#british singer song writers

[thedepartmentofdiscoveries]

Siouxsie Sioux and Robert Smith.

📷 Robert Sheehan.

#80s #1980s #siouxsie sioux #robert smith #siouxsie and the banshees #the cure #robert sheehan #british musicians #british singer song writers #post punk #punk #new wave #dark wave #gothic rock #psychedelic rock #dance pop #alternative rock #alt rock #art pop #art rock

[max-e-doodle]

Rita Ora.

British Singer / Song Writer.

#rita ora #singer #song writer #british

[hot-celebrity-lover]

#Camilla Kerslake #love #celebrity crush #romantic #celebrity #stunning #crush #gorgeous #Singer #Song Writer #English #British #Blonde

[jeff-rees-jones]

A friend of mine, Miss Karla Lynette, she writes, plays and records her own music and performs it all live, give her some love...

#Karla Lynette #singer #song writer #performer #producer #music #British

[yeahxsurexokay13]

so american - mason mount

summary: mason and british singer-songwriter y/n y/l have sparked dating rumours since pretty much the beginning of their friendship. intrigue escalates when fans discover y/n's involvement in olivia rodrigo's new song.

y/n.updates

Liked by fan19 and 1.803 others

y/n.updates Y/n and Mason Mount at the F1 qualifying in Barcelona today via the @/f1 Instagram.

view all 106 comments

fan1 it still catches me off guard to see them together

user1 are they dating?

y/n.updates No! Just friends :)

fan2 i thank y/n attending that england match every single day a photo of these two together makes it to the internet

user2 HOW AM I JUST FINDING OUT THESE TWO KNOW EACH OTHER

fan3 Love to see them enjoying themselves. 💖

fan4 idk if I wanna be y/n or mason........ maybe just a fly in the room

y/n.updates

Liked by fan5 and 2.024 others

y/n.updates Mason and his family attended Y/n's charity concert at the O2 yesterday!

view all 298 comments

fan1 y/n girl if you won't date him, i will

fan2 I WAS THERE!!! Mase and his sister were so cute dancing and singing along to all of the songs

y/n.updates aw!!! ❤️

fan3 despite their efforts, they're never beating the dating allegations

fan4 This is so heartwarming🥺

fan5 Y/n must be so happy to have Mason and his family supporting her 😊

y/n.y/l

📍 los angeles

Liked by kelseaballerini and 2.019.032 others

y/n.y/l took a small break from the studio yesterday

view all 3.084 comments

fan1 Can't wait to hear what you've been working on!

oliviarodrigo HOT

y/n.y/l NO YOU

fan2 you're so pretty 😍

declanrice Look at you driving on the right

masonmount she's so american

liked by y/n.y/n

fan3 hope you had a fun day off ❤️

fan4 new music soon, hopefully? 🙏🏼

y/n.y/l 🤐🤐

fan5 come back to the UK soon, we miss you😢😭

y/n.updates

Liked by fan22 and 2.301 others

y/n.updates Y/n at Standford Bridge with Mason and some of his teammates after Chelsea's match against Manchester City.

view all 382 comments

fan1 did mason dedicate his goal to her?

user2 i don't think he did

fan2 just two pals hanging out after a game....

fan3 I don't buy the 'just friends' story anymore lol

user1 Can't blame fans for shipping them! They would make such a cute couple

user2 what's Kepa looking at?👀

fan4 They keep saying they're not dating, but they're always together 🤣🤣

fan5 at this point, I think they're just messing with us

fan6 i love seeing them support each other 🥹❤️

y/n.updates

Liked by user19 and 2.081 others

y/n.updates Y/n is credited as one of the writers behind Olivia Rodrigo's new song 'So American'!

user1 I had a feeling there was something special about that song

fan1 um guys............

fan2 this is EVERYTHING to me

user2 y/n and olivia together? pure magic

fan3 Can we start a petition for a collaboration?🙏🏼

fan4 IS THIS WHY SHE WENT TO THE US?

y/n.updates not necessarily! She often goes to write and record to the US 😊

fan5 she needs to hurry up and release music of her own 😭😭😭😭😭🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

#singer!reader #mason mount x reader #mason mount imagine #mason mount smau #social media au #football smau

[fairuzfan]

hello!! firstly, you have an amazing blog. i have been able to learn a lot (and be introduced to a lot of resources) thanks to you as well as other palestinians!

out of curiousity, do you happen to have any favorite songs made my palestinian musicians? im not sure if you've already answered this, but i would like to learn some songs so i can sing them :)

hello, thanks for sending this and for your kind words. I've actually received a few questions on this.

Something in arab music culture in general (like Fairuz) is that sometimes there are writers different than singers who are sought out by singers and vice versa. This isn't always the case, of course, but something to consider is if you like a song by a specific singer, I'd suggest looking into who the composer/writer of the song is.

