0:00:13 > 0:00:15Fair faa ye from Brownlow House in Lurgan
0:00:15 > 0:00:17and the music of the Ulster-Scots.
0:00:17 > 0:00:20Yes, we have a truly impressive line-up for you tonight.
0:00:22 > 0:00:25On stage, we have Scottish fiddle player Mhairi Marwick.
0:00:27 > 0:00:31We also have members from Londonderry's Churchill Flute Band.
0:00:32 > 0:00:35As well as a very moving and special performance from
0:00:35 > 0:00:37Brunswick Accordion Band.
0:00:39 > 0:00:42So, to start us off, it's a group from the northwest of Ulster,
0:00:42 > 0:00:45and you'll need your dancing shoes for this one.
0:00:45 > 0:00:48It's Sontas with the delightfully-named Flubadub.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:04:06 > 0:04:09Fabulous start to the show, boys - thank you so much for coming.
0:04:09 > 0:04:10- Thanks very much.- Thank you.
0:04:10 > 0:04:13And the track you just played was Flubadub - that's a funny name!
0:04:13 > 0:04:15Where did that come from?
0:04:15 > 0:04:17Well, I wrote Flubadub when I was at Newcastle University.
0:04:17 > 0:04:20When I went over, they couldn't really understand my accent,
0:04:20 > 0:04:21being from the northwest,
0:04:21 > 0:04:25and I couldn't really understand theirs, either, being Geordies.
0:04:25 > 0:04:27And I had this track written and I went to
0:04:27 > 0:04:29a local band practice to hear a few pipers playing,
0:04:29 > 0:04:32and the guy says, "You talk a load of flubadub."
0:04:32 > 0:04:35But I didn't know what flubadub was, but after looking online,
0:04:35 > 0:04:38I seen that it was from Bill And Ben The Flowerpot Men -
0:04:38 > 0:04:39it was the way they spoke.
0:04:39 > 0:04:41So I had this tune written and I says,
0:04:41 > 0:04:43"Oh, Flubadub would be the perfect name for that."
0:04:43 > 0:04:44Well, it's a great track.
0:04:44 > 0:04:48Michael, now, the group Sontas, has it been together long?
0:04:48 > 0:04:50Sontas actually hasn't - we haven't been together
0:04:50 > 0:04:52for the last two years. We've actually just come together
0:04:52 > 0:04:54for this tonight, actually, some of us former members.
0:04:54 > 0:04:56Sontas, originally, there was ten of us in it -
0:04:56 > 0:04:58we were a very large group originally, you know?
0:04:58 > 0:05:00So it's just a few of us here tonight,
0:05:00 > 0:05:02just come back for the show. But it was some good fun.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05The Battlefield Band are a well-known Scottish group
0:05:05 > 0:05:07founded in Glasgow in 1969.
0:05:07 > 0:05:11And there's been many a change in the line-up since then,
0:05:11 > 0:05:12but for the past ten years,
0:05:12 > 0:05:16their singer has been Sean O'Donnell from Londonderry.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19Sean's going to sing us a song composed by East Lothian
0:05:19 > 0:05:21songwriter Davie Robertson,
0:05:21 > 0:05:26and it tackles the age-old themes of lost love and passing time.
0:05:26 > 0:05:27This is Star Of The Bar.
0:05:29 > 0:05:35# Oh, I'll sing ye's a song if you'll gie's your attention
0:05:35 > 0:05:40# It's no tale of pity, it's no song of woe
0:05:42 > 0:05:47# And no word of honour or love will I mention
0:05:47 > 0:05:53# It's a tale of a lassie that I kent long ago
0:05:55 > 0:06:00# Nae better than maist and nae worse as many
0:06:00 > 0:06:06# And what drew me to her it's not easy to say
0:06:07 > 0:06:13# She was coorse, she was heartless, she wasnae that bonnie
0:06:13 > 0:06:19# Ah, but she was the star of the bar in her day
0:06:23 > 0:06:26# I've stravaiged the Royal Mile wi' her
0:06:26 > 0:06:29# Drinkin' in style wi' her
0:06:29 > 0:06:35# Rose Street from end to end ofttimes surveyed
0:06:36 > 0:06:39# I fought and swore in the pubs wi' her
0:06:39 > 0:06:42# Rolled round the dubs wi' her
0:06:42 > 0:06:47# I cadged many subs frae her never repaid
0:06:48 > 0:06:54# Nae better than maist and nae worse as many
0:06:54 > 0:06:59# And what drew me to her it's not easy to say
0:07:01 > 0:07:07# She was coorse, she was heartless, and she wasnae that bonnie
0:07:07 > 0:07:13# Ah, but she was the star of the bar in her day
0:07:40 > 0:07:45# So all you lads with fine lassies You know love soon passes
0:07:45 > 0:07:51# And all your bricht dreams are like tears in the wind
0:07:52 > 0:07:55# Best a lass who'll sit down wi' you
0:07:55 > 0:07:58# Pass the glass round wi' you
0:07:58 > 0:08:04# Sing a fine tune wi' you and drink herself blind
0:08:05 > 0:08:10# Nae better than maist and nae worse as many
0:08:10 > 0:08:16# And what drew me to her it's not easy to say
0:08:17 > 0:08:23# She was coorse, she was heartless, and she wasnae that bonnie
0:08:23 > 0:08:29# Ah, but she was the star of the bar in her day. #
0:08:39 > 0:08:41CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:08:43 > 0:08:46Behind me here in the ballroom at Brownlow House is
0:08:46 > 0:08:48Brunswick Accordion Band.
