Love Imposes Impossible Tasks

How often have you been given a chore to do which is plainly impossible?

That's the tradition that comes with our English folk song Scarborough Fayre where a former lover is asked to perform a series of impossible tasks which, if they complete, will gain their former love back.

Scarborough Fayre is thought to be derived from a Scottish ballad, "The Elfin Knight" where an elf imposes impossible tasks upon a maid, tasks she must complete to escape him. She replies in turn with a list of her own impossible tasks he must first perform.

From medieval times many variants of the song sprung up until the 19th but only a few are sung today. The 20th century version of Scarborough Fair was sung by Simon & Garfunkel and was famously their lead track in the 1966 album, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme.  Many listeners encountered it first when it was featured in The Graduate of 1968 starring Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft.

Here is a demo of Scarborough Fayre with a new arrangement for you all. It's a traditional twist with a few cheeky puns and a modern beat. Enjoy.

Free download available for a limited period from here -> http://www.facebook.com/pages/Khamsina/107924192608021?sk=app_178091127385

Lyrics

Are you going to Scarborough Fayre?
It's a long winding road from here
Remember me to one who lives there
For he was, he was, a true love

Tell him to make me a cambric shirt
No seams or fine needlework
Remember me, or are there too many years?
For he was, he was a true love

Parsley, sage, do you remember me?
Rosemary, thyme has gone by
Parsley, sage, do you remember me?
Rosemary, he was a true love of mine

Love imposes impossible tasks
There's not too much that my heart asks
So are you going to Scarborough Fayre
My love, he was, my love, he was, my love is there

Oh, parsley, sage, do you remember me?
Rosemary, thyme has gone by
Parsley, sage, do you, do you, oh...
Rosemary, he was, he was a true love of mine

Are you going to Scarborough Fayre?
It's a long winding road from here
Remember me to one who lives there
For he was, he was, a true love of mine

Dreaming Ivy's Link to Wales

Dreaming Ivy was inspired by a visit to Baron Hill in Anglesey, an epic mansion half a mile west of Beaumaris. The building, overrun with ivy, moss and weeds, sweeps you into a world full of high society from the past.

Baron Hill was built in the early 17th century during the reign of James 1st and ultimately enlarged into a very grand house. During World War I, death duties soaked up the family fortune and made it impossible for the Williams-Bulkeley family to stay. The house was then used for storage until World War 2, when it was converted into a billet for Polish soldiers. During this time the building was fire damaged and has remained unused since but now stands immersed in dreaming ivy.

Stop the Traffik - Charity Single

Hey

Last year I raised money for 'Stop The Traffik' by fasting and remaining silent for a day - on a whim because no one thought I could keep my mouth shut for a whole day - not the reason you'd be expecting! It was only when I was asked to give a presentation about 'Stop the Traffik' that the real affects of human trafficking started to hit me.

It shocked me that there are people out there profiteering from selling human lives. Amongst other crimes women abused and beaten are sold over and over again. Human traffiking is now one of the largest sources of income for organised crime.

I have written a song called, "Stop!" to help raise awareness of the issue. The remixed version of the song is now available for purchase from iTunes, Amazon and many other places. This could not have been done without the talents of Joey TheLips. For more great music from him and his band please visit their website Maia.

All profits from sales will be donated to Stop the Traffik. For a digital download of the song head over to iTunes or Amazon.

If you don't like the song but still want to donate to this important charity please go directly to my JustGiving page where the donation will also benefit from Gift Aid if this is applicable.

So please dig deep and donate now.

As Haugen said in 2005, 'The greatest and most shameful regrets of history is always about the truth we failed to tell.'

People shouldn't be bought and sold.

STOP the TRAFFIK.

Khamsina

Music in Kenya

It's been two weeks and a half since I arrived in Kenya and I feel like I've been here for forever. So far I've electrocuted myself, been attacked by various animals including warthogs and monkeys and kissed a giraffe. But most importantly, I've been teaching music to about 15 children at the Lighthouse Grace Academy, an orphanage and school for children from four to fourteen years of age. These children come from many different backgrounds where maybe their parents have died, or can't look after them. Or maybe they have been abused and were lucky enough to escape to Pastor Regina's school. For whatever reason, they are in this orphanage and I am here to teach them. 

At first it was hard, because they didn't know me, I didn't know them and everything seemed insignificant and small. But after a while you realise how much they enjoy being taught. How much they enjoy a small amount of time being dedicate solely to them to teach them something they can continue to use in their life. Something, which in the end, will be theirs for forever, as knowledge generally is. 