A well known example is Egyptian singer Abdel Halim Hafez who sung Nizar Qabbani's (widely considered the Syrian National Poet) poem, the song titled "Qariat El Fengan" or "The Cup Reading". This was a whole concert. My dad said whenever it snowed in his town, they would play the entire concert on the radio and everyone would sit around and listen to it, even if it was an hour long.

But you did ask about Palestinian singers! So I will provide some singers who are Palestinian as well as those who aren't Palestinian but their songs are written for/by Palestinians.

Sol Band in Gaza

They're currently located in Gaza and if you visit their facebook, you can see that they hold singalongs for the kids of Gaza amongst the rubble. Right now, they're holding a campaign to help rebuild their band which you can take a look and donate to here (click).

Reem Albanna is Palestinian (the singer) and the writer is Tawfik Ziad who was a Palestinian:

"Min Sijin Akkah" by Firqat Al-Ashiqeen

The backstory to this is really important — back during British colonization, there were three Palestinian revolutionary fighters who were hung by the British. Their names were Fouad Hijazi, Mohammad Jamjoum, and Attah Azeer. Apparently, they were discussing amongst themselves in their prison cells before they were hung about what they would say to their loved ones and if any of them saw their loved ones to tell them not to worry. The conversation was written on the walls of the prison cell and we don't know who wrote it... but people have been singing it ever since.

"Ya Falestiniyah" by Sheikh Imam

Sheikh Imam is not Palestinian but he is Egyptian. Palestinians really love him, though, and he has a lot of political music that many, many people love. I recommend checking out all of Sheikh Imam's songs tbh.

"Sheikh Assafeenah" sung by Palestinian singer Abdel Fattah Owainat and written by Palestinian Poet Miriam Alammoori:

I would check out both singer and songwriter for more of their songs.

Dammi Falestini by Mohammed Assaf

I don't think it requires an explanation LOL

"Taralelli" by Ens O Jam

It's a fun song, a love song. I usually sing this with my family on long car rides.

if anyone else has any recommendations, feel free to add on to this post by reblogging!

#palestine #music

[alpaca-clouds]

What are Minstrels, Jesters and Bards?

Keeping it up with me rambling about the middle ages and fantasy, let me talk about one of the things that seems to confuse a lot of people - especially because most fantasy media just kinda mixes this one up. The difference between Minstrels, Jesters and Bard. Given that all the words are so often used interchangably. But, indeed, there is a big difference, if we look at it from a historical perspective.

The very, very basic differentiation is like this:

A Bard was a Celtic song writer and storyteller

A Minstrel was a medieval travelling singer, poet, acrobat and storyteller

A Jester was a medieval singer, poet, acrobat and storyteller working at a cort. In the late medieval time they were more acrobats and people telling jokes though.

Also there is Troubadoures, who were mostly singers and storytellers at the courts.

Let me talk a bit about the different groups in detail, though.

Bards

Bard as a word comes specifically from the Gaelic word for "poet", which basically tells us most about them. as with so many things concerning the celts, the early history of them is not very well known. We do know, though, that they played a certain role within the Gaelic and Welsh societies both in keeping the oral history of the societies alive, as well as celebrating chiefs and warriors with their songs. Other than other aspects of Celtic societies, the bards did remain for a long while into the medieval period, though how the societies treated them did vary a lot by region.

While in some areas due to their connection to the Celtic (and hence indigenous) religion and culture, they were seen as "second class poets" in some areas - especially in Ireland - with the true poets being connected to the church.

Never the less: Whatever we still know about the Celtic mythology of the British isles is all only known thanks to bards. Because bards kept those oral traditions alive at times till the late and post-medieval period, allowing them to be written down.

Mistrels

Minstrels developed a lot in what their role was. In the early medieval period they were often still bound to courts of kings and lords, where they would perform a wide variety of things. Songs, poems, theatre, acrobatics and dance being most among them. But in the high medieval period it became more and more common that the courts would employ jesters and troubardores, who were more specialized. With those a lot of minstrels became travellers. They would travel the lands and always remain in cities and villages for a while, collect stories, perform their arts and then move on. As such they helped to spread stories throughout the lands - though people could not always be sure whether the stories they told and sang were true or not.

Minstrels often had close networks among each other, though. Exchanging stories and songs they had written and collected. As such they often had a very wide repatoir that they could share with the people.

It should be noted that while there were people like this throughout the entire medieval world, minstrels as we would call them were most common in Medieval France and England, with some also being around in Germany (that is the Holy Roman Empire). Travelling singers and songwriters in the rest of Europe had a bit of a different background, often being closer to the celtic bards.

And yes, minstrels are very much the closest thing here to what bards in DnD are displayed as.

Jesters

Among those noted here, jesters are probably the one occupation people have the best idea of, given that they are fairly big in even modern popculture - even outside of fantasy. I mean, in your standard deck of cards the "Joker" usually is portrayed as a jester.