0:08:48 > 0:08:51Now, the band is based in a small rural town in Annalong
0:08:51 > 0:08:55in County Down, and the band has been running for over 50 years.
0:08:55 > 0:08:56Isn't that right, Iain?
0:08:56 > 0:08:58That's right, Nicola, the band are from Annalong,
0:08:58 > 0:09:01which is halfway between Newcastle and Kilkeel.
0:09:01 > 0:09:03It's an area traditionally known as the Kingdom of Mourne,
0:09:03 > 0:09:06and in that area it's somewhere with very strong
0:09:06 > 0:09:08Ulster-Scots traditions and music and dance,
0:09:08 > 0:09:11and its language traditions down in that part of the world, yeah.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14The piece that you're playing tonight, Men Of Mourne,
0:09:14 > 0:09:16that's a commission piece just for you, isn't it?
0:09:16 > 0:09:18Yeah, we've been working about a year and a half towards
0:09:18 > 0:09:21a World War I centenary project in the band,
0:09:21 > 0:09:23and it was a much wider project than just
0:09:23 > 0:09:26a piece of music - we commissioned a lot of research to people
0:09:26 > 0:09:28from the Annalong area who died in the Great War.
0:09:28 > 0:09:30But one of the aspects we wanted to do was compose
0:09:30 > 0:09:34a piece of music that we could play at the Last Post Ceremony
0:09:34 > 0:09:36at the Menin Gate in Ypres in Belgium.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39So, we got in touch with Captain Alex Knox from
0:09:39 > 0:09:42the Royal Irish Regiment, the former director of music there,
0:09:42 > 0:09:43and asked him to compose something
0:09:43 > 0:09:46specifically for the band for that trip. So, yeah.
0:09:46 > 0:09:50So, Emma, you took a trip to Belgium with the piece, Men Of Mourne.
0:09:50 > 0:09:52How did you feel when you were performing this?
0:09:52 > 0:09:54I don't think that this is a feeling that we're ever
0:09:54 > 0:09:55going to be able to replicate.
0:09:55 > 0:09:57We played it at the Thiepval Memorial and the Ulster Tower
0:09:57 > 0:10:00and then at the Menin Gate on the Sunday night,
0:10:00 > 0:10:01and I can honestly say that it was
0:10:01 > 0:10:03one of the best experiences I've ever had.
0:10:03 > 0:10:06We felt so united as a band and we were just all there together,
0:10:06 > 0:10:08and it was just an amazing feeling.
0:14:03 > 0:14:06What a moving piece there from Brunswick Accordion Band.
0:14:06 > 0:14:09I mean, if I was standing at Menin Gate with my band,
0:14:09 > 0:14:12the Vow Accordion Band, I can only imagine the emotions that
0:14:12 > 0:14:14would be running through my mind.
0:14:14 > 0:14:16Yeah, I've been there myself, actually.
0:14:16 > 0:14:18I was taken over with a group of musicians from Londonderry
0:14:18 > 0:14:22and we all went over and played at a commemoration service there.
0:14:22 > 0:14:25And to be at the Menin Gate when the Last Post is played
0:14:25 > 0:14:26is just incredible.
0:14:26 > 0:14:29But I can only imagine how more moving it would have been to
0:14:29 > 0:14:33have played your own composition there at the Last Post Ceremony.
0:17:04 > 0:17:06CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:17:06 > 0:17:09So, back again with us is Darren from Sontas and you're joined
0:17:09 > 0:17:11by Gordon from Churchill Flute Band.
0:17:11 > 0:17:14- And youse are pairing up for the next number.- We are indeed.
0:17:14 > 0:17:17Yeah, we're going to play a piece called Holly's Air.
0:17:17 > 0:17:18And so, Gordon,
0:17:18 > 0:17:21when did you become a member of the Churchill Flute Band?
