The Santer Session

One, two, a one, two, three, four...

Ladies and gentlemen, from Bishopton, Scotland,

one of the world's greatest pipers - Mr Fred Morrison.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

CHEERING

Thank you.

Over the last few years, while filming for the Santer series,

I've been incredibly lucky to get to travel

and meet up with some amazing musicians

from Scotland, Canada and the United States

as I traced the routes and the influence of Ulster-Scots music

on both sides of the Atlantic.

Now we've turned the tables a little bit

and brought some of those guys and girls back here

to this part of the world

and mixed them up with some of our very best local talent.

For the past couple of days, we've been rehearsing

under the musical direction of Scottish piper Fred Morrison.

The result - a show I know you're thoroughly going to enjoy.

Welcome to the Carriage Rooms in Ballynahinch.

Welcome to The Santer Session.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

BAGPIPE MUSIC

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Fred, it's fantastic to have you over here.

A pleasure to be here, as ever.

Now you've been our musical director over the rehearsals

this last couple of days. How's it been for you?

Well, when I came over here it was quite daunting

because I was looking at the quality of players

and the number of different genres of playing

and I thought it might be like that.

But strangely enough,

since I've come here, everything's just been a pleasure.

I'm not just saying that, you know, that's the truth.

Since we walked in, we did the big "Train Journey North" set

with the boys on the bass and keys.

It was just incredible from the word go.

All the sets have been like that

with all the different styles as well.

I mean, we've guests coming from all over the world

but next up, we've a girl from Scotland,

from your part of the world - Emily Smith.

Yeah, it's fantastic to be working with Emily.

She's a great...great ambassador for Scottish song, Burns music,

that kind of thing.

Two, three, four.

# A sailor and his true love

# Lay doon to mak' their moan

# When in by came ane o' their ain countrymen

# Sayin' rise up my bonny lassie

# Mak' haste and come awa'

# There's a vessel lyin' bound for Caledonia

# Well, said the sailor, Are ye willing for tae pay

# Five hundred guineas

# Afore on board ye gae?

# I'll pay them plack and farthing

# Afore on board I go

# If ye'll tak' me tae my bonny Caledonia

# Well, said the sailor

# Her money we will tak'

# And when we're on the sea

# We'll throw her over deck

# Or sell her for a slave

# Lang e'er she were awa'

# And she'll never see her bonny Caledonia

# Well, said the captain, Oh, that'll never do

# For there are nae slaves

# Sold intae oor country noo

# They'd hang us ane and a'

# They would hang us every man

# If we sold her for a slave to Caledonia

# Well, said the sailor, She's lying doon below

# She's bound hand and foot

# Ready overboard to throw

# She's bound hand and foot

# Ready overboard to throw

# And she'll never see her bonny Caledonia

# So the captain away

# Tae the sailor he did go

# He's ta'en him by the neck

# And him overboard has thrown

# Saying tak' this cup o' water

# Though the liquor be but sma'

# And drink your lassie's health tae Caledonia

# They've sailed east and they've sailed west

# Until they reached the land

# That they a' loved the best

# For the waves they did roar

# And the seas they did beat

# And they've all arrived safe to Caledonia

# Well, they hadna been there

# But three quarters o' a year

# When in fine silks and satins

# He's made her for to wear

# When in fine silks and satins

# He's made her for to go

# Noo she's the captain's wife in Caledonia

# Noo she's the captain's wife in Caledonia. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Now, the Cape Breton fiddle style has its origins

in Scotland and in Ulster

and we're really delighted to have two of the very best exponents

of that music here at the sessions.

So, the terrible twosome or the Beaton Sisters.

You know I don't really mean that.

I first met you a few years ago

in your hometown in Mabou in Cape Breton in Nova Scotia

standing down at the harbour on an old rickety bridge.

But now we've got you up into Northern Ireland,

up into my part of the world, you're bringing your music over here.

It's been fantastic.

We feel so welcome here and we've found it really inspiring.

-Absolutely.

-Hard not to smile here.

Well, you've brought your style of music,

especially your piano style, Margie.

