We pride ourselves on playing a diverse repertoire of music from different cultural styles, genres and traditions. Our selection for this term includes music from Britain, Ukraine, Mexico and Serbia, and includes a well-known video grame theme alongside a jazz piece dedicated to Billie Holiday. Find out more from these notes by our Musical Director, Chris Harrison.
LA FERIA DE LAS FLORES (The Festival of the Flowers)
A song from the repertoire of the Mexican band Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan, composed by Chucho Monge (1910-1964). Mariachi is a distinct type of Mexican folk music that features brass and string instruments.
FAREWELL TO STROMNESS
Farewell to Stromness, along with its companion piece, Yesnaby Ground, were piano interludes from ‘The Yellow Cake Revue’, a sequence of cabaret style numbers first performed at the St Magnus Festival, Orkney, in June 1980. Yellow Cake is a popular name for uranium ore, and the revue was part of a campaign by the Orkney islanders to oppose the proposal to mine for uranium at Yesnaby, near Stromness – a campaign which was ultimately successful.
CHERVONA RUTA
Written in 1968 by Volodymyr Ivasyuk – then a 19-year-old medical student, who is thought by many to have been killed by the Soviet authorities in 1979. Outwardly Chervona Ruta is an innocent ballad, titled after a mythological flower which is said to bring happiness in love. However, it is also seen as a love song to Ukraine itself.
BILLIE’S SONG
Billie’s Song is the fifth piece from Portraits in Jazz (1976), a suite of piano pieces by Valerie Capers, dedicated to different jazz musicians. The piece is not a direct quotation of any one song from Billie Holiday’s repertoire but rather a personal homage that aims to capture the spirit of her singing.
DAVID OF THE WHITE ROCK
There is a tradition that the tune was composed by David Owen (1712–1741), a harpist and composer who lived near Porthmadog in Caernarfonshire. He was known locally as Dafydd y Garreg Wen (English: David of the White Rock) after the name of the farm where he lived near Morfa Bychan. According to this tradition, as Owen lay on his death bed, he called for his harp and composed the tune, requesting of his mother that it should be played at his funeral. The words, which tell this story, were added more than a hundred years later by the poet John Ceiriog Hughes (1832–1887).
SERBIAN RACENICA
The Racenica (pron. Racheneetsa) is a folk dance, often referred to as the national dance of Bulgaria. As such it exists in several variants and there are many tunes used to accompany it. It is danced in lines or small groups, often involving some improvisation, and is often danced at weddings and community events. This version is based on one performed by a group called Krivo Drom, a New Orleans group who learned it while studying with Serbian Roma musicians.
SNAKE EATER (from Metal Gear Solid 3)
This song was written for the game Metal Gear Solid 3, which was remastered in 2025 as Metal Gear Solid Δ (Delta). It is heavily inspired by early James Bond themes and has often been voted one of the best video game themes of all time. The game was created by Hideo Kojima, who is celebrating his 40th year in the video games industry in 2026.