0:17:21 > 0:17:24I joined with my brother 22 years ago now.
0:17:26 > 0:17:30So, since that time, we've now got all six of my family in the band,
0:17:30 > 0:17:33so we've sort of took over since!
0:17:33 > 0:17:35- You've been paired before, with the Walled City Tattoo.- Yep.
0:17:35 > 0:17:37We have, yes.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40Well, it's great to be able to connect with other bands in
0:17:40 > 0:17:42- the community, isn't it?- It is.
0:17:42 > 0:17:44I know in the city of Londonderry itself
0:17:44 > 0:17:47there's a great camaraderie between all bands at the minute,
0:17:47 > 0:17:49so that's great to see, and we all help each other out all the time.
0:17:49 > 0:17:52We've been working with kind of a lot of the bands in the city,
0:17:52 > 0:17:54and especially these guys here.
0:17:54 > 0:17:57That new arrangement of Holly's Air, we wanted to add
0:17:57 > 0:18:00a wee bit of different style to it, so we have the concert flutes,
0:18:00 > 0:18:01which adds a kind of flute band,
0:18:01 > 0:18:04marching band texture, as well, to the piece.
0:22:15 > 0:22:17CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:22:20 > 0:22:23Wookalily, so, you're an all-girl bluegrass line-up.
0:22:23 > 0:22:26How long have you been together?
0:22:26 > 0:22:28About seven years, altogether.
0:22:28 > 0:22:31We weren't friends before - we still aren't, really!
0:22:35 > 0:22:38So, Sharon, what do you play in the band?
0:22:38 > 0:22:42Banjo, mainly. I have a big interest in bluegrass instrumentals.
0:22:42 > 0:22:44And where did that come from?
0:22:44 > 0:22:47Well, I can't sing, so I thought, you know,
0:22:47 > 0:22:49may as well make myself useful!
0:22:50 > 0:22:53But I love the way all the instruments come down and when
0:22:53 > 0:22:56the instruments comes up, and then they put their own
0:22:56 > 0:22:58wee flavours on the melody.
0:22:58 > 0:23:00Could you tell me a bit about the track you're going to play
0:23:00 > 0:23:01for us tonight, Lyndsay?
0:23:01 > 0:23:05Hands Pass In Time is the first track off our debut album.
0:23:05 > 0:23:11It's basically about wanting someone you can't have and likening that
0:23:11 > 0:23:15onto hands on a clock - passing but never touching.
0:23:15 > 0:23:19So, seeing this person every day but never being able to reach out.
0:23:34 > 0:23:37# Hands pass in time
0:23:37 > 0:23:41# Never touching, crossing the line
0:23:41 > 0:23:44# Clock ticking on the wall
0:23:44 > 0:23:47# You are never really here at all
0:23:49 > 0:23:52# In my mind I saw you smile
0:23:52 > 0:23:56# In my heart you stayed a while
0:23:56 > 0:23:59# We weren't meant to be
0:23:59 > 0:24:02# But I'll love you endlessly
0:24:18 > 0:24:23# You pass me on the street each day
0:24:23 > 0:24:27# I smile, you have to look away
0:24:28 > 0:24:32# Your hand nearly touching mine
0:24:32 > 0:24:36# Does love really fade with time?
0:24:52 > 0:24:55# Hands pass in time
0:24:55 > 0:24:58# Never touching, crossing the line
0:24:58 > 0:25:01# Clock ticking on the wall
0:25:01 > 0:25:05# You were never really here at all
0:25:06 > 0:25:10# I want to love you out loud
0:25:10 > 0:25:13# Shout it from the clouds
0:25:13 > 0:25:16# Fate dealt a different hand
0:25:16 > 0:25:20# I suppose heaven had a better plan
0:25:36 > 0:25:40# You pass me on the street each day
0:25:40 > 0:25:45# I smile, you have to look away
0:25:45 > 0:25:49# Your hand nearly touching mine
0:25:49 > 0:25:53# Does love really fade with time?
0:26:02 > 0:26:05# Hands pass in time
0:26:05 > 0:26:09# Never touching, crossing the line
0:26:09 > 0:26:12# Clock tick-ticking on the wall
0:26:12 > 0:26:16# You were never really here at all. #
0:26:25 > 0:26:28CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:28:06 > 0:28:10CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:28:13 > 0:28:17Performing next week on Music Night At Brownlow...
0:28:17 > 0:28:19we have Ballylone Flute Band...
0:28:20 > 0:28:22..The Battlefield Band...
0:28:25 > 0:28:28..and the Drum Corps from the Pride of Ballinran.
0:28:28 > 0:28:30Haste ye back.