Christmas is just around the corner and all world is in a joyful mood. And as a Christmas gift, Music Aloud presents a set of videos of 15 of our favorite Christmas songs, covering the pious, the celebratory, the soulful, the cheeky, even the blasphemous! The songs shall be posted in sets of five as a run-up to Christmas. Below are the first five. Next set shall be posted on the 19th of December. Click on the song title to watch the video. Enjoy!
Blue Christmas (Elvis Presley) – Though the song was first recorded in 1948 and has thence been covered by numerous artists, even as late as 2009, the most memorable version shall always be the cover by the King, here featuring Martina McBride.
Ring Out, Solstice Bells (Jethro Tull) – A Celtic folk song in true Jethro Tull style. I love this song for its delightful flute portions coming from the pied piper Anderson – the lead hook forming a perfect Carnatic avarohanam (in Shankarabharanam I am guessing), and for its interesting time signature. And of course the implicit joy of listening to Celtic folk!
Hard Candy Christmas (Dolly Parton) – A very sing-along-ish tune, and with Dolly Parton at the helm of the affairs you don’t need a lot more reasons to be listening to this one! Beautiful melody.
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (Simon Shaheen) – God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen is the most haunting Christmas carol I have heard to date, and if it was possible to make it any more captivating, that is done by Simon Shaheen in this Middle Eastern version, playing out the wonderful tune on his oud. While the album, Nomad Christmas: A World Music Celebration, featured a lot of such creative adaptations, this one I find the most attractive, firstly for the beauty of the original, and second for the magical allure lent by the Arabic flavor.
Thank God It’s Christmas (Queen) – Thank Queen for this masterpiece!
That completes the first five. Hope you like them. Check back on December 19 for the next set. 🙂
