The Cumbrian Duo - Bleckell Murry Neet (2022) [Official Digital Download 24/192]

Bleckell Murry Neet is an album of Cumbrian music played on the guitar and harp. Ed Heslam has a background in classical guitar playing, as a soloist and in various ensembles, while Jean Altshuler has built a career as an orchestral harpist and, more recently, playing the lever harp in chamber music. For this album, Jean has returned to the pedal harp, giving a more resonant sound which perfectly complements the rich tone of the Carrillo guitar, as well as allowing more scope in arranging the music.

The content represents a snapshot of musical themes which would have been familiar to the people of Cumberland and Westmorland during the late 18th and 19th centuries. Bleckell Murry Neet carries with it the history of a bygone era. It alludes to a time when dialect was widely spoken (and sung) in Cumberland and Westmorland; to a period when everyday people danced with an energy and passion that is now hard to imagine and to an era when the town of Whitehaven was at the centre of trade and communications, while central Lakeland was merely an obscure backwater. The album consists of a series of melodies gleaned from the manuscripts of Cumbrian musicians. These old tunes carry the hint of stories of love lost, of love yearned for and of love found; they allude to tales of the Border Reivers and stories of the corruption and electoral fraud of the rich landed gentry who often exerted a malign control over the region and its people.

TRACKLIST

1. The Cumbrian Duo - Melony Jigg
2. The Cumbrian Duo - What Ails This Heart of Mine
3. The Cumbrian Duo - Slates Away, Time to Play
4. The Cumbrian Duo - And Ye Shall Walk in Silk Attire
5. The Cumbrian Duo - Silly Andrew
6. The Cumbrian Duo - Geordie Gill
7. The Cumbrian Duo - Bleckell Murry Neet
8. The Cumbrian Duo - Appleby Election Reel
9. The Cumbrian Duo - Alice Gray
10. The Cumbrian Duo - Hughie the Graeme
11. The Cumbrian Duo - My Dearie, If Thou Die
12. The Cumbrian Duo - Andrew Carey
13. The Cumbrian Duo - The Howk Reel
14. The Cumbrian Duo - Tears That Must Ever Fall



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