Jesters were fairly interesting. While they also would at times do poetry and songs, they often were more acrobats, joksters and magicians, who most of the time were bound to the court of a lord, duke or king. In these positions they did however often serve a very important role, as they were allowed to hold a mirror to whoever they served and give them the truth. Basically: They were allowed most of the time to criticize even kings. (Which does not mean that they always got away with it - but usually they got away with way more than most people.) As such a common idea of a jester was, that they were supposed to be wise and also act as a sort of advisor to whomever they served.

Interestingly enough there is a lot of historical evidence that often enough this specific roll was filled by disabled and disfigured people, who could not work in other rolls. Which in hindsight is interesting especially because it gave some disabled people a very important role within the society.

Troubadours

Finally we have the troubadours, who were most of all singers and poets working at the courts. Their art was seen as more "high class" than the work of the normal minstrels. They often would entertain nobility during their feasts and on festivals and celebrations. While they were not the same as jesters, they often were however allowed to parody and do satire of the lords, with that also reflecting on their actions.

So, yeah. There is a difference between these words. While there definitely were bards that served as troubadours, and troubadours who ended up becoming minstrels... It was a bit of a difference between those roles.

The fact that the bards were so tied to celtic cultures is especially a fact that so often gets overlooked.

So, there you have it. xD Maybe some food for thoughts for my dear fellow bard players.

#history #european history #medieval history #middle ages #nobility #royality #bard #bards #minstrel #jester #troubadour #celts #ancient celts #dungeons & dragons #dnd #baldurs gate #baldurs gate 3 #the witcher #jaskier

[100gayicons]

Gay Icon Verka Serduchka

Verka Serduchka (aka Andriy Danylko) is the most famous drag persona in the Ukraine.

Danylko invented the character of Verka Serduchka in 1990. Verka is a flamboyant middle-aged woman from a rural family and makes a living as a railroad sleeping car attendant. Since then Verka has rocketed to stardom.

Verka represented Ukraine in the 2007 Eurovision competition with the song “Dancing Lasha Tumbai”. The selection of Verka was controversial and heavily criticized in local media and by Ukrainian politicians, saying Verka was “grotesque and vulgar". But Verka got the last laugh - the song came in 2nd in a field of 24 countries.

A writer for the British newspaper The Guardian even called "Dancing Lasha Tumbai" as the "best song never to win Eurovision".

Later Verka was a judge on the show that picks future Ukraine Eurovision representatives, and appeared in Melissa McCarthy’s film “Spy” (2015). Verka also judged on X-Factor on Ukrainian TV (2016-2019) and The Masked Singer (2021).

Although Andriy Danylko threatened to retire his Verka persona, he continue to perform in drag - especially as a voice against Russian’s invasion of Ukraine. Verka has performed in numerous fundraisers for Ukraine.

Verka sold Freddie Mercury’s 1974 Rolls Royce at auction in 2022, for £250,000. The auction house waved fees and the buyers premium. So that entire proceeds (£286,250 or $327,600) were donated to help fund a modern rehabilitation and prosthesis center in Ukraine for victims of the war.

Andrii Danylko was awarded the Order of Merit Third Class in 2022 by the President of the Ukraine.

Danylko has stated that he does not appear in drag outside of performing as Verka. It’s also been reported he occasionally dates women. But Verka is still an inspirational LGBT+ icon.

2007 Eurovision performance

#verka serduchka #gay icons #gay rights #Eurovision 2007 #Andriy Danylko #Dancing Lasha Tumbai #last laugh #russias invasion of the ukraine #modern rehabilitation and prosthesis center #Freddie Mercury #Youtube

[odinsblog]

ALICE RANDALL, on how she became a country music writer at the age of 23

Well, I decided to become a Black country songwriter and publisher. I was founding Midsummer Music because I was born in Detroit City in 1959, at the same year as Motown Records, and my father did not read books to me. He told me stories, and one of the stories he told me over and over was the founding of Anna Records that Barry Gordy's sisters had founded a year before Motown.

So he talked to me about women being song publishers and record company executives and songwriters, and I heard those stories and followed in Anna's footsteps.

On writing country melodies

I teasingly say that my melodies are so simple that when the ones I come up with, if I can sing them, the whole world can sing them, so it goes well for having hit sometimes. But I came to Nashville via Harvard in Washington, DC so I sort of took the skills that I learned analyzing the Harlem Renaissance poets and Shakespeare and Jane Austen, and I applied them to country lyrics. I love British metaphysical poetry and American metaphysical poetry, and it was alive and it was alive and hiding in country and western music, and I found it.

On race in the country music industry

The racial fault line in country is all around that theme of the past is better than the present. In much of white country, the past that is better than the present is a mythologized Dixie. In much of Black Country, the past that is better than the present, is a time in childhood where your parents were able, against all odds, to protect you, or a lost Africa before colonization that's manifest by nature.

