Goggins Goes Gigging

I am back in the saddle after a very enjoyable break on the Antrim coast. I would recommend it as a place to visit. In the unlikely event that anyone is interested my holiday snaps are on Flickr.

I have also managed to fit in a couple of gigs since I was last here. On Friday just gone we were up in London's fashionable Walthamstow to see the mighty Sahra Halgan backed by three fuzzed-up funky Frenchmen.

I did a feature on Ms Halgan a month back so won't repeat all that now. Suffice to say that she and the band put on an excellent show and if you haven't already bought her current album "Hiddo Dhawr" then you really should. Only the willfully perverse would not enjoy it.

The Friday before found me in the back room of the House of McDonnell public house in Ballycastle (Wee Tom's to the locals) enjoying Eleanor Dunsdon and Gregor Black's slightly skew-whiff take on the traditional music of Scotland and Ireland.

As you can see they use the conventional folk instrumentation of harp and drums but do some interesting things with it. Think Pentangle with a harp replacing the guitars and double bass and you will be on the right sort of lines.

Eleanor and Gregor are based in Glasgow where they no doubt hang out with Charity Chic and all the other cool kids. Gregor is from Northern Ireland and his parents, who I had a nice chat to, have been acting as roadies for their first Irish tour.

Eleanor and Gregor currently have an EP out which I would encourage you to investigate. It is called "Let No Man" and I have added a sample below along with one from Sahra Halgan's album.

"Let No Man Steal Your Thyme" - Eleanor Dunsdon & Gregor Black

"Hooyalay" - Sahra Halgan

Speaking of Pentangle as we were, here is half an hour of them.

In The Footsteps Of Giants

So it turns out I completely missed out a country on our African odyssey (apologies to the good folks of Sierra Leone, it will be put right). It is one of a number of signs recently that I could probably do with a break.

It is fortunate then that I am off on holiday tomorrow. I will be spending a week or so wending my way along the Antrim coast and then a night in a neat little town they call Belfast before heading home.

Among the places I am planning to visit are Giant's Causeway - hence the Taj Mahal song - and Rathlin Island. It was from Rathlin that Marconi and pals sent the world's first commercial wireless telegraphy message in 1898, so a track from Thomas Dolby's "Golden Age Of Wireless" album seems apt.

It is also apt because we went to see Mr Dolby in action the weekend before last. It was one of three gigs I have been to in the last fortnight, all very different but all very good. The others were by Lola Kirke and leading purveyors of souped up traditional Indonesian songs Nusantara Beat, so I have added a number from both of them as well. 

"Take A Giant Step" - Taj Mahal

"Airwaves" - Thomas Dolby

"The Crime" - Lola Kirke

"Mang Becak" - Nusantara Beat

To reach Rathlin you the ferry from Ballycastle and I will be spending a couple of nights there. If I had been in Ballycastle last week I would have been able to join the fun at the annual Ould Lammas Fair. I missed that but will buy some dulse and yellowman if there is any left. No, not that Yellowman.

That's it for now. I'll be back here towards the end of next week. Stay groovy until then.