It's really different to the sort of stuff we're used to here.

Right, the Cape Breton, I guess, style,

or what's coming out of the east coast part of Canada

as far as the traditional ways,

is really exciting.

It's really dynamic, rhythmic and syncopated

and it brings out that...

Really the rhythm and beauty of the tunes. So it's really fun.

Ladies and gentlemen, moving to our second stage,

from Nova Scotia, Canada, Dawn and Margie Beaton.

CHEERING

One, two, three, four.

CHEERING

Diana, there are people from all over the world here

but we've also got a lot of really good local talent -

yourself included.

You're from Dunloy Accordion Band.

Now, you're an accordion player, but that's not all you do.

Well, I would sing and play the piano a lot as well.

I teach round the schools, round the local area in Ballymoney

and work as a peripatetic.

Also finished my PhD this year - waiting on results of it,

so quite a busy person, yes.

And your PhD, was that in music?

It was to do with marching band culture,

so it was all linked with music and marching and whatnot, so it's good.

And as you said, marching band culture, that's your background.

But you're doing something very different here today.

It wouldn't really even be seen as an Ulster-Scots song,

it's a very contemporary song.

Tell us a wee bit about it, how you came to do that.

Well, within Dunloy Accordion Band there's the concert group,

which is an 16, 17, 18-piece outfit that comes,

that's derived from the band

and we would do a lot of concerts in the off-season.

Our music differs a lot from what we would do on the road,

so we've got pop, we've got Ulster-Scots material,

we've got hymns, we've got our traditional marches

and marching band material as well.

So this is how we've come about with Run.

'It's really, really good and I love performing.

'It's lovely to get the opportunity to do something different.'

# I'll sing it one last time for you

# Then we really have to go

# You've been the only thing that's right

# In all I've done

# And I can barely look at you

# But every single time I do

# I know we'll make it anywhere

# Away from here

# Light up, light up

# As if you have a choice

# Even if you cannot hear my voice

# I'll be right beside you, dear

# Louder, louder

# And we'll run for our lives

# I can hardly speak, I understand

# Why you can't raise your voice to say

# To think I might not see those eyes

# Makes it so hard not to cry

# And as we say our long goodbyes

# I nearly do

# Light up, light up

# As if you have a choice

# Even if you cannot hear my voice

# I'll be right beside you, dear

# Louder, louder

# And we'll run for our lives

# I can hardly speak, I understand

# Why you can't raise your voice to say

# Ooh-ooh-ooh

# Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh

# Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh

# Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh

# Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh

# Ooh-ooh-ooh

# Light up, light up

# As if you have a choice

# Even if you cannot hear my voice

# I'll be right beside you, dear

# Louder, louder

# And we'll run for our lives

# I can hardly speak, I understand

# Why you can't raise your voice to say

# Oooh

# Ooh-ooh-ooh

# Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh

# Ooh-ooh. #

CHEERING

Lauren, the last time you and I were sitting on big stone thing like this

having a wee chat was in your part of the world -

in Londonderry in New Hampshire...

-It was.

-..at the Ulster-Scots household, the Morrison household.

We've managed to get you over here to my part of the world now.

I know. I'm so grateful, thank you.

I mean, musically, you've brought your fiddle style,

this is something that you've brought over here now

to play along with us, there's lots of different...

-It has been really different.

-..genres of music.

How do you find that?

It's really exciting to play the same tunes

that I'm normally playing in the States

but with UK musicians

and to hear the influence of the Ulster-Scots,

which is definitely a huge part of my music

even though I'm playing Appalachian music,

it's definitely American,

the influence of this kind of music is very evident.

Ladies and gentlemen, one of our transatlantic visitors -

an amazing fiddle player from Portland, Maine, Miss Lauren Rioux.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

And we've another good friend of both yours and mine.

-A guy from Magherafelt here, Gino Lupari.

-Gino, yeah.

That's just a laugh in itself having Gino on board.

Gino's absolutely fantastic.

Not only an absolutely one-off musician

but he's a great guy to have in a team like that,

because he's got such a great energy.

