ridgerecords.net - Yuletide 2020 Info

Yuletide In Rossland 2020

A concert of Christmas songs written by, written about, or performed by Rossland folk from 1948 to today. It was performed live and broadcast by Wayne Krewski on Christmas day for the folks at Columbia View Lodge and Poplar Ridge in Trail

Listen to the concert here : Yuletide In Rossland 2020

Or scroll down to read about the project

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The Album Cover

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The photo used for the album cover shows legendary lawman John Kirkup taking his sons and a group of kids on a sleigh ride. Judging by the age of his sons it was taken about 1901, in front of the Kirkup home on the corner of Leroi Ave and Davis St. in Rossland

The Tracks

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Waynes Rag (Intro)

This is the theme song at the beginning, from the Contemplation project. Guitars and harmonica by Wayne Krewski.

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Greensleeves / What Child Is This

Arranged and adapted by Wayne Krewski

Legend has it that Greensleeves was written by Henry VIII for Ann Boleyn when they were courting. The first known published version was in 1580, and many historians say that the Italian style it was written in hadn't reached England at the time of Henry's death in 1547. In any case, the story of the song is a good match for Henry and Ann's story, and it was referenced in a couple of Shakespeare’s plays. Henry was an accomplished poet, musician, and song writer, and his court was a cultural centre of Europe at the time. Henry often sat in with the musicians. The "What Child Is This" lyric was written by William Chatterton Dix in the 1880s

This song can be found on the “A Study In Greensleeves” project. “Greensleeves” is my arrangement for one guitar (flat picking) in 3/4 time and two guitars (one flat picking and one finger style) in 4/4 time. For a live concert, as in this case, I include Roelof’s 3/4 finger-style guitar from “What Child Is This” to give me something to play along with. The first and third verse/refrains are in 3/4 time at a tempo of 120 bpm. The second and fourth verse/refrains are in 4/4 time at a tempo of 160 bpm. This gives an identical time span for a verse in both 3/4 time and 4/4 time, so although the 4/4 time feels faster, it’s actually identical in terms of time span, and the difference is only in the feel of it due to the extra notes. This is one of the things I was exploring in the project. All guitars (except Roelof’s 3/4 finger-style guitar) and vocals, piano and recorder scores are by Wayne Krewski. The choir is by Nanuk … she used to sing when I played the harmonica, and she was always on key, so I took a piece of that and used pitch shift to get the harmonies and match the chord changes. The lyrics are as first published in 1580. In “What Child Is This” I play 3/4 flat picking guitar and Roelof Helberg plays 3/4 finger style guitar at a tempo of 120 bpm, and in the 4/4 breaks I play flat picking and finger style guitars at a tempo of 140 bpm. Roelof Helberg sings the Afrikaans vocal and I sing the English vocals. The pipe organ at the end was played by Jack McDonald, recorded at his home in 1964 on the pipe organ he built himself …. it had 660 pipes and he built his house to accommodate it.

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Richie's Reindeer

Fiddle by Gabe Mann (Richie’s grandson) <> Bells by Irene Krewski

Anyone lucky enough to have ever gone on one of Richie Mann’s sleigh rides will have wonderful memories about it.

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Good King Wenceslaus

The lyric was written by John Mason Neale, an English hymn writer, and published in 1853. The melody is based on “Tempus Adest Floridum (“The time is near for flowering”), a 13th century carol published in Piae Cantiones, a Finnish song collection from 1582. This Christmas carol is unusual as there is no reference in the lyrics to the nativity.

King Wenceslas was the king of Bohemia in the 10th century. He was a Catholic and was martyred following his assassination by his brother Boleslaw and his supporters. His Saint's Day is September 28th, and he is the Patron Saint of the Czech Republic. St. Stephen's feast day was celebrated on 26th December which is why this song is sung as a Christmas carol.

The organ was played by Jack McDonald at the Capital Theatre in Vancouver in 1948. Jack and Don Hings were alone in the Theatre at night and Don recorded Jack playing Christmas songs on the great Wurlitzer pipe organ. Jack played the organs at both the Capital and Orpheum while he worked for Famous Players as he was going to UBC in the 1930s. In the Orpheum, because of that fabulous ceiling, the pipes were in the walls, whereas in the Capital the pipe were in the ceiling, which Jack said gave it the superior sound.

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Go Tell It On The Mountain

Arranged and adapted by Roelof Helberg

I recorded this with Roelof Helberg on my deck in the summer of 2020. I set up at either end 25 feet apart and ran cables to Roelof’s end so all he had to do when he arrived was plug in. Black clouds were moving in so I had a deck umbrella over each of us. During the session a thunderstorm rolled through, and by the time the session was done, Roelof was soaked from the rain running onto his back from the umbrella, but the gear stayed dry. You can hear the thunder in the song but the timing was perfect, and the rain started coming down heavy right at the end of the song. If you believe in divine intervention, you might consider that entire religions have been founded on less !

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Silent Night

The organ is played by Jack McDonald, recorded by him at his home in 1964. The pipe organ was built by Jack, and Jack built the house to accommodate the 660 pipes. Vocals are by Wayne Krewski.

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The Echoes Of Her Voice

This is a story about the time a twenty-something Shani Mootoo and some friends came to visit me in Rossland during a snow storm, and I took them to the top of Granite Mountain on a snow cat.

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The Mark Of A Hero

Just before Christmas 2020, Peter Mansbridge, on his podcast “The Bridge”, asked listeners to characterize 2020 as concisely and efficiently as possible. This is my offering, which he said he really liked and chose as the letter of the week. I had the first letter of the week of 2020 and so, so close to the last, but I missed it by a week or two. This was my offering : “2020 was the year that a stereotype was reversed, and the mask became the mark of a hero, and the absence of a mask became the mark of a villain, and a person’s true nature was revealed as never before.”

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Come All Ye Faithful