Ever since I was a girl, I wanted to be a singer with a band. I never found the band. At the age of 57 I decided I could wait no longer, so I sang without the band.

The Singing Room

Next to the church at Calvignac, just across the river from Larnagol, where I live, there is a little square building known as the salle paroissiale, the parish room, quite bare, with whitewashed walls and a concrete floor. It has an astonishing resonance. (Ironically, the pretty stone church next door has no acoustique.) Just to step inside inspires me to sing. Whatever beauty of sound there is in these recordings, owes as much to this little room as to me.

Je remercie infiniment la commune de Calvignac qui m'a permis de m'en servir gratuitement de cette petite salle.

These songs were originally published as two CDs. The first, The Sacred, is collection of chants and songs from many different spiritual traditions. This is singing for celebration of life, and should be done in company, so this solo version comes over as a bit odd, I think, but hopefully it is useful for learning and pleasant to listen to. The second album is all about earthly concerns, the wonder and pains of love and lulling the baby to sleep; English folk and parlour songs, jazz standards and little known foreign pieces.

If you want information about the origin of the chants and/or the texts, email me.

Janie Whyld, Le roc bois, 46160 Larnagol, France
tel: 00 33 565 30 24 33
email: janie.whyld@aliceadsl.fr

Many thanks to my friend Mick for putting these songs on line. Don't forget to look at his website, moonchart.co.uk, to see information about the phase of the moon, and how to order his lovely blue and silver moon calendars.

These are all simple links to mp3 files; left-click to play; right-click to download, probably, depending on your browser.

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