WORLDWIDE WELSHMAN
  • Blog
  • Music / Cerddoriaeth
    • Releases >
      • Tori Jaaun re Jaaun re (2022)
      • See You After Quarantine (2020)
      • Lockdown Singles (2020)
      • New Year Orchestra (2020)
      • Beard and a Poncho (2020)
      • El Mundo Esta Como Una Cabra (2018/2020)
      • Goldfish (2020)
      • The World Is Like A Crazy Goat (2018)
      • Jingle Bells, Christmas Sells (2018)
    • Videos
    • Shop (bandcamp)
  • Bio
  • Portfolio
  • Gigs
  • Contact / Cysylltu
  • Blog
  • Music / Cerddoriaeth
    • Releases >
      • Tori Jaaun re Jaaun re (2022)
      • See You After Quarantine (2020)
      • Lockdown Singles (2020)
      • New Year Orchestra (2020)
      • Beard and a Poncho (2020)
      • El Mundo Esta Como Una Cabra (2018/2020)
      • Goldfish (2020)
      • The World Is Like A Crazy Goat (2018)
      • Jingle Bells, Christmas Sells (2018)
    • Videos
    • Shop (bandcamp)
  • Bio
  • Portfolio
  • Gigs
  • Contact / Cysylltu

Ethnofonik 2021

1/12/2021

0 Comments

 
Yn fuan arol dod adref o COP26 yn yr Alban lle roeddwn i wedi bod yn protestio, berfformio a gwylio presentations yn y Green Zone, es i i Ffrainc i gymryd rhan yn "Ethnofonik 2021". Pob blwyddyn, mae 18 cerddorion o wledydd gwahanol yn dod at ei gilydd yn Ris-Orangis, ychydig i'r dde o Baris, i rannu caneuon o'n diwylliannau gwahanol, creu trefniadau gyda'r band, a pherfformio'r trefniadau ar sawl llwyfan yn yr ardal. Dyma'r livestream o'r perfformiad olaf ar y 27ain o Dachwedd.
Photos coming soon
0 Comments

Camino to COP

26/10/2021

0 Comments

 
Karuna Bhavan temple, Lesmahagow, Scotland
I've joined a group of pilgrims walking from London to Glasgow for the COP26 climate summit. Yesterday we had a short walk from Douglas to Lesmahagow. We stayed in the Karuna Bhavan temple. The devotees have kindly let us stay here on their little eco-farm, thanks to several members of our group visiting them yesterday to ask them nicely. Previously, we've stayed in churches, community halls, and even a Days Inn at a motorway service station.

I first met the pilgrims on the 5th of September in a church in Kilburn, North London, on their first stop (I already knew two of them who were my coursemates Tom and Jelena, which is how I got involved with this). I played a show for them, accompanied by my last-minute band, Kerttu Sorumen (vocals), Michael Ekeghasi (vocals, cajon), Lewis Stagg (accordion) and Liam Lenohan (keys). It was a lovely show.
I next met them in Leek, Staffordshire, on September the 26th. My courseamtes and I, lead by Jelena, had arranged an event this weekend in Leek to coincide with the walkers passing through the town. I stayed with them for their rest day on the 27th, and played an evening show for them in the church where we were sleeping (I slept right up front near the altar). On Tuesday the 28th I walked with the pilgrims from Leek to Macclesfield. It was quite rainy. That evening I went to stay on Mathew & Kim's alpaca farm, and then I went back to my new houseshare in Machynlleth (I moved to Mach, I'll write about that in another post).
I rejoined the walk at Gretna on the 16th of October. I took the train up from London. I'm walking with them to Glasgow.

16/10/21  - Meeting the walkers in Gretna
17/10/21 -  Gretna - Ecclefechan

18/10/21 Ecclefechan - Lockerbie

19/10/21 Lockerbie - Johnstonebridge

20/10/21 rest day in Johnstonebridge

21/10/21 Johnstonebridge - Moffat

22/10/21 Moffat - halfway to Abington

(We couldn't find a place to stay for this leg, so we shuttled back to Moffat)

23/10/21 yesterday's pick up point - Crawford - Days Inn Abington

24/10/21 - Abington - Douglas (through a windfarm!)

(Epic photos day)

25/10/21 Douglas - Lesmahagow

We couldn't find a place to stay in Douglas, so most of us a were shuttled back to the Days Inn. A few lucky ones including me with less money (the youth group) got to stay with some other Caministas in their Air BnB. We traveled there in electric vehicles, and back to Douglas in the morning.

25/10/21 Karuna Bhavan Temple
Last night, one of the devotees told us about their beliefs and what they think about climate change - in summary, he said that the Krishna Consciousness Society believe that the sustainable solution is to transform our inner selves and overcome greed (over consumption of resources), which he said is the root cause of the climate & biodiveristy crisis we are in. He says that we cannot find material solutions for material problems. My mother would agree; she would like us to live simpler lives, traval less, spend more time in nature, become regionally self-sufficient in food.

