Titanic Centennial Music
Re-live the passion and excitement aboard the great “unsinkable” ship with new and original music dedicated to the passengers, musicians and crew of the RMS Titanic.
“Titanic Centennial: Commemorative Special Edition” produced by Arvel Bird for Singing Wolf Records, is an hour-long musical voyage and 20 page booklet of stories and pictures. $17 (USD) plus S & H
Track Titles:
1. Celtic Connection – Download this song FREE (right click on link)
2. Farewell to Ireland
3. Fire & Coal
4. Father Browne
5. Be British
6. Adrift in the Dark
7. Over the Airwaves
8. White Star Lament
9. The Quest for Discovery
10. Somewhere in Time
11. Distant Shore
This Collector’s CD includes a 20-page booklet of fascinating, factual stories and pictures to follow along on the voyage as the music unfolds. The booklet was developed by Pat Cummins, an authority on Titanic history and of the only known photos taken aboard Titanic by Father Francis Browne, who disembarked the Titanic in Ireland, before it began its final crossing of the Atlantic.
Master fiddler Arvel Bird has returned to his Celtic roots to record his latest album, Titanic Centennial: Commemorative Special Edition. On the night of April 14, 1912, the passenger liner RMS Titanic struck an iceberg on her maiden voyage and sank on April 15, resulting in the deaths of 1,517 people, making it one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history. On the 100th anniversary of that tragic event, world renowned violinist Arvel Bird pays tribute to the “unsinkable” ship and honors the survivors and those lost in a powerful new album Titanic Centennial: Commemorative Special Edition. In Titanic Centennial, Bird has created an hour-long musical journey dedicated to the passengers, crew and musicians aboard RMS Titanic in April 1912. Titanic Captain Edward Smith, the radiomen, bandleader Wallace Hartley and a host of others who sailed on that fateful voyage come to life in a powerful, musically cinematic and an emotionally riveting performance that will immerse your senses in the sights and sounds of the tragic events in the North Atlantic in 1912. The album features eight original compositions, including a beautifully haunting violin solo and soul-stirring “a cappella” vocal song, along with three popular previously released songs. The album includes a 20-page booklet with factual stories and historic pictures of the people and the mighty ship Titanic. No doubt, this is Bird’s finest work to date.
“Titanic is one of the most emotional albums I’ve ever recorded,” said Arvel Bird. “With each composition, I felt like an actor preparing for a new role. Bandleader Wallace Hartley and three band members, for example, continued playing and doing what they loved best until the very end, comforting the distraught passengers. I hope that I would have been that brave and would have done my best to keep the scared passengers calm, but no one knows for sure until they’re in that situation. The music created an exciting range of emotions in me and in the studio musicians while recording our performances. By the end of each recording day, we were emotionally exhausted!”
Traditional songs that were performed on the Titanic, “Nearer My God to Thee” and “Songe D’Automne,” are beautifully woven throughout the original arrangements “Adrift in the Dark” and “Over the Airwaves.” In “Fire & Coal,” the Celtic violin melody pounds out a swift, lilting beat, in rhythm with the speed and intensity with which the 177 firemen and stokers worked to shovel 630 tons of coal a day to keep Titanic moving at her optimum speed. “Over the Airwaves,” begins with melodic Morse Code, recreating the frantic distress signals tapped by Marconi wireless operator Jack Phillips in attempt to summon help from passing ships.