"Shaman in the snow". A gift for Xmas and the Winter Solstice by Sedayne.

Dear TEB obsessive addicts, 
here we are with a very exclusive gift related to the Thirds from our friend (and great musician!) Sean Breadin, a.k.a. Sedayne.

A dream on friendship, shamanic poetry, Glen Sweeney and the snow (with a wonderful TEB medieval Xmas song at the end).

Sedayne, the Green Man.

SHAMAN IN THE SNOW

"Hi Luca,

a while back I sent you a mock up my friend Raymond Greenoaken did of the inside sleeve of "Alchemy" featuring himself as all the members.  He's recently been in hospital having a heart bypass, which filtered into my dreams in the guise of Glen Sweeney as a guiding Shaman.  Here's what I wrote about it:

Raymond was in my dream last night - we were up on the top of Glastonbury Tor with Rob Ayling watching Glen Sweeney dancing, chanting & storytelling in the snow with a huge Shaman's drum decorated with tiny animated figures which on closer inspection turned out to be Grayson Perry's interpretations of characters from the Beano & The Broons intermingled with graffiti from St Alban's cathedral - including the famous Hare, which was being chased by Baby Face Finlayson who in turn was being chased by PC Murdoch. Raymond asked Glen if he could play his whistle with his drumming, but Glen said (in those enigmatic tones so familiar to avid collectors of Third Ear Band bootlegs) 'You're not ready for that yet' before vanishing away into the blizzarding squall... All the while I just sat there, in trembling awe, my fingers numb, and my fiddle-faddle locked away in its case. On the way back down we stopped to take photographs of the hawthorns on which the blossoms grew through the snow in time-lapse unfolding before our very eyes...

Sedayne - Southwell

Two things worth mentioning here. One is a wee book I have somewhere of Christmas Games, Customs & Stories (Jack Spriggans and the Magic Bean indeed) which promises an abundance of fiddle-faddle stuff... & talks of maggots in a mad-man's brain. The other is the last time Raymond and I were at the top of Glastonbury Tor we played weird improvised Third Ear Band style music in the ruins of St Michael's to a wee gathering of tourists and hippies - that was a perfect sunny Friday in the Summer of 1985, on our way to the festival after a merry magical mystery tour hitching around Wiltshire... On that occasion I was playing my old viola, and Raymond his trusty Conroy penny-whistle and a Chinese hand-drum from Ray Man. That was the occasion that we first met Rob Ayling who came with us to the festival (which was a washout) & has been a pal over the years, and very succesful too with his Voiceprint label.  

Raymond at the  "Alchemy" tomb.

Festival memories are vague - I was carrying a newly bought copy of John Sampson's classic XXI Gypsy Folk Tales with me and I read out 'The Squirrel and the Fox' one night huddled from the downpour - a story which has been the core of my repertoire ever since.  We also played with the synth group Another Green World, which was nice, and Robin Williamson dedicated Free Born Man of the Travelling People to the recently trashed Convoy & Raymond bought a Principle Edwards Magic Theatre album from the same stall as I bought Lol Coxhill's Fleas in Custard.

Anyway, Raymond's op was succesful & he's home now."

Rapunzel and Sedayne (2011).

Rapunzel & Sedayne's Third Ear Medieval Xmas song:

http://soundcloud.com/winterflora/personent-hodie-11-12-11 

A special interview with Rapunzel & Sedayne about their last album "Songs from the Barley Temple" at:

http://www.ameliasmagazine.com/music/an-interview-with-rapunzel-and-sedayne-on-the-release-of-new-album-songs-from-the-barley-temple/2011/10/05/

The album is available at Police Folk Recordings:
http://www.folkpolicerecordings.com/home.html

Sedayne (2011)

You can contact Sedayne at:
http://ploughmyth.blogspot.com/

no©2011 Luca Ferrari (unless you intend to make a profit. In which case, ask first)