Freely bridging the gaps between Irish folk and world music, between artistic identity and melody, the musician crafts a floor-filler with lashings of personality for the thought-provoking and undeniably captivating new song ‘Anyone else up there’.
Tommy Sands, Co Down's singer, songwriter, and social activist has achieved something akin to legendary status in his own lifetime. From the pioneering days with the highly influential Sands Family, bringing Irish music from New York's Carnegie Hall to Moscow's Olympic Stadium, he has developed into one of the most powerful songwriters and enchanting solo performers in Ireland today. His songwriting, which draws the admiration of Nobel Poet Laureate Seamus Heaney and father of folk music Pete Seeger, prompts respected US magazine ‘Sing Out’ to regard him as ‘the most powerful songwriter in Ireland, if not the rest of the world’. His songs like ‘There were Roses’, and ‘Daughters and Sons’, have been recorded by Joan Baez, Kathy Matthea, Dolores Keane, Sean Keane, and Frank Patterson.
One of Tommy Sands’ current projects, teaching underprivileged prisoners in Reno, Nevada to write their song with which to defend themselves in court is currently creating a widespread stir in the world of community art in the United States. Back home in Northern Ireland, he has just completed a CD written with Protestant and Catholic schoolchildren about their areas, in towns and villages around Northern Ireland. During the Good Friday Agreement Talks, his impromptu performance with a group of children and Lambeg drummers was described by Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Seamus Mallon as a defining moment in the Peace Process.
‘Anyone else up there’ highlights the emotions of the narrator,
“As I awoke this morning to the despairing irony of more Western bombs falling from the news, to stop Iran 'meddling' in the Middle East, they say. I recall my visits to that world.
I have played in Israel, Gaza, and Iran and have met no one person who agrees with the killing of Innocents. And so I send a new song with more hope than despair for music takes up where words leave off and when lies lead to failure, the truth will be found in the midst of us all.”
This song, both charming and challenging follows and fits with the quality of other great songs from Sands like “There were Roses”, “Daughters and Sons”. Several other tracks like ‘Ode to Europe’ are available on YouTube. Follow the artist on Facebook and his website to learn more about Tommy Sands.
Just go for this music video 'Anyone else up there' by Tommy Sands:
