Malinky - Handsel
27 tracks
CD1: Begone Bonnie Laddie * The Forester * The Maid of Doneysheil * Sleepytoun (with Ellie Beaton) * True Lover John (with Len Graham) * The Braes O Broo * The Baron o Brackley (with Cameron Nixon) * Gie Me a Lass Wi’ a Lump o Land / The Tarbolton Lasses (with Barbara Dymock) * Lovely Armoy * The Hash o Bennagoak (with Hector Riddell) * The Lads o The Lindsay * The Groves of Donaghmore (with Dáibhidh Stiùbhard) * Awa Wi Ma Laddie.
CD2: Martinmas Time (from a demo) * Alison Cross (live) * Whaur Dae Ye Lie? (previous release) * Billy Taylor (previous release) * The Lang Road Doon (live) * The Trawlin Trade (live) * King Orfeo (previous release) * Clerk Saunders (from a demo) * Sean O Duibhir a’ Ghleanna (previous release) * Pad The Road Wi Me (previous release) * Son David (previous release) * Fisherman’s Wife (live) * The Newry Highwayman (live) * The Bonnie Lass o Fyvie / Silver Spear (live).
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Malinky - Handsel at Apple Music
Malinky - Handsel
“A double CD collection for the price of one. The first CD contains all new recordings while the second CD is a selection of the group’s favourite tracks from previous albums and live tracks. This is cracking value from one of Scotland’s best bands who, prior to lockdown, had toured all over the world, including extensive tours of Europe and visits to North America. The band members are Fiona Hunter, Steve Byrne, Mark Dunlop, Mike Vass (a recent award winner) and guest Euan Burton on double bass. A highly recommended double album of hugely talented musicians.”
(Managing Director Ian Green’s Pick Of The Month album, June 2022)
This is a double CD for the price of one and is a unique collection of songs and music which marks Malinky’s 20th anniversary and their welcome return to the recording studio.
CD1 consists of new studio recordings with the current Malinky line-up, featuring a number of guest singers plus Euan Burton on bass.
CD2 is a collection of carefully selected tracks from the band’s previous albums plus live tracks and one demo track. Karine Polwart features in some tracks from early Malinky albums.
Having originally met in the Edinburgh session scene in Autumn 1998, with their first full show in 1999, Malinky began as four people with the shared idea of performing a Scots song-based repertoire in an era dominated by mainly instrumental groups.
Although the Malinky line-up has changed over time - the band’s first two albums notably featured Karine Polwart - the line-up of Steve Byrne (vocals, bouzouki, guitar, Jew’s Harp, mouthie), Mark Dunlop (vocals, whistles, bodhran), Fiona Hunter (vocals, cello) and Mike Vass (guitar, fiddle, vocals) has been together now for over a decade.
Malinky’s belief in Scots song as a vital means of local expression has never changed and continues to motivate them twenty years on. Over the past two decades, the band has performed traditional songs the length and breadth of Europe, and from coast to coast in North America, releasing five albums and winning awards, collectively and individually, along the way.
To mark the 20th anniversary, the band wanted to celebrate the generation of singers who have inspired them. Barbara Dymock, Hector Riddell and Len Graham represent the Lowland Scots, North-East bothy ballad, and Ulster song traditions which have shaped Malinky’s tastes, styles, and repertoires over the years. In addition, the band were keen to mentor some younger singers who are part of the next generation which will carry on the tradition: Ellie Beaton, Cameron Nixon and Dàibhidh Stiùbhard have been identified by the band as emerging singers of note.
A handsel is a good-luck gift, given to mark a special occasion. What could be more special for any band than to celebrate twenty years spent doing what they love? Malinky see the new album as their good-luck gift to all the people who continue to support their music, and to the singing tradition that continues to inspire them to sing up and sing out.
Greentrax is proud of the long association with award-winning Malinky, which indicates an exceptional relationship and a loyalty that is not always evident in the music business. Malinky is one of the all-time great bands to join Greentrax in the past 33 years and arguably one of the best traditional Scottish bands to emerge from the Scottish music scene in that time. The band is strong instrumentally and vocally, boasting three great singers in Fiona Hunter, Steve Byrne and Mark Dunlop, while the most recent replacement, Mike Vass, has added a new dimension with his brilliant fiddle style.