A wonderful Scottish group: look them up!
salthousemusic.com
Brynberian, Friday 7th April 2023
Salt House: in one day they have spanned
From the nigh of one sea to another’s shore –
And then climbed far above ocean, half up mountain’s side,
To play and tell for the folk who’ve gathered,
Old school thronging.
Chordsome voices three,
And woodmellow harmonies;
But, old or new, many a song recording human conflict:
Wherever strong hearts, so often there’s hurt
Harsh enough to carve a covering stone.
Yes: we, come to Brynberian, newly keen to learn;
And could those silver-remembered black and white children
Who chilblain-clumbered this then bareboard classroom
Ever have imagined, dreamed, that such music
Would one day be the schoolwards lure?
Here, in sheepbleat view of curlew moor and bluestone ramparts,
Songs of salmon in the key of Hope;
And island-born lyrics and melodies
Ferried away for elsewhere telling
By humble craft across tidestrong sounds…
With, always, that Northern clarity –
After the pen’s decision, the diction’s determination:
Every word and note,
Written and sung and picked or strummed
To be heard; to be known; to reach into other minds.
© Christopher Jessop 2023
