Colum Sands (Irish songwriter) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Colum Sands is an Irish

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

singer songwriter who made his first performances and recordings with The Sands Family of County Down

County Down

-Cities:*Belfast *Newry -Large towns:*Dundonald*Newtownards*Bangor-Medium towns:...

. Between his extensive solo appearances he continues to record and perform with his brothers Tommy

Tommy Sands

Tommy Adrian Sands is an American pop music singer and actor.-Early life:Born into a musical family in Chicago, Illinois, Sands' father was a pianist and his mother a big-band singer. While still young, he moved with his family to Shreveport, Louisiana...

and Ben and his sister Anne in the family band.

Following appearances throughout Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

and North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

in venues ranging from small folk clubs to Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, in 1981, Colum set up the independent record label, Spring Records, with a recording studio at his home in Rostrevor

Rostrevor

Rostrevor is a village in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is within the Newry and Mourne District Council area. It lies at the foot of Slieve Martin on the coast of Carlingford Lough. The Kilbroney River flows through the village....

, County Down

County Down

-Cities:*Belfast *Newry -Large towns:*Dundonald*Newtownards*Bangor-Medium towns:...

.

He has produced around one hundred albums, working with young traditional musicians, songwriters and bands, ranging from first time recording artistes like Cara Dillon

Cara Dillon

Cara Dillon is an Irish folk singer. In 2001, she launched her career as a solo artist in the UK with the eponymous Cara Dillon album...

and Oige, Deanta

Déanta

Déanta is an Irish traditional music band from Northern Ireland. The name of the band is the Irish word for done or made. The band, formed in the early 1990s in County Antrim, played together until 1997 and regrouped in 2008. The band were noted members of the traditional music scene in Ireland...

, Neil Mulligan and Kieran Goss

Kieran Goss

Kieran Goss is a Northern Irish contemporary singer-songwriter.-Biography:Kieran Goss was born and raised in Mayobridge, County Down, Northern Ireland. He was just nine years old when he got his first guitar...

to veteran performers including Joan Baez

Joan Baez

Joan Chandos Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice....

, The Sands Family, Liam O Flynn, Vedran Smailovic

Vedran Smailovic

Vedran Smailović , known as the "Cellist of Sarajevo", is a musician from Bosnia and Herzegovina, and a former cellist in the Sarajevo String Quartet....

and Pete Seeger

Pete Seeger

Peter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...

.

Colum Sands has released eight albums featuring his own songs (see discography) and a songbook illustrated by Colum McEvoy.

As well as performing his own songs, Colum has translated Goethe into English (recording a bilingual version of Nähe des Geliebten with Berlin singer Scarlett Seeboldt), worked and toured in the Middle East

Middle East

The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

with Israeli story teller Sharon Aviv on the English/Hebrew peace initiative production "Talking to the Wall" and translated Scottish Gaelic songs into English on his collaboration with Scottish singer and harper Maggie MacInnes

Maggie MacInnes

Maggie MacInnes is a Scottish folk singer and clàrsach player, who performs primarily in Scottish Gaelic...

.

His own songs have been translated into German, Dutch, Danish and Hebrew and have been recorded by many artistes including Maddy Prior

Maddy Prior

Maddy Prior is an English folk singer, best known as the lead vocalist of Steeleye Span.-Early life:...

, June Tabor

June Tabor

June Tabor is an English folk singer.- Early years :June Tabor was inspired to sing by hearing Anne Briggs' EP Hazards of Love in 1965. "I went and locked myself in the bathroom for a fortnight and drove my mother mad. I learned the songs on that EP note for note, twiddle for twiddle. That's how I...

, Liam Clancy

Liam Clancy

William "Liam" Clancy was an Irish folk singer and actor from Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary. He was the youngest and last surviving member of performing group The Clancy Brothers. The group were regarded as Ireland's first pop stars...

, Tommy Makem

Tommy Makem

Thomas "Tommy" Makem was an internationally celebrated Irish folk musician, artist, poet and storyteller. He was best known as a member of The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. He played the long-necked 5-string banjo, guitar, tin whistle, and bagpipes, and sang in a distinctive baritone...

, Roy Bailey

Roy Bailey

Roy Bailey may refer to:*Roy Bailey , Canadian Progressive Conservative politician from Saskatchewan*Roy Bailey , British socialist folk singer...

, Andy Irvine and Mick Hanly.

Apart from songwriting and studio production, Colum Sands has worked in a number of theatrical collaborations and his involvement as a musician with the Lyric Theatre (Belfast

Belfast

Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...

) in 1976 found him working with Liam Neeson

Liam Neeson

Liam John Neeson, OBE is an Irish actor who has been nominated for an Oscar, a BAFTA and three Golden Globe Awards.He has starred in a number of notable roles including Oskar Schindler in Schindler's List, Michael Collins in Michael Collins, Peyton Westlake in Darkman, Jean Valjean in Les...

in the Patrick Galvin

Patrick Galvin

Patrick Galvin was an Irish poet, singer, playwright, and prose and screen writer born in Cork's inner city.-Biography:Galvin was born in Cork in 1927 at a time of great political transition in Ireland...

play "We Do it for Love". He has also composed music for Community Playwright Patch Connolly's plays, "The Fair Day" and "The Square

The Square

The Square may refer to:* The Square, Bournemouth, a public square* The Square, Tallaght, a shopping centre in Dublin* The Square, Harlow, a small music venue in England.* Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts, locally known as The Square...

".

Colum Sands is also well known as a radio presenter, since the 1990s he has presented "Folk Club", the popular weekly programme on BBC Radio Ulster

BBC Radio Ulster

BBC Radio Ulster is one of two Northern Irish BBC radio stations, the other being BBC Radio Foyle located in the city of Derry. BBC Radio Ulster is located at Broadcasting House in the Ormeau Avenue area of Belfast city centre...

. He has also compiled and presented radio programmes for BBC Radio 2

BBC Radio 2

BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...

("Shifting Sands") and RTE Radio 1

RTÉ Radio 1

RTÉ Radio 1 is the principal radio channel of Irish public-service broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann and is the direct descendant of Dublin radio station 2RN, which began broadcasting on a regular basis on 1 January 1926...

("Rootin' About".)

Sands received a Living Tradition Award for his services to Folk and Traditional Music and his song, “The Donegall Road” was included in the Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian Institution

The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...

“Sound Neighbours” album which received three shortlisting nominations for the 2008 Grammy Awards.

Discography

1981 - Unapproved Road (Spring Records SCD 1001)
1989 - The March Ditch (Spring Records SCD 1014)
1996 - All my winding Journeys (Spring Records SCD 1035)
2002 - Talking to the Wall with Sharon Aviv (Spring Records SCD 1048)
2003 - The Note that lingers on (Spring Records SCD 1051)
2007 - Live in Concert Songs and Stories (Spring Records SCD 1054)
2009 - Look Where I've Ended Up Now (Spring Records SCD 1059)
2010 - The Seedboat (Bàta an t-Sìl) with Maggie MacInnes (Spring Records SCD 1061)

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.