Dear Alisdair Roberts,
I wanted to reach out and express my heartfelt gratitude for your music. Your songs are, in my opinion, some of the best written in contemporary music and it is a crying shame that you have not received more recognition from the mainstream music industry.
Your music has touched me deeply, with its beautiful melodies and thoughtful lyrics that speak to the human experience in such a profound way. Your use of traditional Scottish folk influences adds an extra layer of depth and meaning to your work, reminding me of the rich cultural heritage of my own country.
Your music has also introduced me to the works of Scottish poets such as Hugh MacDiarmid and Sydney Goodsir Smith, whose words seem to perfectly complement the mood of your songs. In particular, the line “I am the seed that with the wind is sown” from MacDiarmid’s poem “The Kind of Poetry I Want” seems to perfectly capture the enduring and timeless quality of your music.
I have written 17 books in this life so far, and only the last one I have translated to English. It is called ‘Poetry to Read in the Dark’ and I think it fits the time we all live in, and it contains laments for wrongs we did to poeple in our cultures. I would be greatly honored if you too the time to read it, its available for free at this link, but if you want a paper copy, just drop me a line somehow:
Poetry to Read in the Dark (2022) (1136 downloads)Brother Seed is one of your songs that is my favorite all time song – I love the lyrics, no more mouthdark abacadabra in particular – I hope my poetry will not appear in such fashion to you.
In your versionof the wonderful lament Lyke Wake Dirge (‘lijk’ is a dutch word that means dead corpse, but also ‘to seem’) there is a woman shouting, I think twice, it seems very appropriate, which is very well done, but I can never trace what she is shouting, it sounds like…vessel?
At any rate, thank you for sharing your talent with the world and for helping to keep the traditions of real folk music alive. Your music will continue to inspire and bring joy to listeners for years to come.
Sincerely, Martijn Benders
