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I hope you can join me for a cup of musical cheer on this year’s special Christmas show! The festivities begin with the stirring song “Yule” from English accordionist and singer Jim Causley. He says the song was written by Mick Ryan and inspired by scenes of winter feasting in ‘Beowulf.’ Then Jackie Oates and John Spiers regale us with perhaps one of the best known English wassailing songs, “Gloucestershire Wassail,” followed by Irish singer Cara Dillon with a lovely rendition of “The Holly and the Ivy.” Icelandic folk ensemble Umbra perform “Englakór Frá Himnahöll / Angels We Have Heard On High” and Loreena McKennit and friends present an inventive arrangement of “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen.” The first half of show concludes with Norway’s Gjermund Larsen Trio and their beautiful instrumental version of “O helga natt / O Holy Night.” The second half of the show kicks off with the beloved Cajun-Zydeco band BeauSoleil on “Papa St. Nick” from the album ‘Christmas Gumbo.’ Les Rats d’Swompe follow that with the Québécois song “Voilà le Père Noël qui nous arrive!” It was written in the 1930s by La Bolduc – the stage name of Mary Rose-Anne Bolduc. NOLA’s New Birth Brass Band brings the funk on “Santa’s Second Line.” The show finishes up with a Latin flourish as we hear Montréal based Brazilian singers Bïa and Diogo Ramos and friends on the original song “Ding Dong,” Colombian-born guitarist Juan Carlos Quintero with his rendition of “Jingle Bells,” and Toronto-based Cuban musician Hilario Durán with a salsa-inspired “Venid, Adoremos (O Come All Ye Faithful).” Closing out the festivities is The Caribbean Jazz Project with their cool jazz arrangement of “Silent Night.” 

The program airs on two NPR stations this week, starting Sunday December 21st, and then again on Christmas Day: 

> Sunday – 6 pm (Central) on my home station Public Radio Tulsa in Oklahoma
> Thursday – 8 pm (Central Time US) on KAMU Public Broadcasting at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. Go to the Listen page for live-stream links to the station websites. 

You can also listen to the archived audio stream at any time here on the PRX website: https://exchange.prx.org/pieces/599273

Feliz Navidad! Joyeux Noël! Merry Christmas!

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Some of the albums featured on this week’s Halloween and Día de los Muertos special

On this week’s special radio program, we’ll celebrate the festivals of Halloween and Día de los Muertos . You’ll hear joyful songs in remembrance of loved ones for the Day of the Dead, music connected with the Celtic roots of Halloween, and some simply silly, spooky songs as well. Starting off the playlist is “Calaverita,” a lively dance song by Mexican-American band La Santa Cecilia from their 2015 album ‘Buenaventura.’ Calaveritas are the little sugar skulls you see used as Day of the Dead decorations. The wonderful video for this song features a colorful array of Día de los Muertos festivities. You can watch it on YouTube since it can’t be embedded on this page. Enjoy!

La Santa Cecilia – “Calaverita” video

(And as I was writing this, I learned that La Santa Cecilia have just released a new 8-song album on October 22, 2021. It’s titled ‘Quiero Verte Feliz’ and you can listen to it now. Here’s a link to the video for the title song, which features Lila Downs. I’m sure I’ll be playing songs from this album on upcoming programs!

La Santa Cecilia with Lila Downs – “Quiero Verte Feliz” video

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On this week’s program, we’ll celebrate the season with familiar Christmas carols and songs in fresh musical settings as well as holiday numbers from around the world that you may not have heard before. The playlist is full of festive music by artists from Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Louisiana, Norway, Italy, Ireland, and the Innu people – one of Canada’s indigenous First Nations. I hope you can join me for a cup or two of musical cheer!

¡Feliz Navidad! Joyeux Noël! Merry Christmas to you!

Go to the Listen page for full info on when and where to tune in on your radio dial or links to listen online from your web browser.

P.S. If you’d like to read about my love of Christmas music of all kinds, check out this series of twenty-five pieces I wrote in 2014 for my short-lived music blog, Jukebox Delirium: 25 Days of Christmas Records (start here at Day 1 and go to each following post by clicking the link for the next day at the bottom of the page just above the Comments section.) I have a large collection of Christmas music!