono and when I was alone. Also on my final two days travelling back home on the bus to Bilbao and on the flight. But in between, music wasn’t even discussed. I didn’t mind at all. Actually I preferred it that way.
But anyway, here is a short list of music I did listen to. Some you might know, others perhaps not.
Bibio – À tout à l’heure
Andrés Segovia – Granada
Bibio – Business Park
Jeanette – Porque Te Vas
Oscar Lopez – Classical Soul
John Williams – Sakura Variations
Live – I Alone
Sigur Rós – Sæglópur
Arcade Fire – Rebellion (Lies)
Woodkid – Conquest of Spaces
Sigur Rós – Glósóli
Eddie Vedder – Hard Sun
Tunng – Don’t Look Down Or Back
King Creosote & Jon Hopkins – Your Own Spell
Bonobo – Cirrus
Boards of Canada – Dayvan Cowboy
The John Williams, Andres Segovia and Oscar Lopez tracks are very new to me..I discovered them while trawling through the hundreds of Camino clips on YouTube. Classical guitar is painful to play but great to listen to.
It has finally happened folks!
I have managed to purchase a ticket to see Sigur Ros when they play in Dublin in November. Ever since I heard them first in 2002 on a radio at half past midnight, I have been eager to see them. Unfortunately, their shows seem to sell out very very quickly. So here’s to November!
It’s the time of the year when music and film gurus sit down and create lists of their favourite films and songs or albums. Most I take with a grain of salt while others, like Pitchfork or Drowned in Sound, I pay attention to. This is pretty early but I thought I would get in there before the big guns released their respective lists.
So this is just a list of music I have listened to most frequently in 2012. There is no order this at all, so have a listen and let me know what you think.
