The '99 and the '98 Marches The YouTube video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Dr-dxaoz3g

A while back a video was posted on YouTube, of me playing fiddle in a concert in Colorado, with the brilliant Scottish guitarist Tony McManus accompanying. Since then more than 120,000 people have viewed the video and I've had a lot of emails asking about the tunes I played.

The first tune is my own composition, which I call "The '99 March". It came into my head in November, 1999, as I was marching in the great anti-WTO demonstration in downtown Seattle. Whatever anyone tells you, that first day of marches and speeches was wonderful, non-violent, and it looked like the whole town was out for it. We were having a voice in the big doings of the international movers and shakers. Having seen it with my own eyes, I would say that the violence and destruction was initiated by the police and possibly some provocateurs in our midst.

Anyway... I was in the midst of recording my "Salmon's Leap" album at the time, and I wanted to include this tune so I looked around for something to put with it in a medley. I'd been given an old manuscript of music collected in Ireland around 1900, and there were several tunes whose only title was "a '98 march".

If you know anything of Irish history, you'll know these were tunes dating from the tragic 1798 rebellion against English occupation, the so-called "Year of the French", when the Irish "insurgents" hoped to finally evict their oppressors with the help of a French army.

One of those '98 marches seemed a perfect match in spirit to the one I'd come up with, so I recorded them together. I feel there's a similar spirit of sadness, hope and defiance, all mixed together in both of these tunes. They're recorded on my "Salmon's Leap" CD, with Gerry O'Beirne playing guitar, which can be ordered from my website http://www.randalbays.com/order.htm , or by calling Ossian USA at 603-783-4383.

Best wishes,
Randal Bays