I can see many parallels in what he said with what we are learning at the Centre for Alternative Technology, where one of the areas of study is Behaviour Change. i.e. technological advancement alone cannot save humanity, we also need to reconnect with nature and evolve away from energy-intensive material consumerism - hence the slogan "system change not climate change". So many human-made systems on our planet, especially in the "developed countries", rely on energy-dense fossil fuels providing giga-joules of on-demmand chemical energy. Renewable electricity will provide less energy overall (as explained by David MacKay back in 2008), and will increase demmand for rare-earth minerals, much of which are currently extracted by low-paid workers in environmentally destructive ways. Nuclear power could enable us to maintain the high-energy lifestyles which some people are used to and others desire, but also comes with its own set of problems and challenges which have yet to be ironed out. Basically, in the future scenarios where we don't wipe ourselves out (along with many other species who were just minding their own business), we will have to reduce our consumption of energy & resources and share what we have more fairly. This does not mean "going back to the stone age", because we do have plenty of genius material/technological solutions out there which make our lives better!

We are raising money to support environmental activists in the Global South. Visit caminotocop.com to donate.

Thanks for reading.
0 Comments

Oscilloscope!

30/3/2021

2 Comments

 
Recently, my art-college friend, Charles, invited me to be Ed's co-host on the monthly experimental electronic music show, Oscilloscope, that they run along with their friend, Rob.
The last time I saw Ed was in November 2018 when we performed a concert together in Blue Sky Cafe in Bangor (with Roger Hughes, Ben and Eve Goodman).
It was a great pleasure to meet experimental audio visual artists Mark Albrow (https://markalbrow.bandcamp.com), Gary Lee Nelson, Erik Nystrom and Dafydd Roberts (Listen To The Voice Of Fire). I had a lot of fun. Check it out:
2 Comments

Within My Hungry Arms - Ian S Rickard & Son

24/3/2021

0 Comments

 
On Sunday morning, March 21st, my Dad heard journalist & Chaplain, Debbie Thrower speak on Radio 4 about a Grandmother who'd told her that she has "hungry arms" for her grandchildren, whom she hadn't been able to hug since the first lockdown. This inspired him to write "Within My Hungry Arms". He showed it to me, and we recorded it with my zoom. It was conceived, written and recorded in one morning. He is struggling to play guitar these days due to his neck and back problems, so I played guitar on the song for him.
A few days later, my sister, Ciara, filmed us in the garden and edited together this excellent video clip. Love the retro filter! She is really getting good at her new trade.

Trade secrets: We used the audio from the original Sunday morning recording. This is because outdoors you hear some car sounds and dogs barking which might have disturbed the recording. But next time, I will probably record the audio outside too, because I like the outdoor quality of the sound (to try and replicate this, I recorded some birdsong on that spot and we added it to the audio mix on the video).
1. (a capella)
I have hungry arms,
My heart is bleeding,
My mind is weakened,
My body needing,
I want to see an end,
To all this grieving,
And hold you all again ~
Within my hungry arms.

2.     D
Oh my days & nights~
     A7      D
Have been so lonely,
           G
A lifetime lingering,
              F#m
Thinking, "if only",
              G
But there's a sea to cross,
            Bm
To sail, so slowly,
              D                
'till I can hold you all,
G         A7      D
Within my hungry arms.
 
3.       D         A7    D
Páín punctuates my daily dealings,
     G
As I watch and wait,
            F#m
And keep my feelings ~
               G
All boxed and bottled up,
                Bm
My thoughts are reeling,
          D
Until I hold you all,
G        A7      D
Within my hungry arms.
4.        E
When this nightmare ends,
       B7  E
That's so elastic,
              A
And the daytime dawns,
                 G#m
With light, fantastic,
                  A
I won't feel so forlorn,
                         C#m
So damned, so drastic,
          E               
Once I've held you all ~
A               B7       E
Within my hungry arms.
 
5.         E
I have hungry arms,
       B7          E
My heart is bleeding,
                  A
My mind is weakened,
               G#m
My body needing,
                A
I want to see an end,
                 C#m
To all the grieving,
             E          
And hold you all again,
A         B7     E
Within my hungry arms.
0 Comments

It was my birthday...

28/2/2021

1 Comment

 
It was gonna be a big one, it was gonna be the BEST ONE EVER.... but, we had to postpone it because of a certain virus...(see song below)
1 Comment

Atgofion o Nos Galan 2020

31/12/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
Choose your platform
Last year's NYE concert, streaming worldwide

Dyma record o cyngor chwarais i blwyddyn dwythaf yn Gent, Gwlad Belg hefo band o tua 20 ffrind, rhai nath ymyno ar y funed olaf, a rhai eriall o'r gynilleidfa. Dwy'n nghobaithio eich fod  yn mwynhau ein jam fawr! Roedd o'n lot o hwyl.
Fi sydd wedi cyfansoddi rhan fwyaf o'r canneuon (heb law am yr un traddodiadol), gyda help ar ambell i gan gan  Sion, Jilly a Maya. Diolch i'r band gwych am ei holl solos nuts ac i'r gynilleidfa am eich egni.

Dyma'r fywyd rydan ni esio i pawb!
Agor y ffinniau rwan.

