Donovan Phillips Leitch is a Scottish singer, songwriter and guitarist. He developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelic rock, and world music. He has lived in Scotland, Hertfordshire (England), London, California, and since at least 2008 in County Cork, Ireland, with his family. Emerging from the British folk scene, Donovan reached fame in the United Kingdom in early 1965 with live performances on the pop TV series Ready Steady Go!.
The 'hurdy-gurdy' is a mechanical string instrument that produces sound by a hand-crank-turned, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar to those of a violin. Melodies are played on a keyboard that presses tangents—small wedges, typically made of wood—against one or more of the strings to change their pitch. Like most other acoustic stringed instruments, it has a sound board and hollow cavity to make the vibration of the strings audible.
Roly poly or Roly Poly may refer to:
The best known musician from the Occitan region of Limousin is probably the piper Eric Montbel, a former member of such bands as Lo Jai, Le Grand Rouge, and Ulysse; he plays the chabreta, or Limousin bagpipe. Along with him and other pipers, the region is known for Corrèze's distinct violin tradition as well as the hurdy-gurdy. The fife is also popular
Keith MacLeod, was an English musician who was a part of the Hertfordshire folk and blues scene from 1959 onwards. He played in St Albans alongside Mick Softley and Maddy Prior and toured with John Renbourn. Influences include Softley, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Derroll Adams, Jesse Fuller, Big Bill Broonzy, Snooks Eaglin, Reverend Gary Davis and Davey Graham.
Hurdy Gurdy emerged from the Danish group Peter Belli and the Boom Boom Brothers in June 1967, when three members of the B.B. Brothers, guitarist Claus Bøhling, drummer Jens Otzen and British vocalist and bassist Mac MacLeod formed the power trio. Inspired by Cream but with more psychedelic leanings, they split from Peter Belli and MacLeod named the band 'Hurdy Gurdy'. They had considerable success in Scandinavia, breaking many attendance records for their live shows. The band moved to England in early 1968, after MacLeod had been deported from Denmark.
The Hurdy Gurdy Man is the sixth studio album by Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan. It was released in the US in October 1968, but not in the UK, because of a continuing contractual dispute that also prevented Sunshine Superman and Mellow Yellow from being released there. A songbook of lead sheets to the album was nonetheless issued in both countries.
Nicolas Chédeville was a French composer, musette player and musette maker.
Blowzabella is an English band who play bagpipes, hurdy-gurdy and an array of acoustic instruments to produce a driving, drone-based sound influenced by British and European traditional dance music. Many of their tunes have become standards in the modern folk repertoire.
"Hurdy Gurdy Man" is a song by the Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan. It was recorded in April 1968 and released the following month as a single. The song gave its name to the album The Hurdy Gurdy Man, which was released in October of that year in the United States. The single reached number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US and number 4 on the UK Singles Chart.
The following recordings and films feature music played on the hurdy-gurdy.
The Hurdy Gurdy Man is a studio EP by American alternative rock band Butthole Surfers, released in 1990.
Nigel Eaton is a European musician specialising in playing the Hurdy-Gurdy. He originally played the cello but switched to the hurdy-gurdy in 1981 when his father, Christopher Eaton, began making them. He was a member of Whirling Pope Joan with Julie Murphy, also Blowzabella, and Ancient Beatbox, The Duellists and Firestarters of Leiden which had to stop performing because of Brexit. He has released two solo albums, The Music of the Hurdy-Gurdy (1987) and Pandemonium (2002), and has been featured on recordings by other artists including Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, Scott Walker, Shelleyan Orphan, Heidi Berry, Gary Kemp, Bombay Bicycle Club, Carl Davis, Blue Aeroplanes, Martin Simpson, The Palladian Ensemble, Moya Brennan, Robert Plant,, Maddy Prior, June Tabor, Silly Sisters, The Tavener Consort, Hamish Moore, Afro Celt Sound System's "Release", and many works by Loreena McKennitt. Eaton had a Hurdy Gurdy concerto written for him by Howard Skempton, which he performed with Evelyn Glennie, and has performed with The Scottish Chamber Orchestra and The Bournemouth Sinfonietta. Eaton's film work as a session musician has included Robin Hood, The Shipping News, Kingdom of Heaven, Aliens, Mansfield Park, and Tulip Fever.
Hållbus Totte Mattson is a multi-instrumentalist folk musician from Dalarna, Sweden. Mattson's instruments include the lute, baroque lute, mandora, bass mandora, hummel, classical guitar, baroque guitar Mora-oud, accordion, Swedish dulcimer, hurdy-gurdy and vocals.
Ye Olde Hurdy Gurdy Museum of Vintage Radio is a museum of communication history based in the Martello tower in Howth, Dublin.
Mister Antonio is a 1929 love story based on a 1916 Booth Tarkington Broadway play of the same name. Leo Carrillo stars in the title role of Antonio Camaradino, originated on Broadway by Otis Skinner, as a hurdy-gurdy street artist who falls in love with the relative of a robbery victim he has rescued.
Cellar Darling are a three-piece Swiss progressive/folk metal band from Winterthur and Lucerne, Switzerland founded in 2016. The group was formed by Anna Murphy, Merlin Sutter (drums) and Ivo Henzi. Cellar Darling incorporates heavy metal, folk, classical, and progressive influences. Notably, the band uses a hurdy-gurdy and a transverse flute. The trio were previously part of the Swiss metal band Eluveitie.
Hurdy Gurdy is a 1929 animated short film which is presented by Carl Laemmle and was produced by Walter Lantz, who he and his wife would go on to make Woody Woodpecker. The film, which is animated by R.C. Hamilton, Bill Nolan and Tom Palmer, features Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, who is substituted for the organ grinder's dancer, after the original one is comically swallowed up by Oswald's bubblegum.
Patricia Büchler (1997), known professionally as Patty Gurdy, is a hurdy-gurdy musician, singer, songwriter and vlogger from Germany.
"Hurdy Gurdy Man" is a 1968 song by the Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan.