He's so encouraging, he passes the ball so well to everybody

and just gives everybody such a great feeling.

Of course, he's a very, very experienced musician, Gino,

he's played with everybody. Gino's...

He's just amazing to have around and a pleasure to be with.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

The next act appeared on the very first episode of Santer

and have been great friends of the show ever since.

They've been great friends of mine even longer -

from County Down, Broken Strings.

# Well, I lost all my money but a 2 bill

# 2 bill, boys, 2 bill

# I lost all my money but a 2 bill

# And I'm on my long journey home

# Well, the black smoke's a-rising, boys

# Must be the train

# Must be the train, boys, must be the train

# Now black smoke's a-rising, boys

# Must be the train

# And I'm on my long journey home

# Well, now I've lost all my money but a 2 bill

# 2 bill, boys, 2 bill

# I lost all my money but a 2 bill

# And I'm on my long journey home. #

Michael!

# Well, I'm going down the road, boys

# I paid my time

# I've done the crime, boys, I paid my time

# I'm going down the road, boys

# I paid my time

# And I'm on my long journey home

# Well, I lost all my money but a 2 bill

# 2 bill, boys, 2 dollar bill

# I lost all my money but a 2 bill

# And I'm on my long journey...#

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Ladies and gentlemen, back to the main stage.

Three of the world champion pipe band -

Field Marshal Montgomery.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

# Gae bring tae me a pint o' wine

# And fill it in a silver tassie

# That I may drink afore I go

# A service tae my bonny lassie

# The boat rocks at the Pier o' Leith

# Fu' loud the wind blaws frae the ferry

# The ship rides by the Berwick Law

# And I maun leave my bonny Mary

# Ooh-ooh-ooh

# Ooh-ooh

# The trumpets sound, the banners fly

# The glittering spears, they are ranked ready

# The shouts o' war are heard afar

# And the battle closes deep and bloody

-BOTH:

-# It's not the roar o' sea or shore

# Would mak' me langer wish to tarry

# Nor shouts o' war that's heard afar

# Oh, it's leaving thee, my bonny Mary

# It's leaving thee

# It's leaving thee

# Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh

# Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh

# Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

You two girls, not only are you, you know, keyboard players,

fiddle players, you're step dancers as well.

When we were in Cape Breton, you took us to one of your dances,

to your final ceilidh of the year,

but you're going to do a bit of that for us as well when you're here.

Yeah, we'll give a few steps.

Our close to the floor traditional style, we'll show off some of that.

I've seen you girls do this before.

It seems quite free form, or is it really organised?

Do you just make it look really easy, is that what it is?

-No, it's a good point. That's a good point.

-Yeah.

For ourselves, when we're doing something in a duo

it will be very choreographed

just because we have to know what's coming up next.

But a lot of the time, it is very impromptu

and you don't really know yourself what you're going to do

when you get up there, you just really go for it.

You're moved by the music

and hopefully, the tunes kind of inspire that.

CHEERING

..three, four.

CHEERING

MUSIC STOPS

CHEERING

Richard, you're a flute player

but you're not a traditional flute player.

You come from a kind of slightly different musical background.

Yeah, that's right.

I started of playing in a flute band -

Ballygowan Concert Flute Band, which I still play in now.

Whenever we, kind of, thought about this type of a programme,

one of the things we really wanted to do was get local players

who maybe hadn't a platform like this to show their skills off.

Well, I'll be honest with you,

I have found it a tremendous experience

and in some respects

it might change how I'm making my music, in some respect.

I want to sort of, maybe, let's say, branch out a wee bit more.

Again, when I was asked to do this, it was this apprehension,

this fear of, "Can I do this with these people?"

You know, they've been doing this style of music for years.

To be honest, after a couple of hours, I thought to myself,

"Hey, I can do this regularly."

-So you'll do it again?

-I would do it again, you know.

And I hope it wouldn't be too long.

So this is an American song written by Doc Watson's family,

inspired by Robert Burns'

"My Love Is Like A Red, Red Rose."

