Celtic Folk Music With A Difference!
Come one, come all!
Rapalje invites you to a very special scary Halloween stream this saturday 31.10.2020 we will be streaming from 19:00 with lots of tricks or treats, will we see you there in the chat?
Do you have any song requests?
Tickets are not needed, but we really appreciate your support!
See you soon in Bad Oeynhausen, we will play there 07.11.2020 coronaproof so you couldn’t have come at a better time!
The torches come out and you know what time it is, we get to play Loch Lomond! Always a great sing-a-long and we love the reaction from the crowd everytime, this version shows Loch Lomond at our own Rapalje Zomerfolk Festival played on saturday after dark.
There are several stories surrounding this song, David Myles looked into the history and was able to find the facts to tell our story about the song. “The Bonnie Banks o ‘Loch Lomond”, or “Loch Lomond” for short, is a well-known traditional Scottish song first published in 1841 in Vocal Melodies of Scotland. The track prominently features Loch Lomond, Scotland’s largest lake, located between the counties of West Dunbartonshire, Stirling and Argyll and Bute. In Scottish, “bonnie” means “beautiful”, often in reference to a lady.
Loch Lomond is anything but a sweet Scottish song of love, written by a Jacobite highlander at the time of the Jacobite Rebellion.
The last serious battle of the war between Scotland and England took place on the field of Culloden. Now known as “the Battle of Culloden” The Jacobite Rebellion was an important time in Scotland; this ended at the battle of Culloden in 1746.
The Jacobites were created when the Roman Catholic King James II was dethroned from the English throne by the Protestant Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange, who was married to a daughter of James II, Maria Stuart. The Jacobites were part of the political movement that aimed to restore the Roman Catholic Stuart King James II of England and his heirs to the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland.
A superior English army defeated the weary and hungry Jacobite army on April 15, 1746, chasing and crushing the Jacobites without mercy. The Battle of Culloden was the last major battle on British soil.
The Privy Council in London had decided that prisoners of the uprising in Scotland should be tried in England. The Jacobite prisoners were transported to Tilbury Fort for trial. Many were found guilty and executed in the most vile ways possible, prisoners were sold, bartered, deported, died of disease and some were pardoned.
Once the execution was completed, to set an example to anyone who would walk out of line, the bodies and especially the heads on the tops of spikes were put on display in all the cities between London and Glasgow in a monstrous procession. The loved ones and families who watched the trial had to walk back to Scotland along the same route.
“The Low Road” is the normal road on Earth and “The High Road” is the road in the sky you take when you’re dead.
It is an old pipe tune called “Farewell to the Creeks”.The tune was written by a Pipe Major J.B. Robinson from the Gordon’s who was captured at Le Cateau in August 1914 as the German Army swept into France. “Creeks” referred to in the tune are at Portknockie on the Mory Firth in Scotland. In 1943 a text was written on the melody by Hamish Henderson: Farewell Ye Banks O’Sicily
We play it with our torches and the bagpipes, after Loch Lomond we play “Farewell to the Creeks”. It’s in “The Scottish Guards.” It’s also a traditional Scottish tune.
Rapalje plays You Couldn’t Have Come at a Better Time here between the Hunebedden in Drenthe, with RTV Drenthe we went out to Hunebed het Loon (D15) to record the song “You Couldn’t Have Come at a Better Time”. We love playing this tune, it gives everyone such a positive vibe, it is hard not to dance to this great song.
Originally by Luka Bloom from the album Riverside after working on the songs in 1989 the album was released in 1990, “1989. What a big year this was. The Wall came down in Berlin, and the world felt like a flower in bloom. I was in Los Angeles in November 1989, completing the final mixes for my record ‘Riverside’. 3 months later, in February 1990, the record came out. I was getting calls in New York, telling me to come to the Lowlands quickly, because ‘Riverside’ was getting some serious attention in Belgium and in Holland. and so it began.
