"Schneetreiben" - Kelpie

Kelpie
Cover backside
Kerstin Blodg & Ian Melrose
Cover artwork

Songs

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German winter/Christmas songs with Celtic-Scandinavian soul

Kerstin Blodig (N/D): vocals, guitar, bouzouki, bodhrán
Ian Melrose (Sco): vocals, guitar, seljefløyte, xaphoon, bass

After 21 years of playing and recording together in different projects and on countless CD productions, the internationally renowned „Celtic-Scandinavian Dream-Team“, Kerstin Blodig and Ian Melrose, are a perfectly synchronised musical duo, with an almost telepathic communication.
Encouraged by the unanimously positive media reaction to the two German Christmas songs on their prize-winning winter CD „Desembermåne“ (Westpark Music 2011), the duo decided to extend this German-language concept to a full album.

This is accordingly their second intimately-arranged acoustic winter/Christmas CD, but this time instead of Scandinavian or Celtic songs they interpret carefully chosen German Christmas songs and original winter songs specially written for the album - all from their Scottish-Norwegian-German perspective. This uniquely fascinating and moving mixture is evident on the whole album. Good examples are „Es kommt ein Schiff geladen”, where we hear a ballad intertwined with an Irish slip-jig, or „Still, still, still“, which Kerstin interprets in the form of a Norwegian lullaby.

Kerstin Blodig and Ian Melrose explain: “in the same way we approach pieces from the Scandinavian and Celtic traditions, we allow our creativity and musical curiosity free rein, but without losing sight of or respect for the centuries-old traditions of these wonderful songs. We have chosen and emphasised the (for us) most beautiful lyrics and here and there decided to celebrate the melody in a purely instrumental interpretation.”

This very personal CD is intended to present the darkest time of year in its different shades: melancholy, stately, thoughtful, loving, lively, cheeky, exuberant up to and including the joyous expectation of Christmas!
With two acoustic guitars, bouzouki, bodhrán, whistles, xaphoon, seljefløyte, bass and last but least Kerstin’s crystal-clear voice, the duo conjure up the typical moods for this time of the year. The sparse but exquisite contributions of the wonderful guest musicians like Zoe Conway (fiddle), Sturla Eide (violin, viola), Urs Fuchs (double bass), Antoine Putz (acoustic bass) and of course the superb sound created by master sound engineer Jörg Surrey in Teldex Studio Berlin round off this very special acoustic album.