APPLAUSE

# While roving on a winter's night

# And drinking that good old wine

# Thinking about that dear little girl

# That stole this heart of mine

# For she is like a bud of rose

# That blooms in the month of June

# She's like some music instrument

# That's just been lately tuned

# I have to take a foreign trip

# To France or to Spain

# But if I go 10,000 miles

# I'm coming back again

# So who's going to shoe your pretty little foot?

# And who's going to glove your hands?

# Who will kiss your ruby lips?

# And who's going to be your man?

# Well, Papa can shoe my pretty little foot

# And Mama can glove my hands

# And you can kiss my ruby lips

# And you can be my man

# And I'll love you till the seas run dry

# And the rocks all melt in the sun

# Although I can't be with you now

# Some day we'll be as one

# While roving on a winter's night

# And drinking that good old wine

# Thinking about that dear little girl

# That stole this heart of mine

# Thinking about that dear little girl

# That stole this heart of mine. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Thank you.

You're also singing along with Emily Smith

for us later this evening.

Oh, so lovely.

She is a beautiful person and her voice is very evocative.

It's been really wonderful to get to hear her material

and be introduced to her.

And throughout this whole programme, realising that even though

I haven't really met anybody prior to... Only you before.

-Weren't you so lucky?

-I was very lucky.

But to realise that we all know so many of the same people,

we're just one degree apart -

"Oh, you were playing with this person

"and that person's my best friend.

Or "We played together at this festival."

It's really nice to see the world becoming smaller.

# As I cam' o'er by Bonny Moor Hill

# Every rose grows bonny in time

# I met a wee lass and they ca'ed her Nell

# Longing to be a sweet lover o' mine

# It's questions three I'll ask o' thee

# Every rose grows bonny in time

# And it's questions three you'll do answer me

# Before you are a sweet lover o' mine

# You maun mak' me a cambric shirt

-ALL:

-# Every rose grows bonny in time

# Withoot one stitch o' your needlework

# Before you are a sweet lover o' mine

# You maun wash it in yonder well

# Every rose grows bonny in time

# Where water ne'er ran and rain never fell

# Before you are a sweet lover o' mine

# Dry it oot o'er on yonder thorn

# Every rose grows bonny in time

# Where blossom ne'er bloomed since Adam was born

# Before you are a sweet lover o' mine

# You maun get me an acre of land

# Every rose grows bonny in time

# Atween the saut sea and sea water strand

# Before you are a sweet lover o' mine

# Plough it o'er with an auld ram's horn

# Every rose grows bonny in time

# Sow it o'er wi' one grain o' corn

# Before you are a sweet lover o' mine

# You maun sheer it wi' a sickle o' leather

# Every rose grows bonny in time

# And bind it up with a peacock's feather

# Before you are a sweet lover o' mine

# Stook it oot o'er on yonder sea

# Every rose grows bonny in time

# And bring the shell sheaf dry untae me

# Before you are a sweet lover o' mine

# It's when you've done and finished your work

# Every rose grows bonny in time

# You may call unto me for your cambric shirt

# And you shall be a sweet lover o' mine. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

You're a multi-instrumentalist yourself.

I suppose, you started off on highland pipes,

but you play lowland pipes, you play uilleann pipes,

you play high whistles, low whistles - a whole load of stuff.

You're a busy man.

Yeah, and playing different kinds of pipes does lend it to this

kind of thing, like, as I said earlier,

I was brought up in the strict solo piping scene

which, for all its plus points, to me, has some drawbacks

as well in terms of versatility and freedom and that kind of thing.

But when you're playing other pipes, it seems to give you that freedom

to do what you want and lend yourself to other styles of playing.

Of course, the lowland pipes being in the key of A helps a lot,

everything's not in B-flat, E-flat.

You're more versatile there for tune sets.

CHEERING

OK, let's hear rock.

THEY LAUGH

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much

for coming to The Santer Sessions.

From us all up here, it's good night,

safe home and please give it up one more time

for our fabulous musicians from both sides of the Atlantic.

CHEERING

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd