My second album, “Rumours in the Barnyard”, recorded in 1976, is now available as videos on YouTube. The audio of the pieces is digitally remastered from the original vinyl. Here are the videos, in the order of the pieces on the album.
1. Umbrella
2. The Last Ones To Leave
3. Vortex
4. Breath
5. When I Was Small
6. The Presence
7. Rumours in the Barnyard
8. Acoustic Shock
9. Stage Fright
10. Morpheus
11. Northern Flower
12.Tenderness
13. One Way
14. Early This Morning
All the pieces from my first album, “First Fall”, recorded in 1975, are now available on YouTube as a series of videos that I’ve put together. I’ve also digitally remastered the audio from these pieces using he original vinyl. Here are the videos, in the order of the pieces on the album.
1. First Fall
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnSccfCFAuI
2 When Night Falls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HisIJobbbzE
3. A Lasting Rain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6D0h52zLnlk
4. Voices Through the Air
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yU28TsRlSaM
5. The Fiddle in the Attic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXe8g_0HWr0
6. The Road to Marius’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2dnAGe_1xs
7. Girl From Canaan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riAZKsqDZrA
8. Black
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlffLZEYX40
9. The Wheel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeXXNpvzqKo
10. Almost Piano
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRTE9UJthNc
11. The Decision is Made
Another tape found in my brother’s basement surprises us with two recordings, made to the best of our knowledge in 1977. No one remembers the details or these concerts nor who could have made the recordings. The tape was in poor condition and I made a complete restoration of the audio after the digital transfer. The results aren’t perfect but it’s an interesting snapshot of the times.
The first recording offers early drafts of pieces which eventually showed up on my third album, “Spring Water”, including two pieces (“The Path” and “Leaves and Light”) which are discussed in my entry of February 7 (The Path), further down on this page. The only exception is “Angie”, a piece written by guitarist Davey Graham (1940-2008) and popularised by the late Bert Jansch (1943-2011), a guitarist who greatly influenced me. These two guitarists were at the forefront of the British folk music revival of the 1960s. The piece “Autumn Blues” on my CD “From Stone” is dedicated to Bert Jansch. To hear him at his best, click on this link to see his superb rendition of the traditional piece “Black Waterside.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk)(7Q2J7k48
On the second recording I’m playing with Marc Beneteau, a guitarist who added a lot of flair to my second and third albums. Marc is now a full-time luthier and builds very high quality guitars. I still have the guitar I’m using in the photo with Alcide Dupuis below, which Marc built in 1977. Click on this link to visit his site.
http://www.beneteauguitars.com
As well as playing pieces from my first three albums, we add pieces from Bruce Cockburn, Duane Allman (1946-1971) and a medley of traditional fiddle tunes.
This music is protected and any commercial use is strictly forbidden. The music is composed by Richard A. Séguin, unless otherwise indicated. Click on the arrow below the title to hear the piece. You can also copy the music to your computer by right-clicking the title in red. For copyright considerations, pieces from other composers can’t be copied in this way.
Production and publishing: Pentafolio inc.
Copyright: SOCAN
Live in late 1977
Séguin / Beneteau live in early 1977
Marc plays guitar and dulcimer (left speaker). Richard plays guitar and banjo (right speaker).
[audio:http://eng.richardaseguin.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/1-Excerpt-from-Harbinger.mp3|titles=1 Excerpt from Harbinger]
[audio:http://eng.richardaseguin.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/2-The-Last-Ones-to-Leave.mp3|titles=2 The Last Ones to Leave]
[audio:http://eng.richardaseguin.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/3-Vortex.mp3|titles=3 Vortex]
[audio:http://eng.richardaseguin.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/4-Rumours-in-the-Barnyard.mp3|titles=4 Rumours in the Barnyard]
[audio:http://eng.richardaseguin.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/5-Girl-From-Canaan.mp3|titles=5 Girl From Canaan]
[audio:http://eng.richardaseguin.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/6-The-Oar.mp3|titles=6 The Oar]
[audio:http://eng.richardaseguin.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/7-Northern-Flower.mp3|titles=7 Northern Flower]
[audio:http://eng.richardaseguin.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/8-Saturday-Morning.mp3|titles=8 Saturday Morning]
[audio:http://eng.richardaseguin.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/9-Breath.mp3|titles=9 Breath]
10.Sunwheel Dance
[audio:http://eng.richardaseguin.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/10-Sunwheel-Dance.mp3|titles=10 Sunwheel Dance]
[audio:http://eng.richardaseguin.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/11-Acoustic-Shock.mp3|titles=11 Acoustic Shock]
[audio:http://eng.richardaseguin.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/12-Medley.mp3|titles=12 Medley]
Marc starts things off with “Arkansas Traveler”, followed by a piece I learned from Alcide Dupuis, a fiddler from Rockland. Alcide learned to play by ear from one of his uncles and he didn’t even know the titles of the pieces he played. Alcide stepped while playing and churned out a furious rhythm – a throwback from another era. Marc wrote the third segment and we used it in the recording of “Down Stream”, on “Spring Water.” Next is “Mississippi Sawyers” which I play à la Doc Watson, and we return to “Arkansas Traveler” to finish.
With Alcide Dupuis
[audio:http://eng.richardaseguin.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/13-Reprise-Little-Martha.mp3|titles=13 Reprise – Little Martha]
“Little Martha” is the only piece Duane Allman wrote. He died in 1971 in a motorcycle accident a few weeks after the recording. He was 24 years old.
Let’s start at the beginning …
In 1973, I had left my electric guitar and rock groups aside and was getting into acoustic guitar and banjo . My friend Jean-Pierre Béland had started his career in audio-visuals and another friend, Jean Laporte, had made a slide show and wanted to add a soundtrack to it. What followed was the first collaboration between Jean-Pierre and me, a recording of my first compositions on acoustic guitar and banjo. We chose as a “studio” the sacristy of the church in Rockland, a room with superb natural reverb. The twelve pieces which follow were the result, the original tape saved from oblivion by my brother Bob. Jean eventually chose the piece “Sacristy” for his soundtrack.
The recording includes six pieces never recorded elsewhere : “Sacristy”, four other pieces which I never named (thus, my orphans) and “Cluck Old Hen”, an old traditional banjo tune. “The Fiddle in the Attic”, “Almost Piano and “Girl From Canaan” (played here on the banjo) all ended up on my first album “First Fall”,recorded in Montreal two years later. In 1976, I recorded my second album, “Rumours in the Barnyard”, a collection which included “Northern Flower”, a piece I seemingly wrote for my wife (Hilde was born in Oslo, Norway) 23 years before I met her! You can hear the two banjo pieces, “The Oar” and “Down Stream”, on my third album, “Spring Water”, recorded in 1978.
After all these years, Jean-Pierre and Jean are still good friends. Jean helped produce my second and third albums while Jean-Pierre has published and produced all my music up to now, music that would certainly not exist if not for him.
So here is this page in my life, the first attempts of a young twenty-three-year-old guitarist from Rockland.
[audio:http://eng.richardaseguin.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/1-Orphan-1.mp3|titles=1 Orphan # 1]
[audio:http://eng.richardaseguin.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/2-Orphan-2.mp3|titles=2 Orphan # 2]
[audio:http://eng.richardaseguin.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/3-The-Fiddle-in-the-Attic.mp3|titles=3 The Fiddle in the Attic]
[audio:http://eng.richardaseguin.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/4-Almost-Piano.mp3|titles=4 Almost Piano]
[audio:http://eng.richardaseguin.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/5-The-Oar.mp3|titles=5 The Oar]
[audio:http://eng.richardaseguin.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/6-Down-Stream.mp3|titles=6 Down Stream]
[audio:http://eng.richardaseguin.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/7-Girl-From-Canaan.mp3|titles=7 Girl From Canaan]
[audio:http://eng.richardaseguin.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/8-Cluck-Old-Hen.mp3|titles=8 Cluck Old Hen]
[audio:http://eng.richardaseguin.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/9-Orphan-3.mp3|titles=9 Orphan # 3]
[audio:http://eng.richardaseguin.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/10-Northern-Flower.mp3|titles=10 Northern Flower]
[audio:http://eng.richardaseguin.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/11-Orphan-4.mp3|titles=11 Orphan # 4]
[audio:http://eng.richardaseguin.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/12-Sacristy.mp3|titles=12 Sacristy]
To download a copy of these pieces, right-click on the title in red and save. To hear the pieces, click on the arrow. To increase the volume, run your mouse on the bars, from left to right.
This music is protected and its commercial use is strictly forbidden.
Production and publishing : Pentafolio inc.
Copyright: SOCAN
Here’s my new MIDI guitar, a Ztar Z6S made by Starr Labs of San Diego. It has small keys, similar to those of a piano, and string “triggers” that send MIDI signals corresponding to the fingering you use. A guitarist can then enjoy the same advantages of a keyboard, which is a much better MIDI controller than conventional MIDI guitars.
To demonstrate the possibilities of this MIDI guitar, here’s a new arrangement of an old piece, “Tenderness”, recorded in 1976 as a guitar solo on my album “Rumours in the Barnyard.” I knew at the time that the piece needed something more than an acoustic guitar but we didn’t have the means to do anything else. Click on the arrow below to hear the piece, recorded entirely with my MIDI which, like all MIDI controllers, can play any sound. The main voice is a vibraphone, an instrument I’ve loved since hearing Lionel Hampton play with Benny Goodman. Also, Gary Burton has always been one of my favourites. The vibraphone is backed by an electric piano and a layer of basses.
[audio:http://eng.richardaseguin.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Tenderness4.mp3|titles=Tenderness]To download a copy of “Tenderness, right-click on the link below and save.
You can also watch a video of this piece at this address:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVT8hZ32o6I&feature=g-upl
This music is protected and any commercial use is strictly forbidden.
Production and Publishing: Pentafolio inc.
Copyright: SOCAN
Since our move, I’m opening boxes and discovering all sorts of things, like this photo I took when I was a young man. It’s a path in the Morris woods, behind Rockland High School, which probably lead to a sawmill that was further out in the woods. The path rose up a slope on top of which was a clearing, the blue light you see in the middle of the photo. At the time, this was for me the most beautiful place on earth, so much so that I wrote three pieces in its honour : “The Path”, “Leaves and Light” and “In the Clearing.” This place no longer exists and is lost forever. It was razed to make way for condos and single-family homes. The human folly of men with no vision.
Winter hasn’t discouraged all birds, as you can see (a goldfinch, a red-breasted nuthatch, a white-breasted nuthatch and a black-capped chickadee).
However, our summer birds were more spectacular(a rose-breasted grosbeak and an indigo bunting).
We hope to see them again in the spring but our backyard is always full of impressive visitors.
When we released my CD “From Stone” in 2004, I did two small presentations: at the Dépanneur Sylvestre, in the Hull sector of Gatineau, and at the Ottawa Folklore Centre, in Ottawa. It was unusual – my last concert was in 1984! Manu (Jean-Emmanuel Allard) was there to film everything and four videos came out of it. They can now be seen on YouTube and there are also links to the videos on these pages of the website :
It’s my season for working on music, once the autumn chores have been put aside. It’s been a year since we moved from the city to the country, a beautiful property, more than 3/4 of an acre, lots of trees, many birds. My winter project is a recording of some pieces from my favourite composers in a B3 Trio format, i.e. electric guitar, B3 organ, drums. Very minimalist but loaded with possibilities and challenges. I’ve already finished Dylan’s “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll”, “Deep As Love” from the young Norwegian pianist Tord Gustavsen and I’m working on Bill Frisell’s “Strange Meeting.”