When we finished learning 'Run' by Snow Patrol, after just two days (of about an hour's learning in each) they wanted to sing it over and over again. It took me a while to realise just by smiling at one child I made them feel important or special. By telling them they were singing well, I was helping them glow. After a first few days more children started coming to sing - they were drawn in by the music and I was impressed by how quickly they would learn the lyrics and the tune. Pastor Regina would tell them how brilliantly they were singing in this newly formed choir. And they really were singing brilliantly. 

After only about a week (for the first few days we did group work) they learnt three songs - 'Run', 'The Water is Wide' and 'Edelweiss' and can sing them without help from me. You can't really change the situation these children are in; we can't give them homes or parents or tell them whatever happened to them in their lives wasn't real, but it seems that through music - whether it be the music they sing in church or the music I teach them for a few hours each day - they find a comfort or a certain freedom where they don't need anything else except their voices. 

Free Download - Puppets

Last year I was lucky enough to complete my Advanced Open Water PADI Course in Sharm El Sheikh. The plan was a week of diving but, being a plan, it didn't turn out exactly as I expected. The ash cloud from Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano meant I had another weeks diving :)

When I first arrived in Sharm, sunglasses, suitcase and snorkel, I was taken by the colours, the music...the shisha. ;)  But what stole me the most was the diving. It was like nothing I had ever experienced before. In the water, mask on, regulator in, tank strapped on tight...I felt so calm. And under the rippling waves the water stretched out for miles. And the different shades of blue all melting into each other with ease. 

The fish! Napoleon Wrasse. Parrot Fish. Clown Fish. Goat Fish. Butterfly Fish. Moray. Eagle Ray. Sting Ray. Scorpion Fish. Pyjama Fish. Gobies. So many beautiful fish. It was a world that I have never even imagined. It was something so different, so new to me. The first time I went down I could barely believe my eyes. I never expected anything like it. I thought it would just be a few silver fish and some sand and that would be all. But the life down there! It makes you think that we are only visitors in this huge wide world - so much more colossal than our own. You could stand on the edge of the boat, speeding out to the diving sight and look out to  blue water and blue sky. But it was when I was diving in the blue, I knew I had to write it down. And this is what came. Puppets :)

If you're ever in Sharm El Sheikh, ready to explore the depths of the sea, check out Red Sea Diving College www.redseacollege.com for first class training and the best location; right on the coast!

Click on the link below for a free download of Puppets, available until the end of November 2011 :)

Nevermore - One Song = Two Inspiring Paintings

The inspiration to writing "Nevermore" began in central London. I was walking through the rooms of the Courtauld, while outside, London Fashion Week was well underway.

I found that it was not the pandemonium of fashion in Somerset House, nor the women, students and press gathering for the event outside that drew me in, but the art. It's not everyday I get to stand in front of the world's greatest bar (or any bar in fact!) but here I was, staring at Manet's Bar at the Folies-Bergère. And there she was, gazing at me; the barmaid, nameless and disposed of. Her reflection in the mirror  does not work in reality but is Manet's own interpretation. The gaze is so intense, it took me a while to turn away.

                         

I eventually did, but then found myself looking into the eyes of a suffering Tahitian girl who was directly opposite the barmaid. It was Gaugain's 'Nevermore' .

The mysterious raven in the background looks ready to fly, but we know that it never will - in Poe's poem the raven only utters the words "nevermore".

The entrapment of these two women had been frozen in time by Manet and Gaugain and were beyond rescue, but I could write about them for "evermore".

Lyrics:

Another one sir? 

Another wine?

Here for the show madame? 

Another show. 

The raven won't fly, no sir,

Away, Away

Walk past the gallery, 

She's watching me

She's longing, for something,

Begging me

Turn away

Another lost reflection,

Gazing at me,

At me,

I can't help you, 

Don't know how to help you,

Fly away, away

And I can't see my reflection nevermore,

The visions changed from what it was before,

I'm nameless, nameless,

I'm nameless, for ever more

Nevermore

A crack in the world, 

They wanna leave, 

But the people won't fade away, 

Turn away, 

Another lost reflection,

Yearning,

Burning, 

And I can't see my reflection nevermore,

The visions changed from what it was before,

I'm nameless, nameless,

I'm nameless, for ever more

Nevermore

It's just the wind, 

Nothing more,

The image won't move,

And it longs for more

And I can't see my reflection nevermore,

The visions changed from what it was before,

I'm nameless, nameless,

I'm nameless, for ever more

Nevermore

The Raven won't fly, away

The Raven won't take to the sky

Away, away,

Another one sir?

Another wine? 

Please take your seats for the show,

We won't be going away, no, no.