EXILE
Nigel Shaw and Carolyn Hillyer
Exile
is departure, separation and loss. Exile is enforced, chosen
or the outcome of strange circumstance. Exile is painfully
physical, coldly political and deeply personal. Exile is
the shadow of war, the grip of despair, the emptiness of
grieving arms. Exile is a heavy wind that crashes through
cultures, tears at relationships and rips apart the soul.
Exile is the impossible abyss, the deadly trail and the
churning hungry ocean. Exile is the overwhelming pull towards
home, yearning for familiar people, longing for ancestral
lands. Exile is crossing mountains into loneliness, walking
dusty roads amidst confusion, wandering lost inside a world
of death. Exile is a song
of mourning, a dance of remembrance and a promise of return.
Exile is a brave cry that echoes through generations and
a faithful flame that feeds the tribal hearth. Exile is
the search for a beloved, for completion, for peace. Exile
is a root deepened by loyalty, a spirit grown stronger through
adversity, determination honed by belief in a just &
balanced future. Exile is eyes widened by vast horizons
and hope kindled by the smallest possibilities.We will find
a road to take us home. Ancient spirits watch for our return.
This album constitutes one of our longest recording projects
to date, incubating and changing shape over two years before
eventually emerging in its final form. During this time
travels in unfamiliar lands, meetings with new people and
intense experiences previously unknown to us, all contributed
to the shifting dimensions of what exile means and how it
might be expressed in these songs. And to truly comprehend
in some small measure the devastation of those exiled from
the piece of earth that is home, by land clearances and
conflict, by poverty and powerlessness, in Tibet and Africa,
the Middle East and within our own countries, in past centuries
and during present chaos, we kept returning to the nearest
point on the horizon: how would it feel to us to be compelled
to leave these wild hills to which we have committed our
hearts and promised our bones?
We wanted to reflect the breadth of the exile experience
in the range of ancient, traditional and contemporary instruments
used in these recordings: you will hear flutes, whistles,
smallpipes, fujara,
and koncovka; darabuka, riq, djembe, cahon, rattles, and
frame drums crafted from reindeer, stag and horse; dulcimer,
piano and singing bowls. In addition we were joined in the
making of this music by a warm and highly talented collective
of musicians, who passed through the studio periodically
to offer their individual contributions to the project.
You will hear the voice of Shelok Tsering and the violin
of Paul Sax, the didge of Shaun Farrenden and drums of Scott
Jasper, and the various guitars of Brian Abbott, Adrian
Utley, Tim Gill and Pat Orchard.
The tracks on EXILE move between the simplicity of delicate
laments with voice and flute to complex arrangements and
full-bodied, multi-instrumental, drum-driven, tribal chants.
Here are songs that dance and songs that mourn. Here are
songs that cause us to be glad for the very soil that lies
beneath our feet.
Tracks include: Exile, The Red Coats, After the Battle,
Bring on the Storm, Amber Road, Protecting Veil, Dreams
Restored, People of Home, Nightlands and Heathen Day.
A donation will be given from every CD sale to Survival
International for their work protecting the land rights
of tribal people.
Album length approx 70 minutes.
Exile is available on CD for £13
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