sarahillis's blog

As November 11 is Remembrance Day in Canada and Veterans' Day in the United States, and as the Sunday nearest that date is celebrated as Remembrance Sunday in the UK, I thought it fitting to see what Celtic music has to say on the subject of war and its effects. Not all the songs on Sunday's show will be war-themed, but they will be peppered liberally throughout the show, along with the return of our usual features of course.

Leonard Cohen, the influencial poet, song-writer and novelist is dead at the age of 82. Scant weeks after his fourteenth studio album "You Want it Darker" was released, we are stunned to hear that his beautiful and bold voice will be heard no more.

Today on The Sara Hillis Show, I'll play a set of leonard's songs and reflect upon the effect that his music and words have had on me over the years. Someone said today that he had a line for every moment in your life. I think that's true.

As regular listeners will know by now, Come By The Hills is nothing if not eclectic in terms of how it defines Celtic music. I try every week to give you a range of styles, content and artists. However, this week, in honour of the fact that my husband and I will be attending a Loreena McKennitt concert this coming Tuesday, I've decided that this Sunday's show will be devoted to a look at the career and of course the music of that artist. Not only is she an excellent musician and businesswoman, but she has been an amazing ambasador for Canada throughout the world.

Shell out! Shell out! There are witches in the air! It is the eve of All Hallows Eve, and on this night before the big night of costumes and candy, Come By The Hills will be exploring some of the deep Celtic roots of this frightening and fun festival. I'll be taking you into the world of elves and fairies, ghosts and witches, myth, magic and mystery, where the veil between the living and the dead is at its thinnest and strangeness abounds.

And just who, you may as, is Wade Hemsworth? Well, he was the mind behind several Canadian folk songs which people later described as simply "traditional." If you've heard songs such as "The Blackfly Song" or "The Wild Goose," then you've heard Wade Hemsworth's music; And perhaps the best thing of all about Wade Hemsworth is that he was born and raised in my own home town of Brantford Ontario before striking out for places as far-flung as Newfoundland, Northern Ontario, Eastern Quebec, and many other musically interesting spots in this great land of ours.

Well, Thanksgiving is all over and life continues on here in Canada as normal, and also as normal, I'm in the Funguy DJ chair at 8:00 PM Eastern on Sunday evening with three hours of the best in Celtic music from around the world. We'll have all our usual features, some new (to me at least) artists to experience, an English song which sounds suspiciously like an Italian song that Tom Dekker played on Woofman's World Music this past Monday, and even a bit of Celtic commedy from the one and only Tom Lehrer.

That's right, this weekend marks the Canadian holiday of Thanksgiving. It looks a lot like the American celebration, except that there's not so much football and there are no Christmas parades. Instead, we have decorative gourds, turkies, pies, pies, and yes, more pies! (Did I mention the pies?) So, whether you are full of Fall feasting or whether you simply want something fun to do on a Sunday night as usual, join me for a veritable cornucopia of Celtic creations both traditional and modern.

It would seem that October has descended upon us, at least here in Southern Ontario Canada, with a rain and a roar. It is chilly and wet out there, so I'm inviting you into my cozy Celtic cabbin for three hours of songs and tales to warm your bodies, minds, hearts and spirits.

Yes, the wind is crisping up and the trees are getting ready to shed their leaves, and we're celebrating (well sort of celebrating) Autumn this week on Come by the Hills, the Celtic Music Show. In reality, we will have a few songs throughout the show that have to do with Autumn or that have an Autumnal tone, but generally, it's just another three hours of some of the best in Celtic music from around the world.

Yes, for the past few weeks, I've either been intentionally organizing theme shows, or themes have emerged from the chaos that is my mind as a result of playlist creation. However, neither of these things happened this week, so instead of a theme, we're just going to play some cracking good music. I mean, isn't that what we're here for anyway?