Category: Our Iron Broo Ceilidh Band News

Lately i’ve been very busy and have started a build project for a new studio so I can make better music, video and stock more accordion parts. I’m building it myself on a limited budget. I began last year in May clearing the site and building the foundations. I’m about to start on the main building structure now!

Your support is very important to me and I appreciate all of ye!

This studio project is big and will take up much of my time but the effort will be rewarding on many levels.

In the meantime I wanted to share with you a recent video of a commission I accepted to create a tune, via Patreon. It’s called Lord Stobo’s Lament, a Jacobite Air.

If you like to play music the PDF music is available to download for free on CharlieAbel.com and IronBroo.scot. I’ve also attached it below for you convenience.

If you haven’t subscribed to my YouTube Channel please do. It’s free and is a big help to me.

Yours tunefully,

Charlie

I remember my Grandpa singing this song. He used to say he  ‘remembered a’ the words bit neen o’ the notes’. 

The audio will be available online shortly. For now you can watch the video. If you are a Patron then you get the high definition audio track sent to you via email. Check the last ‘Patron only post’ for info. 

Thanks for your support. 

Charlie

Hibakusha ( The Survivors ) 

Hibakusha – is a word of Japanese origin: 被爆者 or 被曝者; lit. 

“person affected by a bomb” or

 “person affected by exposure to radioactivity.”  

Patrons can download the digital album artwork and the full master audio wav file.  In advance of it being released online in 2-3 weeks from now. I’ve just posted the video on YouTube you can see above.

I wrote and recorded this music when a friend asked me to play at a CND event in Aberdeen on the 7th of August 2021.  The event was to remember the Atomic bombings of August 6th and 9th, 1945 on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 

It was the first time the world had seen the use of such weapons used on a civilian population, and if there’s any hope for humanity, it must be the last time.

When Ronnie Watt (9th dan) OBE ORS heard I was playing at the CND event, he asked me to write a piece of music on behalf of the Scottish Samurai.

On the 7th of August 2021 – At lunchtime, a small crowd had gathered outside the Marischal College in Aberdeen to show their respects.

There were messages read out from Japan, from Hiroshima, and MSPs and activists took turns to say their pieces, and musicians and poets entertained with tasteful music and prose between the speeches.  Free food was on offer from ‘Food not Bombs’.

The following is a copy of my short introduction speech on that day before playing the music for the first time.

“I was asked to say a few words on behalf of Ronnie Watt (9th Dan). 

Ronnie founded the Scottish Samurai awards and is a world-famous Karate master here in Aberdeen for those who don’t know. Over the years, Ronnie has had a great connection with Japan, and through his work with Karate and the Samurai Awards, he has made many friends in Japan, in Nagasaki, in the atomic bomb museum and other places.   Ronnie has earned himself the nickname, the second Scottish Samurai, after Thomas Blake Glover. 

Unfortunately, Ronnie could not be here today as he is busy teaching Karate. But when Ronnie heard CND had asked me to play here, he asked me to write a piece of music to commemorate this event on behalf of The Order of The Scottish Samurai.  In celebration of the friendship between our nations and the hope we never see another bomb.

It’s sad to think that some 75 years later, after the initial blasts, which killed over 210,000, there have subsequently been as many as half a million deaths due to radiation poisoning that still affects even unborn children to this day. It remains a gross injustice that the innocent pay the price of war and even more so when future generations not yet born also pay the price.

I admit I find it challenging to write music for such a tragic subject. 

 So I have tried to arrange a piece that will remember the “Hibakusha” That’s the Japanese name for the people who survive the atomic bomb and have to live with the after-effects of radiation exposure.  It’s a name also used for the survivors of Fukushima. “

Thanks for your continued support. 

Fir like patrons!

I have been quiet lately, but that usually means I’ve been busy.  Look what arrived this afternoon!

 Thanks to you guys and your help and support, I’ve completed another CD that will be released shortly.  I want to thank you all.  You’ve helped make this happen.

Special thanks to Fred Wilkinson, who also appears on tracks 10 and 12, which we previously released together as ‘Iron Broo’ Digital singles for the Doric Film Festival 2019 and 2021.

Fred and I will be working on an Iron Broo album together shortly. 

Please  send me your postal address to my email charlieabel@ironbroo.co.uk so I may send you all personally, my small group of Patrons an advance pre-release copy of the new CD before it goes out for release. 

You’ll notice your ‘shout out’ on the sleeve notes 🙂

I look forward to hearing from you,

Charlie

Dear Patrons!  

There’s a new single in the pipeline and once again the digital gnomes are hard at work processing it for worldwide distribution on your favourite platforms.

Your support is hugely important to me.  Spiritually, creatively  and financially. 

I would like you to have an advance copy of not just the single, but the high definition master file.

The same file used in super audio discs or on ‘Mastered for iTunes’ libraries. 

It’s digital in 24 Bit and 96kz, and is not currently available anywhere else. If you have a fancy audio system you’ll really notice the difference. 

If you’d like me to send you a digital copy get in touch and I’ll send you a personal link. 

email me at charlieabel@ironbroo.scot 

The track should be released in the next few weeks and I’m pleased to say it’s getting featured on Scots Radio by Frieda Morrison.

I’ll post a public YouTube video as well and if you can share it that would great!

A’ the best,

Charlie

I’m excited to let you know I’m about to release a new single, it’s called Jellyfish.  It will be available to download or stream from the usual networks in the few weeks as the digital gnomes are a bit behind due to Corona.  However, before the wider world hears it, I have given the YouTube Channel the first exclusive in full preview.  So anyone can listen to it from today onwards there. 

In July I visited the Acquario Di Genova. Italy’s largest aquarium.  It’s an awe-inspiring place with lots of sea creatures.  The Jellyfish I found to be quite mesmerising. 

Especially the way the aquarium used lighting in the tanks to show off their colourful jelly structures. 

I had taken some film footage using my mobile phone, and this is the footage I used to make the video.   The Jellyfish were the inspiration to make a film with an instrumental piece. I was thinking of something new age and then minor chord progressions came out.  Then after that, one morning, the lyrics appeared.   

I recorded and wrote the entire thing in my studio, and created the video too. You could say this track is ‘100% pure Charlie!’

But because I had some small funds from my generous Patrons, I was able to get the mastering done in California by a fancy mastering studio and pay for the digital distribution and publishing. 

If you watch right to the end, you’ll see that I have credited you guys for your support.  Thanks for your help, it means a lot to me to know that you are there.