In this strange and chaotic year, we hope you are still finding ways to celebrate and tap into your holiday traditions, even if they look very different this year. We are bummed that things like caroling parties and holiday concerts aren’t possible, because for us (like so many of you too!), music is such a huge part of how we mark this time of year.
In that vein, we wanted to share Shepherds Arise with you this year. I (Lauren) grew up listening to the version sung by Nowell Sing We Clear, whose music defines the Christmas season for me, for potentially obvious reasons (my dad, Fred, is one quarter of the group). Three years ago, when Brian O’Donovan asked Windborne to perform in Christmas Celtic Sojourn, we sang Shepherd’s Arise as one of our feature pieces. Our arrangement is influenced both by Nowell as well as the Copper Family, and we were delighted to have the opportunity to collaborate with the instrumentalists in the cast of Christmas Celtic Sojourn to round out the vocal harmonies. This track features Owen Marshall on bazouki, Maeve Gilchrist on harmonium, and Ben Wittman on percussion.
The audio track is featured at the top of this post, and you can see a video of the performance here: https://youtu.be/IJHnPgikaYg Both the audio and video are courtesy of GBH, who produces Christmas Celtic Sojourn, shared with permission exclusively to our Patreon community, so please don’t post them elsewhere.
If you’re looking for a little more music to get you in the holiday spirit, you can revisit our Patreon post from last year which features Come and I Will Sing You, and we follow in the time-honored tradition of singing the lyrics to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer to other tunes in this video.
Other musical celebrations of note:
We wanted to give a shout-out to Nowell, who is doing a livestream on Facebook and YouTube this Sunday (Dec 13, 7pm ET), sharing videos and chatting about their 40 years of touring. https://youtu.be/h0Q2PwfDLnw
Windborne also had the great pleasure of appearing in the virtual productions of two holiday shows: the California Christmas Revels and Christmas Celtic Sojourn. Our roles are small, but the shows are delightful and we highly recommend them!
California Christmas Revels: Dec 12-13 and 18-20, https://www.californiarevels.org/show
Christmas Celtic Sojourn: Dec 15-20, https://www.christmasceltic.com/
Happy holidays and Welcome Yule!
SHEPHERDS ARISE
Shepherds, arise! be not afraid, with hasty steps repair
To David’s city, sing all earth,
Unto our blest Infant there.
Sing, sing, all earth! Sing, sing, all earth eternal praises sing
To our Redeemer and our heavenly King
Laid in a manger view the Child, humility Divine,
Sweet innocence, so meek and mild.
Grace in his features shines,
Sing, sing, all earth! Sing, sing, all earth eternal praises sing
To our Redeemer and our heavenly King
(we only sang two verses in this performance, but the song also includes the following verse)
For us the Saviour came on earth, for us his life he gave,
To save us from eternal death
And to raise us from the grave
Sing, sing, all earth! Sing, sing, all earth eternal praises sing
To our Redeemer and our heavenly King.