On what makes a country song, country

Well, the equation is Celtic, that's English, Irish, Scottish ballot forms, plus African influences, plus evangelical Christianity equals country music. Don't have the Black influences, and you probably got folk music. Don't have the evangelical Christianity, and you may have blues.

It's emotional, and they're themes, the big themes of country, as far as I see it. Life is hard, God is real, the road, family, and liquor are significant compensations, and the past is better than the present.

On metaphors

Well, these lyrics, these really complicated lyrics such as, ‘Drop kick me, Jesus, through the goalpost of life,’ that's an extended metaphysical conceit. And you know what? On Beyoncé’s new album, Cowboy Carter, Bodyguard is another one of those extended, complex metaphors that we see all through country.

On Black women in country music

I feel actually a Juneteenth, which is good news at long last. Because I will be 65 May 4th, and I have been in country and western music for 41 years professionally.

When I arrived here in 1983, Charlie Pride had been to the number one spot 29 times. It was about to go up for another time. So many Black men have gotten to the number one spot.

I can't remember all their names, but literally not one Black woman performer had gotten there. There's a phrase I want to say, cultural redlining. Black women have been culturally redlined out of that.

They had not been given the economic resources to make the campaign to get there. And Beyoncé eclipsed all of that. And I can retire now with a joy that all three of the things I wanted to see, they got done.

One came in right at the last moment, wouldn't have gotten there without Queen B.

On representation and the first time she heard one of her songs performed by Adia Victoria, a Black woman

I cried. I cried. Just thinking back on it right now almost makes me cry again.

It changed the whole beginning of my book, because I knew I had to start with that moment. Over the years, I've been honored, and I tell the story. Glenn Campbell, Moe Bandy, Radney Foster, Tricia Yearwood, so many extraordinary stars had sung my songs.

But no one had ever looked like me had sung one of my songs. And more significantly, listeners thought all the heroes and sheroes in my songs were white, because the singers were white. And some of those heroes and sheroes, I had imagined them, all of them I had imagined as Black.

And I was willing and embraced people projecting their identities onto them, but I resisted the identities I had originally imagined and created being erased. And Adia Victoria added the color back to that cowboy. And 20 to 30% of all cowboys in the American West were Black and Brown, and they deserve to be remembered.

And if we don't remember them, we cannot properly encounter Cowboy Carter.

#alice randall #politics #music #country music #my black country #beyonce #cowboy carter #black country #texas holdem

[pinkbrries]

• 𝐌𝐀𝐈𝐍 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 •

Lee Minjun (in hangul: 이민준), known professionally as June (hangul: 주네), is a british-korean singer, rapper, song-writer, model, dancer and former fencer born in London, United Kingdom on October 14, 2001. She is best known as a member, main dancer and main vocalist of co-ed idol group Enhypen, who made their debut in November 30, 2020.

scenarios are in chronological order.

profile | learn the alphabet with minjun | facts about minjun | minjun’s wardrobe | minjun’s celebrity crushes | idols crushing on minjun | what’s inside minjun’s bag? | minjun secret twt acc | just minjun things | her relationships with:

HYUNG LINE

MAKNAE LINE

relationships inside HYBE | relationships outside HYBE

june and her ‘01 liner friends

#PREDEBUT

A new friend | The Debut | When realization hits

— D R A B B L E S —

tba.

#2017–2020

tba.

— D R A B B L E S —

tba.

#2021–PRESENT

tba.

— D R A B B L E S —

tba.

#ENHYPEN&HI

↳ find the main masterlist here

#EN-O’CLOCK

↳ find the main masterlist here

#EN-LOG | #EN-NOTE | #OTHER CONTENT

#I-LAND: BEHIND THE SCENES

I-BLANK INTERVIEW WITH JUNE

T.M.I WITH JUNE

#I-LAND: THROUGH JUNE’S EYES

↳ find the main masterlist here

#ERAS

↳ 𝐈-𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐃 | 𝐁𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐄𝐑: 𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐎𝐍𝐄 | 𝐁𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐄𝐑: 𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐕𝐀𝐋 | 𝐃𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍: 𝐃𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐌𝐌𝐀 | 𝐃𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍: 𝐀𝐍𝐒𝐖𝐄𝐑 | 𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐅𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐎: 𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝟏 | 𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐊 𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐃 | 𝐎𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄 𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐃

↳ 𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐊 𝐌𝐎𝐎𝐍: 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐀𝐋𝐓𝐀𝐑

#MISC.

