Saturday, January 1, 2011

Saint Martin’s Church, Coney Street, York

On New Years Eve morning I was waiting to go into the City Screen Café in York and decided to go into the nearby Church of Saint Martin and have a look round. I had never been inside this Church which is surprising as I clearly remember my Mother taking me along Coney Street the morning after the 1942 Baedeker Raid on York and seeing stained glass from the Church melted into the road surface.

The Church was partially rebuilt in the 1960’s and the principal stained glass window, which had been removed in 1940 and therefore saved from the devastation, was restored. It was re-dedicated as, “a shrine of remembrance for all who died in the two world wars, a chapel of peace and reconciliation between nations and between men”.

Built after the Norman Conquest it was dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours. One could be forgiven for thinking that, along with the dedication of a church to Saint Denys on the site of an older Anglo-Saxon Church, it was simply a Gallic gesture to the beaten English. This could be part of the story but Saint Martin did have some significance relating to York. He was a Roman Soldier who became a Christian and was adopted as the Patron Saint of Soldiers. York was a garrison town from the roman times. His cloak (cappa in Latin) was a religious relic important to the French Kings and part of their collection of relics until it was given to the monks of Saint-Dennis by the Emperor Charlemagne. The monk responsible for looking after the cloak was known as the cappellanu which became ‘chapelain’ in French, priest who serve the military being known as ’chaplains’. Alcuin of York, who was Charlemagne’s tutor, became Abbot of the Abbey of Saint-Martin, this monastery being founded by Saint Martin.

www.tonymorrispoet.com

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Friday, September 3, 2010

New Amerynd Flute Website

Grey Crested Heron Flute

Grey Crested Heron Flute

I have just set up a new amerynd flute website www.amerynd.co.uk It contains pieces about my flutes and their makers, an explanation of the word ‘Amerynd’ as a catch-all phrase for Native American Flute and Native American Style Flute, stories and music. It is about how I use the flutes in the context of the English Countryside and its spiritual resonances. It is not about North American culture.

Tony Morris

www.amerynd.co.uk

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Sunday, August 29, 2010

Road Rage – The Video – On You Tube

Road Rage – The Video.

Macabre Comedy Video – Gothic Humour – be scared and laugh!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16GByGF3ZC8

Tony Morris

www.tonymorrispoet.com

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Friday, August 13, 2010

RUSSIAN FIRE

RUSSIAN FIRE

She clasps a brown chicken to her breast,
All she owns,
As the flames,
Flames her neighbours buckets of water
Cannot extinguish,
Consume her home.

Another woman is clutching icons
She has rescued,
The gold cross she wears
Reflecting the fire
That burns a lifetime away.
And the hay,
The wood,
The corn,
Their prayers
Are smoke in the Russian air.

“And where are the men from the State Fire Service?”
The women ask.

An ancient Marxist,
Rocking in a chair,
Views the icons,
The glinting cross of gold,
And raises an eyebrow.

Tony Morris
www.tonymorrispoet.com

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Monday, May 3, 2010

Launch of Amerynd Flute CD Album ‘Rail Bridge MWB 2/81′

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The launch of the Amerynd Flute CD Album ‘Rail Bridge MWB 2/81′ takes place at the Station Hotel, Loftus in Cleveland, TS13 4QB at 8.30pm on Friday, 14th May 2010. This Album was recorded on location under the Railway Bridge at Glaisdale, North Yorkshire, hence the name of the Album. The excellent acoustic properties of the Bridge, the streamm and windy woods in the background give the recording a special atmospheric edge. There is more information about the Album on the Blog section of www.myspace.com/flutingandfloating

Album Cover 'Rail Bridge MWB 2/81'

Under 'Rail Bridge MWB 2/81'

There is a free open mic session at the Launch so many talented local musicians are expected to take part.

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Wednesday, February 24, 2010

LAUNCH of ALBUM ‘GUERRILLA PILGRIMS’

The Launch event for ‘the ‘GUERRILLA PILGRIMS’  CD Album will be an Entertainment at St. Matthew’s Church, Grosmont, North Yorkshire to take place at 7.30pm on Saturday 10th April 2010.

The ENTERTAINMENT will include a performance by the well known retired ironstone miner, Tom Lennard [www.myspace.com/tomlennard]  singing songs about the ironstone mining during the Great North Yorkshire Ironstone Rush of the 1830s to 1900 together with other tales and songs of local interest. There will also be a Church Organ Recital by Nicholas Frye, resident organist at St. Ninian’s Church, Whitby and occasional organist at Goathland [fictitiously known as Aidensfield] Parish Church. Tony Morris will then play his Amerynd Flutes occasionally accompanied by Nicholas Frye on violin.

www.tonymorrispoet.com

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Saturday, January 2, 2010

GUERRILLA PILGRIMS

“Guerrilla Pilgrims” is a collection of improvised pieces played by Tony Morris on Amerynd Flutes accompanied by Nicholas Frye on violin. Culturally, the music is not Native American.

 

Each piece was recorded in one of the churches of, or close to, the Esk Valley in North Yorkshire. They have splendid acoustic properties and the area is rich in ancient spiritual connections pre-dating Christianity.

 

The plan of action followed was to sneak in record a couple of pieces and sneak out, hence the title of the Album, “Guerrilla Pilgrims”. Each recording was an act of spirituality for Tony Morris, transcending any categorised religious belief, and also for Nicholas Frye, a committed Christian. You will have to visit the churches of the Esk Valley and guess where each piece was recorded.

 

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Tony Morris

www.tonymorrispoet.com

 

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Thursday, December 31, 2009

AMERYND FLUTE

Music:

From Guerrilla Pilgrims Album 

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to be released 2010

Just as ‘French Horn’ is the name of a musical instrument, so is ‘Native American Flute’. The name does not imply that the instrument was made by an enrolled-member of a tribe federally recognised by the United States Government anymore than ‘French Horn’ implies it was made by a person with French citizenship. However, American lawyers, native or not, have got at this so that makers who are not so enrolled have to use the term Native American ‘Style’ Flute. This is clumsy and legalistic and so Tony Morris has invented the word ‘Amerynd’ Flute as a cover all term and uses it for the first time on the Guerrilla Pilgrims Album packaging. The ‘y’ is pronounced as in ‘rhyme’.

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Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Mind Body Spirit Fair, Whitby Pavilion.

Just recovering from two exhausting days playing the Native American Style Flutes at the Mind Body Spirit Fair at Whitby Pavilion. Standing playing 3 to 4 one hour sets each day was a bit like distance running.

Just catching up with the rest of life.

Tony Morris
www.tonymorrispoet.com

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Monday, April 20, 2009

Blue Skies! Doctor Whitby and Doctor Folk.

The fog has gone.
The sky ‘s clear blue.
The aeroplanes are flying.
Still lots to do.

Good night at the Station Inn, Whitby sing-around last night. Derek Elliott and Paul Hudson being away, Judy Knight ran the session in a gently efficient way so there was a friendly atmosphere. One guy who was visiting from the other side of the Pennines, and had only intended listening, was persuaded to join in by telling a couple of jokes (funny and appropriate). He was talking to me afterwards and said he’d been going through a very bad time and coming to the session, which he only chanced on by looking through ‘The Link’, had had a profound effect on him, had lifted him in such a way that he felt it had ‘turned him round’. Doctor Whitby and Doctor Folk say, “Keep taking the medicine.”

Tony
www.tonymorrispoet.com

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