Relig Oran

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Photo Dylan Woolf

There’s a light in the forest, there’s a face in the tree… Up past the brow of the dark moor, chill of the evening air, on we press. We pass the wicker man, pass the creaking gibbet with its dark treasure, and on we press. Looking for the old ways from here to Summerilse. RELIG ORAN are the sound track to our journey. Nick Drake meets the brothers Grimm, Cinderella meets Tom Waits. The hobby horse and the hand of glory. Folk’s dark underbelly, tales of murder and betrayal, of death and rebirth, and tunes, hollow, haunting tunes. Now the caravan drives East through the Bohemian forests, in search of Baba Yagga as night draws in. There’s a light in the forest, there’s a face in the tree… and on we press……………

Take the traditional music of England, Brittany, Ireland and beyond (plus a bunch of home grown tunes) and mix with African Kalimba, driving percussion, bass pedals and a whole bag of other goodies....

Using innovative and dynamic arrangements Relig Oran give the music a contemporary and exciting twist, at the same time keeping the spirit and depth of the tradition and though there are some exciting detours on the journey, the music is always based on a solid musical understanding. Between them the members of Relig Oran have toured Europe, recorded several acclaimed albums and had radio play from Russia to Japan.

Please check out our downloadable bits, hope you enjoy.... more to follow. You will notice that the clips have a box player, don't panic, we haven't yet got round to recording some new ones with Martyn the Fiddle but will do soon, o' yes and Jem on vocals...

Right click on one of the links below and choose "Save as..." to copy the track onto your PC to be listened to at your leisure!

And the name Relig Oran?? It’s pronounced Relig (as in relic but with a ‘g’) Oran (not religoran, as in religion) and it’s Gaelic. Off the west coast of Scotland lies the beautiful island of Iona, on which is an ancient burial ground containing the graves of the old high kings of Scotland, Ireland, Norway along with the odd monk or two, including Oran and it’s from here that the band gets its name – it means ‘Burial place of Oran’.
So the story goes that St Columbus decided one day he should know for certain that heaven was better than hell and asked for a volunteer to be buried and so visit said places. The monk Oran boldly stepped forward and was promptly buried and journeyed first to heaven then to hell. A while later Oran was exhumed to file his report. Well, you can imagine every ones shock and horror. Firstly not only was heaven really not that great but hell was fantastic, a corker of a place. So as promptly as he was exhumed, so he was buried again, never to be unearthed, for fear he should tell the world of his findings. I guess we just like the story :o)

Relig Oran are:

....Andy Renshaw, Kalimba, Bodhrán & Percussion,.Whistles.

....Martyn Kember, Fiddle.

...Jem Scott, Guitar, Vocals, Bouzouki.

Brief Biogs.

Andy.

Born and raised in North Yorkshire, learning traditional music in the bars of the North East. Been a full-time musician, on and off, for the last twenty years, touring widely throughout Europe and Scandinavia with various bands, recording several acclaimed albums and playing some of London’s top venues including the Barbican, Mean Fiddler and Weavers. First Band - Noah's Ark, then put together folk / jazz outfit Jump the Pig, moved to the south of England and formed Jacobs Ladder with the Egle sisters, then Camine. Studied painting and print-making at Hull Art college, worked as a freelance artist and spending a lot of the 80s in Ireland enjoying the air and playing music. Still painting and exhibiting. Made the masks used in the band photos. First introduction to traditional music - heard the Chieftains when I was nine - it just blew me away. Loves Chinese food and travel...

Favourite musicians/bands: Tom Waits, Vasen, Gomez, Solas, Ivor Cutler, Vivian Stanshall, Mike McGoldrick, Flook, Nic Jones, Donal Lunny (is god), REM, Manu Chao, Tom Waits, Nick Drake, Bonny 'Prince' Billy, Martin Carthy, Bjork, Blowzabella, Jethro Tull, Dylan, King Crimson, Tom Waits, Radiohead,They Might be Giants, Amanes...

Favourite breakfast: Kippers every time.

Writers: Flann O'Brien, Seamus Heaney, Vivian Stanshall, Ivor Cutler, The Brothers Grimm, Barefoot Doctor, Eckhart Tolle.

Films: The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes, A Very Long Engagement, City of Lost Children, Wings of Desire, Underground (Emir Kusturica), The Rebel (Tony Hancock), Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?, Chocolat, Dead Man, One Giant Leap.

TV: Don't have a TV

Also a promoter of musical events and has run the Bridge Folk and Roots festival in Kent. Plays Bodhrán, Kalimba, Mandolin, Mandola, odd bits of percussion and Bob the Bass Pedals. Member of the world music D.J. collective 'Another Planet'.

Jem.

Jem has played with various bands, including Benito and the Blackshirts (it
was funny at the time), The Efficient Baxter, Flat Stanleys, Camine, and
with various musicians, including Simon Lee, Kev Richards, and a mad bloke
from Ohio called Mike whose surname escapes him. He is currently learning
the fiddle but has been told not to play it outside under any circumstances
until he's a bit better. Alongside Relig Oran, he also plays with
alt-country outfit The Fat River Band.

Music: too many to mention, but if pushed, from left to right, Billy Bragg,
Chris Wood and EAC, Nick Drake, Dick Gaughan, Crosby, Stills, Nash, Young, and Johnny Cash, of course. Oh, and Dylan. And since that documentary,
re-discovering Paul Weller. All sounds a bit blokey, doesn't it?

Writers: anything not by James Joyce or Samuel Beckett.

Films: want to say Citizen Kane, but really it's Star Wars.

Breakfast: I'll have the kippers, too.

Martyn.

Martyn, fiddler extraordinary, is as much at home with rags and jazz as he is with the traditional music of the Celtic nations. Although it is with traditional folk fiddle where Martyn's roots lay. A seasoned performer, Martyn has played and toured across Europe and brings to the band a great range of tunes and tales. Martyn plays fiddle, mandolin,percussion has been known to sing on the odd occasion. (Not written by Martyn!)

Bob the Bass Pedals.

Goodbye to Bob - Bob has left the band, we wish him well in his new Career.

The bass pedals. Much maligned and walked all over. Bob is the hardworking glue that holds us all together. We don't like to ask Bob about his background as there's clearly a lot of stuff he's moved on from. Just don't get on his bad side!

The Kalimba - Andy.

A lot of folks have come up to me recently at gigs wanting to know a bit about the kalimba I play, so here’s a little bit about it. It’s African, and is often referred to as a thumb piano. It goes under different names depending on where in Africa it comes from: Kalimba, Mbira, Sansa, Likembe, Karimbe, Board Piano, (marimbula in Cuba) or a lamellophone to musicologist. But we'll call it a Kalimba for now. Mine was made in South Africa* and came to me via my good friend Hugh Wisdom - a man of many strange and wonderful instruments. I tune mine to D major (with a hammer and Guitar tuner!!). I play it with guitar picks as I like the sound that makes and I have a guitar pick-up stuck to the bottom as it has no sound box. It is a 'Celeste' 17 key flatbed Kalimba. Often in Africa they place the kalimba inside a gourd - called a Deze - which acts as a resonator.

The name kalimba is a Bantu word which means "little music", and is similar to the word karimba, a type of mbira.

* It was in the 1920s that an Englishman by the name of Hugh Tracey arrived in South Africa and was fascinated with the Mbira. 'Kalimba' is actually the brand name of his version of the Mbira. The Kalimba continues to be made in a family-run workshop in Grahamstown, South Africa, still carrying the 'Hugh Tracey' name.