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.
0 Comments
![]()
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:
The co-writer, Hannelore Karmel, 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. |
AuthorLiam Rickard is a musician & illustrator from North Wales, performing multilingual, global-alt-pop, party music and comedy under the name Worldwide Welshman. Archives
January 2021
Categories |