The piva is a type of bagpipe played in North Italy and in Ticino, Switzerland.
In Advent time, bagpipers traditionally play Christmas melodies, the best known of which are called Pastorale (“pastoral”, “shepherd's”) or simply Piva, a local term that was also intended to designate the very instrument.
Now in this crack there was a leak, a rare leak, a rattling leak -
a leak in a crack and a crack in a bolt and a bolt in a hole and a hole in a sub and a sub in a wreck and a wreck in a trench and a trench down in the ocean, ho!
I did so good at social interaction today, yall, is was amazing. I made friends with a regular of the Irish trad session night I went to and we talked through a big part of our life stories, some politics, the stories of some of the performers and a bartender... it was great.
Le Vent du Nord are a Québecois folk group that play both traditional and original songs. I'm not quite sure why I associate their music with winter; maybe because they're from Canada, or maybe because their band name means The North Wind. I actually saw these guys live once a few years ago when they toured the Northeast US.
(My French isn't quite good enough to be able to fully understand their lyrics, but I can kind of get the gist of some of it if the lyric sheet is in front of me. I took French for like five years in middle & high school, but I'm probably quite out of practice by now.)
A lot of the songs on this album seem to be about tragic situations. "Pauvre enfant" is about an orphan, and "Noce tragique" and "Chaise ardente" are both about the death of a young lover. (In the latter, the Devil gets involved.) The music, too, is often plaintive. It's not all sad, though: there are also some lively reels and other instrumentals.
when the king in willie o' winsbury said "what ails you? what ails you, my daughter jane? what makes you pale and wan? have you any soul sickness or yet been sleeping with a man?" i felt that
3 buttons on my concertina are fucked cos of the weather, like mann it’s so irritating + i was going to a session tonight but humidity had other plans i guess
the Armagh Rhymers peforming for Washington DC's Library of Congress.
From the video's description:
"The Armagh Rhymers are one of the most celebrated traditional music and theatre ensembles on the island of Ireland. Since a group of talented actors and musicians founded the Rhymers in the 1970s, they have delighted audiences at festivals, arts centers, theatres, and schools, throughout Ireland and around the world. Through music, storytelling and drama, they provide an experience that is entertaining, educational and cultural. Their colorful costumes evoke a sense of tradition and history and encapsulate the spirit of the “wren boys,” young people who donned traditional disguises and went from house to house, entertaining their neighbors. In these ancient house-visiting traditions of Ireland, the kitchen floor became the stage. The Rhyming tradition is a form of folk drama, often called “the theatre of the people.” The Armagh Rhymers draw on the rich history of this traditional Irish culture, which has inspired generations of poets such as Seamus Heaney, Brendan Kennelly, John Montague, John Hewitt, Michael Longley, and Patrick Kavanagh."