Where is this place we’ve come to
We don’t know what to say
We long to see each other
And are frightened of that day
You met me in a barren place
You walked me to the hill
We were so good for each other then
I know we could be still
You couldn’t have come at a better time
You couldn’t have come at a better time
You couldn’t have come at a better time
Not if you tried, oh no
Not if you tried, oh no
We have five hundred questions
Between you and me
But when you look into my eyes my love
Tell me what you see
Is it something you’re not sure of
Is it something true and fine
Or is it just another case
Of the right thing at the wrong time
You couldn’t have come at a better time
You couldn’t have come at a better time
You couldn’t have come at a better time
Since we were first together
By the lakeside sky so blue
We were so good for each other
Me and you and me and you and
Me and you and me and you
You couldn’t have come at a better time
You couldn’t have come at a better time
You couldn’t have come at a better time
Not if you tried, oh no …
In 2019 we had the great opportunity to play again at the Highland Games in Fehraltorf, and we did a crazy thing. Playing Long May You Run by Neil Young while flying over the Highland Games grounds, in the video you can see our adventure. This is one of the best memories we have of our time in Switzerland.
Did you know David Myles drove to the Highland Games with friends of the Black Bush Connexion, on his Harley Davidson! There were some technical issues of course with the Chopper but with some creative repairs everything turned out alright. Although a nice soft sheepskin on the bike would have been nice =) After a journey of 900 km David arrived in style at the Highland Games to the sounds of roaring Harleys.
Originally written by Neil Young, our singer William thinks it’s a great song and wanted to play him with our band Rapalje. This gives the song its own sound and it is fantastic for us to play.
Neil’s beloved Buick hearse, “Mort,” was the inspiration for this song. Neil drove “Mort” from Toronto to Los Angeles, where he met Stephen Stills and founded Buffalo Springfield. Later Neil drove a Pontiac hearse “Mort 2”
Neil was on his way to Sudbury in Canada when ‘Mort’ broke down in Blind River, Ontario in June 1965. (the lyrics in the song are, “well, it was back in Blind River, 1962, when I last saw you alive”) the year is incorrect, but the song is about this story.
Neil Young is pictured here in the middle in front of his Mort.
We’ve been through some things together
With trunks of memories still to come
We found things to do in stormy weather
Long may you run.
Long may you run. Long may you run.
Although these changes have come
With your chrome heart shining in the sun
Long may you run.
Well, it was back in Blind River in 1962
When I last saw you alive
But we missed that shift on the long decline
Long may you run.
Long may you run. Long may you run.
Although these changes have come
With your chrome heart shining in the sun
Long may you run.
Maybe The Beach Boys have got you now
With those waves singing “Caroline No”
Rollin’ down that empty ocean road
Gettin’ to the surf on time.
Long may you run. Long may you run.
Although these changes have come
With your chrome heart shining in the sun
Long may you run.
“We’re all Scotland’s story and we’re all worth the same” Beautiful words from this song, we loved it so much that we decided to call our latest record Scotland’s Story and name the 2021/2022 theater shows after this album.
It is also a little personal to David Myles, as some people might know his father is from Scotland, so part of his story started there. So now we have haggis and bagpipes in the Netherlands.
In the words of William, Scotland welcomes everyone and everyone contributes to the story of Scotland. Everyone contributes to the culture of Scotland in every possible way, Haggis is no longer just the national dish, William enjoyed Pizza and Shawarma there.
Originally by The Proclaimers, a version of this song was played at Nelson Mandela’s 1993 welcome to the city of Glasgow after this release from prison. He was given the symbolic keys to the city 12 years earlier in 1981 while still in prison. The special visit was a wonderfull occasion for much singing and dancing, the dancing was done by Nelson Mandela himself on stage at a rally for freedom.
Nelson Mandela’s Welcome to the city of Glasgow is the tune we are playing on the bagpipes at the end of the song. A totally brilliant tune by Blair Douglas who was a founder member of Runrig. We connected the lyrics by the Proclaimers by accident to this tune and we ended up with a wonderfull song and a great story.