#ARTICLES

#SOCIALMEDIA

#WEVERSE

#VLIVE

#VLOGS

#SCANDALS

#DRABBLES

#ASKMINJUN

#INCORRECTQUOTES

#FANEDITS

#VIDEOS

↳ comparing heights with

hyung line | maknae line

#enhypen #enhypen female addition #enhypen 8th member #enhypen addition #enhypen female oc #enhypen female member #enhypen au #kpop added member #kpop female oc

[sunnunderthesun]

We need to talk about Sudan and its poetry

Oh, German Hitler

Oh, Italian Mussolini

Your chair will never ever stay again

You are just like

a foreign piaster

with no value in our market

The above excerpt is the English rendition of the song famously sung by the Sudanese singer Aisha Musa Ahmad, during World War Two, to encourage active Sudanese soldiers fighting the Axis alliance in the hope of gaining independence from British rule.

It is only towards the end of the last decade, during the Sudanese revolution, that the Eurocentric mainstream news sources began to shine a light on Sudan’s centuries-old oral tradition of poems, songs, storytelling, and chants which have always been an integral part of the Sudanese people’s peaceful protests against any form of oppression. While the works of notable Sudanese writers like Tayeb Salih and Mahjoub Sharif have brought international recognition for Sudan's written literature since the latter half of the twentieth century, much of the nation's oral poetic battle cry of resistance, strength, and resilience still remains unheard of in most parts of the world.

When asked why the internet hardly has any English-translated Sudanese poems written before the present century, a staff of ArabLit informs me that not many poems from the early or even mid-20th century exist, especially online, as translations from Arabic to English was mainly an academic endeavour until recently.

My search for Sudanese folklore on Google brings up just a handful of websites, books, and social media channels focussing on, mostly, contemporary Sudanese diasporic poems and stories, translated into or written in English, but it’s too challenging to find an English-translated poem by a native Sudanese poet on the search engine’s high-ranking webpages that list “must-read poems” or “great war poems” of this century and earlier.

On some archival websites, fragmentary specimens of Sudanese folklore can be found in a couple of late twentieth-century research papers on Sudan’s oral tradition, the journal called Sudan Notes and Records that was started by the British imperialists in an attempt to gain more control of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, and the racist memoir called My Sudan Year in which the cultural anthropologist Ethel Stefana Drower writes, The Sudanese is a rhymester rather than a poet. He makes rhymes and rhythms on every possible occasion, but, like all of Arab blood or partly Arab blood, he is seldom capable of producing lofty lyrical poetry. The boatmen, as they tug together at a rope, or pull their oars through the water, make chanteys, but these are rarely imaginative or poetical in the Western sense of the words.

I learn from a librarian at the Library of Congress that their only available digitalized collection of Sudanese poetry is not translated from Arabic to English. However, they couldn’t clearly tell me the reason behind the dearth of English translations of Sudanese folklore, especially the ones from over a hundred years ago, on the internet.

Efforts of individuals like Dr. James Dickens and the library activist Israa Abbas to preserve and promote recent Sudanese poems and songs, both in English and Arabic, may inspire the mainstream international literary publications, that also happen to be Western-centric, to consider publishing a powerful Sudanese poem or two sometime. Observing the educated masses' continued disregard for the ongoing destruction of lives and invaluable university archives in conflict-ridden Sudan, it’s hard to predict when the internet will show more cultural inclusivity.

#talk #free sudan #sudan genocide #eyes on sudan #finds

[louisupdates]

THE INTERNET IS IN ITS LOUIS TOMLINSON ERA AND IT’S ABOUT TIME

By MICHAELA GALLIGAN | 13.9.2023

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at FSU chapter.

In January 2016, One Direction, one of the biggest bands on the planet at the time, went on an 18-month hiatus. But in 2023, that “break” sounds more like a “breakup.” Since then, the five members of the band have gone on to pursue solo careers in music, and very successful ones at that.

Zayn Malik and Niall Horan have both released three very popular albums, Liam Payne had one of the most popular pop songs of 2019, and Harry Styles has won multiple Grammy Awards and is one of the most famous artists in the world today. However, the band’s eldest member, Louis Tomlinson, didn’t jump on the solo train immediately like the others, making his rise to solo popularity a little slower. But he is finally getting his flowers and fans couldn’t be happier.

Louis Tomlinson was born in Doncaster, England on Dec. 24, 1991. He, Horan, Malik, Payne, and Styles all auditioned for the singing competition series The X Factor (U.K.) in 2010 as solo artists but were later grouped into a band that they named One Direction. The band did extremely well on the show, and even though they did not win the competition, they won the hearts of millions of fans across the world and became overnight sensations. They went on to release five albums and went on multiple world tours. Zayn Malik left the band in March 2015 for personal reasons and to start his solo career, and the rest of the band split in 2016 to do the same.

Tomlinson took a different approach to solo music than the rest of the boys, choosing to release several singles not associated with albums or EPs. These songs, including “Just Hold On” and “Back to You,” were very successful and took a large amount of inspiration from the British pop genre.

Tomlinson continued his release strategy until October 2019, when he announced his first album Walls. The album was released in January 2020 and featured 12 songs by the artist, carrying a heavy pop-rock influence. Tomlinson’s first world tour was postponed due to the pandemic, but he was able to perform the album at several festivals and venues. Today, the album has sold over 1.2 million copies worldwide.

