DRUM
SONGS FROM THE HEATHEN HILLS
Carolyn Hillyer
For
the first time Carolyn has made an album that concentrates
specifically on drumming songs and chants. The ancient triad
of sacred sounds created through percussive beats, rhythmic
rattling and the use of breath or air is here represented
with many handcrafted drums, ritual rattles and the voice,
both in solo and with multi-layered group harmonies. The
simplicity of this combination enables this album to be
used as a guide for those undertaking their own travels
with a drum, as well as offering a new collection of powerful
and profound chants that may be shared within song circles
and ceremony. Carolyn uses a broad range of different rhythms
and techniques on drum skins that include red stag and doe,
fallow deer, reindeer, wild horse, buffalo and salmon. The
thirteen songs are divided into four groups: songs of the
travelling, bright, dark and silent drums.
Travelling
Drum songs express the quickening red moon, the constant
flow and dance of the journey, the passions of life. These
rhythms rise up, gather all before them and move out across
the land. This is the drum as a seed, as raw nature, as
new energy. This is the drum as a tool for change, as a
sound that sweeps clean, as a creature that rides hard into
the landscape of the soul. This drum gives shape to the
quest and protection to the rider. This drum races with
the river and circles with the sea.
Bright
Drum songs defer to the illuminating white moon, the unfolding
ceremony, the measured rhythm of prayer and the integrity
of life. These rhythms mend and heal, concentrate energy
and bind magic. This is the drum as a circle, a spiral and
a unifying line. This is the drum of the group soul, that
weaves together the world and our understanding of it, that
carries timeless rituals between generations. This drum
draws in power like a great breath and sends it out into
the world like shattering glass.
Dark
Drum songs honour the dissolving black moon, the weeping
night, the lowering of the flames of life. These rhythms
cause movement to slow and draw attention in towards all
that is quiet and still. This is the drum as a measure of
the passage of time, as the journey of return, as the softening
ebb. This drum intensifies magic and catches prayer, deepening
them down into the solitary heartbeat of the lone traveler.
Silent
Drum songs rest in the hidden caves of the unseen moon,
the hollowing sound, a world that cannot be defined. These
rhythms trace the edges of unknowable death and invisible
endings, where the beat is not as important as the thin
thread that ties you to the journey. This is the drum as
a voice in the dead lands, as an anchor within a void, as
a small recollection of life within vast emptiness. This
drum takes us into the most profound place and then lets
us go.
The
thirteenth song binds together the elements of all four
into a richly textured tapestry of rhythm and song, celebrating
many faces of the sacred drum.
Tracks
include: Song Rivers, The Old One’s Hand, Illuminating
Drum, The Long Return, Cauldron of Crows, The Shrines of
Our Mothers are Singing, Hollowing Drum, Draw Us Down, The
Winter Book and Many Sister Moons.
Drum Songs from the Heathen Hills is available on CD
for £13
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