Michael McGrory from west Donegal
You came to Glasgow with nothing at all
You fought the landlord then the Africa Korps
When you came to Glasgow with nothing at all
Abraham Caplan from Vilnius you came
You were heading for New York but Leith’s where you’ve stayed
You built a great business which benefits all
Since you came to this land with nothing at all
In Scotland’s story I read that they came
The Gael and the Pict, the Angle and Dane
But so did the Irishman, Jew and Ukraine
They’re all Scotland’s story and they’re all worth the same
Joseph D’Angelo dreams of the days
When Italian kids in the Grassmarket played
We burned out his shop when the boys went to war
But auld Joe’s a big man and he forgave all
In Scotland’s story I’m told that they came
The Gael and the Pict, the Angle and Dane
But where’s all the Chinese and Indian names?
They’re in my land’s story and they’re all worth the same
Christina McKay, I learned of your name
How you traveled south from Delny one day
You raised a whole family in one room they say
And the X on the line stands in place of your name
So in the old story I’ll bet that I came
From Gael and Pict and Angle and Dane
And a poor migrant girl who could not write her name
It’s a common old story but it’s mine just the same
All through the story the immigrants came
The Gael and the Pict, the Angle and Dane
From Pakistan, England and from the Ukraine
We’re all Scotland’s story and we’re all worth the same
Your Scotland’s story is worth just the same
Our wonderful record at our local record store: Plato in Groningen just received some Scotland’s Story albums! These lovers of vinyl took one look at it and immediately said: “good quality vinyl and great artwork as always with Rapalje!”
So if you are ever in Groningen, visit Plato at Oude Ebbingestraat 41 and maybe they will be playing Scotland’s Story in the store for you. Of course you can also get it in our online shop, if you want to have one of your own as soon as possible.
Unfortunately our performances in Berlicum and Bladel are not possible due to the Covid measures, so we are going to live stream again. On the border between the Netherlands and Germany, so we can wave to William, he lives in Germany and like this we can still play together, you could say a borderline case =)
We hope to see you all this Saturday, October 10 at 4:00 PM CET. See you then! Live on Facebook & YouTube
Support us at https://rapalje.com/stream
Help David support the cultural sector: https://rapalje.com/donation
Shop for beautiful Rapalje products: https://rapalje.com/shop/
Come and see us in person: https://rapalje.com/agenda/
Rapalje plays Caledonia here between the Hunebedden in Drenthe, with RTV Drenthe they went out to Hunebed het Loon (D15) to record the song “Caledonia”. This is one of the most requested songs at Rapalje.
We have seen many tears of sorrow, emotion and joy with this song. It has often happened that a wedding proposal is made when we start playing Caledonia. It is also regularly performed at funerals. There are many people in our midst who have a special thought about Caledonia and it remains a very beautiful song.
Dougie MacLean’s love song to his homeland has become an anthem of Scottish pride but it was written in just 10 minutes on a beach in France when he was in his early 20s. “I wrote it in my very early 20s on a beach and then finished it off in a youth hostel somewhere around Paimpol in Brittany. “I was genuinely homesick and it was just a little song I wrote.” Dougie MacLean says he had been busking around Europe with three Irish guys but the day after writing the song – with its lyric “Caledonia you’re calling me and now I’m going home” – he set off back to Scotland.
Seeing them makes you think you walked in the movie Braveheart, hearing them and you can imagine yourself walking in the Highlands. The four men of Rapalje, for a quarter of a century they have been playing their music, Celtic Folk with a twist. On the future of the Rapalje they are very clear. “Another 25 years”
We recorded this video with RTV Drenthe in between the Hunebedden (Dolmen) for the show Djammen by Robbert Oosting.
Hunebed D15 is located north of the village of Loon in the Dutch province of Drenthe. The medium-sized hunebed D15 is located on the Looner es between Loon and Taarlo.