Tomlinson announced his second album, Faith in the Future, in August 2022 and released it in November that same year. This album is mainly comprised of the British indie rock genre and has 18 tracks. It has been extremely successful, hitting No. 1 in the U.K. upon its release. Tomlinson is currently touring the album in Europe.

Tomlinson is finally getting the praise he deserves, but it was a difficult journey to get there. In his recent documentary, All of Those Voices, he discussed how he was often overlooked in One Direction, being given smaller vocal parts due to his voice being unique for the pop genre. In their first two albums, Tomlinson has very few solos and features, which has always upset his die-hard fans, myself included. Despite this, he may have contributed the most to the band in the form of songwriting.

On One Direction’s eighth anniversary in 2018, Tomlinson tweeted, “And remember if it’s by One Direction and it’s a banger I probably wrote on it”, really emphasizing his crucial role in the song creation aspect of the band’s music in his infamous snarky way. He has also grown into his voice much more since 2010, now singing confidently at his concerts and festivals.

Right now, Tomlinson is all over the internet due to press from his current Faith in the Future world tour. He is one of the most viewed music artists on TikTok and his albums are getting loads of streams every day. Buzz is still going around from his documentary release in March. Everyone loves seeing the behind-the-scenes content of touring and his relationships with his family and friends, especially the adorable one he has with his son Freddie. As someone who has been waiting for everyone to go into their Louis craze for a decade now, I love to see it.

I highly encourage you to go and listen to Tomlinson’s music, not only because I am a huge fan and love him, but also because his songs are extremely fun and have very positive, uplifting messages. He is very reflective about his time in One Direction and thankful for the opportunities he has been given in his music career. If you’re ever thinking about buying a ticket for his concert, do it! I recently saw him live for the first time this July in Tampa and it was such an amazing show, where he played almost every song from his most recent album, two One Direction songs, and an Arctic Monkeys song. He and his team are amazing when it comes to making tickets affordable for fans. He even has a music festival, The Away from Home Festival, that changes locations every year and is completely free to fans. So here’s to hoping it will be in North America next year!

Louis Tomlinson is notoriously very kind to fans and appreciates all the support he is given. So if you ever need a serotonin boost, just look up a video of him interacting with fans. He is just amazing. Go support him and all that he does. Listen to Walls and Faith in the Future, and buy that concert ticket! He deserves all the love. I’m already ready for a third album!

#louis press #louis tomlinson #13.9.2023

[scotianostra]

The folk singer-songwriter and playwright Ewan MacColl was born on January 25th at Salford, England.

Now and again I post about Anglo-Scots, those born over the border in the home of our closest neighbours England, McColl is a man who was proud of his Scottish heritage, there is no doubt, but there is no doubt he took much from his upbringing in Salford, most evident in the song about the city Dirty old Town.

Ewan was born as James Henry Miller to William Miller and Betsy (née Henry). William, an iron moulder and trade unionist, had to leave Scotland after being blacklisted at every foundry in Scotland, one of them being the Carron Ironworks at Falkirk, that crops up in my posts now and then.

Ewan left school in 1930 after an elementary education, during the Great Depression and, joining the ranks of the unemployed, began a lifelong programme of self-education whilst keeping warm in Manchester Central Library. During this period he found intermittent work in a number of jobs and also made money as a street singer.

In 1932 the British intelligence service, MI5, opened a file on MacColl, after local police asserted that he was "a communist with very extreme views" who needed "special attention” For a time the Special Branch kept a watch on the Manchester home that he shared with his first wife, Joan Littlewood. MI5 caused some of MacColl's songs to be rejected by the BBC, and prevented the employment of Littlewood as a BBC children's programme presenter.

Inspired by the example of Alan Lomax, who had arrived in Britain and Ireland in 1950, and had done extensive fieldwork there, MacColl also began to collect and perform traditional ballads. Some of you might remember my post Come All Ye Tramps And Hawkers from the Lomax archive a few weeks ago, he was a folklorist, archivist, writer, scholar, political activist, oral historian, and film-maker.

More well known by most as a singer, MacColl was also an actor, writer and playwright To put him into some sort of importance George Bernard Shaw said of him in 1947, “Apart from myself, MacColl is the only man of genius writing for the theatre in Britain today., fine praise indeed.

MacColl recorded a huge volume of traditional Scottish and English folk songs, as well as creating a vast body of his own work, which ranged from satirical protest songs to tender love ballads, the latter most popularly renowned in his composition, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, written for his wife, Peggy Seeger (another folk singer), but made most famous by Roberta Flack. His songs have been sung by the likes of the Dubliners, Dick Gaughan, The Clancy Brothers, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, David Gray and The Pogues.

