Watch The Stars — Seamus Egan and Moira Smiley feat. Kaïa Kater

Details

Description

"Watch The Stars" trad.
Track 9 on Good Winter (THL Records)
​@MoiraSmileyMusic / lead, harmony vocals
@KaiaKater / harmony vocals
Seamus Egan / keys, sound design

Moira Smiley Music, ASCAP
Seamus Egan Music, BMI

Moira first encountered this beauty through Ruth Crawford Seeger's American Folk Songs for Christmas Songbook (1953). When she sang it for Seamus, he was immediately inspired to create a soundscape to hold the song's wonderment. They both thought of Kaïa's wise and tender voice as they built the vocal harmonies and looked for that feeling of stillness and mystery that comes from standing outside under a big night sky.

This spiritual was first recorded and transcribed in 1925 by Sierra Leonean musician/scholar, Nicholas G.J. Ballanta (1893-1962) in the 'Saint Helena Island Spirituals' Songbook. Published in New York by G.Schirmer, most of the songs were collected while Ballanta visited Penn Normal, Industrial and Agricultural School, Saint Helena Island, Beaufort County, South Carolina. The version Ballanta transcribed is attributed to Virginia Brown.

Photographed and edited by Fiona Small
Illustrations by Fiona Small & Moira Smiley

Recorded & Produced by Seamus Egan
Mixed by John Anthony
Mastered by The Mastering House