#opentheborders
Click here for videos of the concert! (YouTube playlist)
0 Comments

Cân i'r gaeaf: Mari Lwyd

30/12/2020

0 Comments

 
There's an old winter tradition in parts of Wales whereby a horses skull on stick is taken door to door and her bearers demand entry through the medium of song. My brother and I wrote a song about that.
Wnaethom ni ffilmio a recordio'r gan wreiddiol hon mewn hen stabl yr ardd, adref ym Metws-y-Coed. Gynhyrchwyd y fideo gan ein chwaer bach, Ciara.

Nadolig llawen a blwyddyn newydd dda!
0 Comments

New Year Orchestra streaming release

28/12/2020

0 Comments

 
This time last year I was busy preparing a New Year's Eve extravaganza for my set at Folk Marathon Ghent, to celebrate the dawn of a new glorious decade in which we move towards a renewable-energy based circular econonmy; a world where the people of all nations, ethnic & economic backgrounds, geneders and sexual orientations are valued and respected equally.
Picture
Preparing for the show: this is the tech-spec I made for Muriel and Pieter-Jan, the gorgeous sound engineers.

Read More
0 Comments

SEE YOU AFTER QUARANTINE - Worldwide Welshman & the Belgians featuring Hannelore Karmel

2/12/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture

Listen, share, save, download...
A tragi-comic, folk-pop ode to Belgium from the year 2020
as requested by Worldwide Welshman fan, Linde P

written in Brussels on 15/03/20 by Worldwide Welshman & Hannelore Karmel Juurikas
Arranged by the band: Dardenne, Kindekens, Malfliet, Remmen, L.Rickard, Thys
Recorded in Ghent on 23/10/20
Engineered by Malfliet
Mixed by Dardenne & S.Rickard
Mastered by Wagter
Cover art by L.Rickard

Friday the 23rd of October, Ghent: the night curfew was already in full swing and a second lockdown loomed on the horizon. I was due to take my train back to North Wales, and two weeks of self-isolation, in two days time.
But before I left, we transformed the Robinialand living room into a socially-distanced home studio and recorded this song:
Worldwide Welshman · See You After Quarantine
The co-writer, Hannelore, was sad that she couldn't be there for the recording session, but she was able to join us virtually, in post-production, through the fibre-optic cables from Estonia (as you can see from the sketch).

The song was written on a Sunday in Brussels. It was the 15th March, 2020 and Belgium had just gone into lockdown. I was due to take a bus back to London that evening, and Hannelore would fly back to Estonia the following morning. But we didn't really want to leave, and we didn't know when we would all see each other again. She especially was making a fuss about this, and I, sat at the piano, started making up a mock-tragic song about it. Judging from the voice notes on my phone, this must have been at about 11.40am. A few hours later, we'd finished the song and filmed a little video.

I returned to Belgium in September to perform at BOM festival in Bij De Vieze Gasten, Ghent, where we gave this song its first (and so far, last) Belgian public appearance.
I ended up staying in Ghent for a month with my bandmates in their shared house, delaying the inevitable two weeks of mandatory self-isolation which I would undergo on my return to the UK. A friend suggested I record See You After Quarantine which she remembered from our performance at the festival. I'm very glad she made that suggestion! This one goes out to her.
0 Comments

November 19th, 2020

19/11/2020

0 Comments

 
New single, recorded just under 4 weeks ago in Ghent, a few days before I headed home to Wales for my two weeks of self-isolation. The song was written in Brussels back in March, weekend that Belgium entered the first lockdown.
Here's the original live video of the song, featuring co-songwriter Hannelore Karmel.
It's become a tradition to write my hitsongs in Belgium, in March, in collaboration...(see Goldfish)
Be sure to keep your eye on my Instagram for updates! (i.e. the next trailer) I usually post them here first.
0 Comments
<<Previous
Forward>>
    Worldwide Welshman tour dates
    Soundcloud
    Croeso i'r blog a wefan Worldwide Welshman! Diolch am ymweld a ni.

    Scroll down the blog for musical adventures!

    You can also check out the menu on the top right to see links to my bandcamp, selected videos & music, art portfolio, bio and contact page. Its a bit chaotic, but its a work in progress. Enjoy!

    Author

    Liam Rickard is a musician & illustrator from North Wales performing multilingual, global-alt-pop, party music and comedy under the name Worldwide Welshman, and as one half of the Welsh folk-rock duo, Lo-Fi Jones.
    He's currently living in Machynlleth and studying an MSc in Green Building at the Centre For Alternative Technology.

    Cerddor a darlunyll o Fetws-Y-Coed yw Liam Rickard, sydd bellach yn byw ym Machynlleth. Mae o'n berfformio caneuon tragi-comig aml-iaethol, caneuon werin, a pop rhwngwladol o dan yr enw Worldwide Welshman ac fel un rhan o'r deuawd Indi-Gymreig, Lo-fi Jones. Ar hyn o bryd mae o'n astudio gradd meistr yn Adeiladu Gwrdd yn Canolfan Y Dechnoleg Amgen.

    Archives

    February 2023
    January 2023
    November 2022
    September 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    September 2018
    November 2017
    July 2017
    April 2016
    February 2016
    August 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015

    July 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.