Back to my favourite song by Ewan MacColl, Dirty Old Town, it’s not about Dublin, as many believe but Salford, because the Dubliners made it famous I think that’s where the confusion comes from.

Ewan must have been very proud of his daughter the late Kirsty MacColl, who followed on from her dad as a singer songwriter.

In 1979 he suffered the first of many heart attacks. The next ten years saw a steady deterioration in his physical condition, but he continued to work, tour, lecture and write songs. In 1980 he wrote his last play, The Shipmaster, the moving story of a sailing ship captain who cannot adapt to the coming of steam. In 1987 he began to write his autobiography, Journeyman. In the same year the University of Exeter presented him with an honorary degree. On October 22nd 1989, he died of complications following a heart operation. The University of Salford awarded him a posthumous honorary degree in 1991.

I’ve chosen The Bonnie Lass of Fyvie today as it is the first song I learnt and sang while still at primary school, probably aged about 10 year old.

If you want to know more about the man, his music and lots more check out the web page dedicated to Ewan here http://www.ewanmaccoll.co.uk/ewan-maccoll-biography/

#scotland #scottish #anglo-scottish #musician #singer songwriter #Youtube

[cinematicct]

Mamma Mia! (2008)

👰‍♀️🏝️🎶

Based on the smash hit Broadway stage musical, this jukebox musical film tells the story of a young bride-to-be who, in the hopes of finding her father, invites three men from her mother’s carefree past to attend her wedding.

An extraordinary ensemble cast includes: Meryl Streep as single mother/hotel owner/former lead singer Donna Sheridan, Amanda Seyfried as sunny soon-to-be-wed Sophie Sheridan, Pierce Brosnan as possible father number one/Irish-American architect Sam Carmichael, Stellan Skarsgård as possible father number two/Swedish travel writer Bill Anderson, Colin Firth as possible father number three/British banker Harry Bright, Dominic Cooper as Sophie’s fiancé Sky, Julie Walters as former backup singer/successful author Rosie Mulligan and Christine Baranski as former backup singer/wealthy divorcée Tanya Chesham-Leigh.

Meryl Streep is a miraculous talent that has it all: star power, exuberance and a singing voice that literally strikes a chord directly in the hearts and minds of fans and audiences. Amanda Seyfried is not just a shining star, but she’s got an angelic voice that exudes charm and potential. Together, Streep and Seyfried form a delightful onscreen dynamic between mother and daughter. Both actresses are backed by a trio of diverse actors who have basically played James Bond (Brosnan), King George VI (Firth) and MCU’s Dr. Eric Selvig (Skarsgård), respectively. What’s more, Julie Walters and Christine Baranski are a pair of excellent female troupers who add wisecracks and class to the mix.

The story takes place on a fictional island in Greece, which in turn reflects a vibrant society complemented by a picturesque backdrop. It is that particular setting where its inhabitants are engrossed in the idea of finding someone to share their lives with.

Throughout the course of the film, a string of budding romances start to develop, though not without its share of chaos. As such, a dumbfounded Donna struggles to reconcile her past affairs, while Sophie in turn struggles to identify her real father.

This particular musical (both the film and stage adaptation) is built around a selection of songs from Swedish pop supergroup ABBA. The track list includes: “I Have a Dream”, “Honey, Honey”, “Money, Money, Money”, “Chiquitita”, “Dancing Queen”, “Our Last Summer”, “Lay All Your Love on Me”, “Super Trouper”, “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!”, “Voulez-Vous”, “SOS”, “Does Your Mother Know”, “Slipping Through My Fingers”, “The Winner Takes It All” (sung to perfection in an arresting performance by Meryl Streep), “When All Is Said and Done”, “Take a Chance on Me”, “Waterloo” and, of course, “Mamma Mia”. These songs not only exemplify the uninhibited quality of the story, but have left an indelible mark on the entertainment industry.

Lastly, the overall essence of Mamma Mia! is to embrace uncertainty as it is possible to define yourself without full knowledge of parentage. All in all, I recommend this upbeat, feel-good jukebox musical to every lover (and hater) of ABBA.

#mamma mia 2008 #jukebox musical #ABBA #meryl streep #donna sheridan #amanda seyfried #sophie sheridan #pierce brosnan #Sam Carmichael #stellan skarsgard #bill anderson #colin firth #harry bright #Julie Walters #christine baranski #Donna and the Dynamos #Greek wedding #Kalokairi

[kwebtv]

Glynis Margaret Payne Johns (October 5, 1923 - January 4, 2024) Film, stage and television actress, dancer, musician and singer. In a career spanning eight decades on stage and screen, Johns appeared in more than 60 films and 30 plays. She has received various accolades throughout her career, including a Tony Award, a Drama Desk Award, a National Board of Review Award, and a Laurel Award, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Laurence Olivier Award. She is widely considered as being one of the last surviving major stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood and classical years of British cinema.

Johns made her television debut in 1952 with Fletcher Markle's Emmy Award-winning series Little Women. She appeared in just one episode: season 4's "Lilly, the Queen of the Movies" as Lily Snape. Her television credits of the 1950s include brief appearances in the Hollywood anthology series Lux Video Theatre (in the 1953 episode "Two For Tea"), Errol Flynn's anthology series The Errol Flynn Theatre (in the 1956 episodes "The Sealed Room" as Lou McNamara and "The Girl in Blue Jeans" as The Girl Susan Tracey), CBS's anthology series Schlitz Playhouse of Stars (in the 1957 episode "The Dead Are Silent"), and ABC's variety and drama series The Frank Sinatra Show (in the 1958 episode "Face of Fear" as Christine Nolan)

Johns was cast in 1961 in the ABC/Warner Bros. crime drama The Roaring 20s. She portrayed Kitty O'Moyne, an Irish immigrant who falls overboard into the harbour as she arrives in the United States. Johns guest-starred in the CBS anthology seriesThe Lloyd Bridges Show in the episode "A Game for Alternate Mondays" of the 1962–63 television season, playing widow Leah Marquand, with Leslye Hunter as her daughter Isabella. On 5 August 1963, Vacation Playhouse premiered the episode "Hide and Seek" as the pilot of her eponymous CBS television series Glynis. The original working title for the series was The Glynis Johns Show; in it, Johns played the neophyte mystery writer and amateur sleuth Glynis Granvile. In the autumn of that year, Glynis officially premiered, starring Johns and Keith Andes as a married couple, Glynis Granville and Keith Granville, a criminal defence attorney. Due to pressure from NBC's The Virginian and Bill Cullen's The Price Is Right game show on ABC, the programme was cancelled after thirteen episodes. In 1965, when CBS reran the series as a summer replacement for The Lucy Show, Glynis ranked #6 in the Nielsen ratings. Johns remained busy on screen, appearing as Steffi Bernard in the episode "Who Killed Marty Kelso?" of ABC's detective series Burke's Law opposite Gene Barry. In 1967, she appeared in four episodes of the Batman television series as villainess Lady Penelope Peasoup, one half of the evil duo with Rudy Vallée as her brother Lord Marmaduke Ffogg.

During the first season of NBC's hit sitcom Cheers, Johns guest-starred as Diane Chambers' mother, Helen Chambers, an eccentric dowager who, due to a stipulation in Diane's late father's will, will lose all her money unless Diane is married by the next day. In 1985, Johns played Bridget O'Hara in the episode "Sing a Song of Murder" of CBS's crime drama television series Murder, She Wrote, working again with Angela Lansbury. From 1988 to 1989, she played Trudie Pepper, a senior citizen living in an Arizona retirement community, in the television sitcom Coming of Age, also on CBS. (Wikipedia)

#Glynis Johns #TV #Obit #Obituary #O2024 #Glynis #Coming of Age

[daisiesonafield-blog]

Harry Styles delivered a low-key performance at the 2023 Grammy Awards, where he is nominated in six categories and already won for pop vocal album.

Styles opened his performance on a red, revolving stage amongst a group of casually costumed dancers. Dressed in a strikingly different silver sequined and fringe ensemble (similar to the looks he’s previously donned at his recent string of US shows) Styles joined hands with the crew and belted out his track “As It Was.”

Before the song, the singer was introduced by Harry’s House co-writer and producer Kid Harpoon. “The whole world knows him as Harry, but as he knows, I call him Gary.” Harpoon said. “I call him Gary because he’s etched his name so deeply into our culture that sometimes it’s easy to forget the human. The boy from a village in Cheshire, England working in a bakery who chased his dream. And now years later, he’s about to perform Grammy Award winning music for you tonight.”

The crowd was into the performance, specifically Taylor Swift who was dancing through the song (and was spotted earlier dancing through the previous sets from different performers).

Styles’ chances at Grammy gold include record of the year and song of the year for “As It Was,” as well as album of the year for his May 2022 record “Harry’s House.” The British singer ties in total nominations with Future, Mary J. Blige, DJ Khaled and Randy Merrill, while Beyoncé is the leading nominee with recognition in nine categories.

Styles last performed at the 2021 Grammy Awards, where Dev Hynes, aka Blood Orange, joined him on bass for the song “Watermelon Sugar.” The same track earned Styles his first Grammy in the pop solo performance category, though he also scored nominations for pop vocal album and music video that year.

Three nights before the Grammys, Styles will conclude the North American leg of his “Love on Tour.” The tour is set to resume in Australia Feb. 20 with best new artist nominee Wet Leg joining as an opener. On Feb. 11, Styles and Wet Leg will also appear at the 2023 Brit Awards, where the two musical acts are tied for the most nominations.

Full article. Link here.

#grammys 2023 #harry february 2023 #variety magazine