Wow, it's been a long time since I updated this page properly! New tracks coming very soon, it's been soooo busy! Working with an American musician called Kathleen Deignan to get her online fully, and size2shoes' début album is out so I've been listening repeatedly!! Hope you're all good, you can keep up to date on my blog on my website for now, until then, keep happy! And if in the UK... please never vote conservative!!

For more info, join the mailing list below. Sorry for the speedy exit, some unexpected work to get sorted! Go raibh míle maith agaibh for the nice words - see y'all in April =)Le grá agus beannacht,Robbi.xx


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Yesterday I had the honour of being at the launch of a new album to raise money for victims of domestic violence: men, women, children, organised by Joseph McGilloway OSB. As y'all know, I'm well on the road to recovery, and I've decided to start recording again, proper stuff (as opposed to the bad vocals on the tracks on my page), so fingers crossed.

I made a very conscious decision today on my way home, on over 8 hours of road. I'm gonna give music a shot again. I was at the wee after-party after the concert and had a good chat with my musical heroes such as Noirin Ni Riain, Moya Brennan and her husband Tim Jarvis, as well as Alyth McCormack, whose music I've followed since I was teeny and had an even squeakier voice than today! There were some new musicians who blew me away as well, like Nassau Royal, Rob(?) Hope and James O'Brien-Moran.

At the end of the night I even sang Puirt a Beul with Alyth McCormack, and was amazed at how friendly she and the other musicians are - it's one big amazing community in which the musicians bounce off each other, and I like that, a lot. So I'll have to give AnnaMary a call, and head back to Dublin to see what can be done!

I'm hoping to be back on the road again in January 2009 if everything goes well, so here's to 50 more sets of Puirt, the odd original song, and a whole lot of Gaoth Barra's and Coisich a Ruin's! (OH, and definitely a few listens to AMEN's music - they were AMAZING!!! =O

Hallo! Sorry I've been a wee bit slow to reply, but I'll do so in the next few days. I've been writing an awful lots for a few wee projects that I can't tell you about right now, but hold on tight xD

I want to draw attention to an album that I hope does very well. Some of my favourite singers in the world have recorded an album which will benefit those suffering from Domestic Violence in Ireland. The album will be released worldwide in a few weeks, although the single is now available.

'Stars are Made for the Sky' by Nassau Royal featuring Moya Brennan is so beautiful. You can get the single at iTunes now - seriously guys, the song is more than worth it, and every penny will go to the victims of Domestic Violence. To purchase it from iTunes, click here.

MORE INFO ON SANCTUARY @ THEIR MYSPACE

To promote 'Sanctuary' and the new single click here.

Thanks guys and ladies, I'll update and reply to everything as soon as possible le cuidiú Dé,
Le céad beannacht and a big lump of love,
Robbi

I’ve been commented a few times asking if the new album was available to buy via Paypal, and finally it is! Dan’s keeping the albums in his storeroom with his other CDs. Sorry this has taken so long! It’s been a nightmare having the CDs shipped to England - our distributor is based in Scott’s Valley, California!!! Anyway, there’s a link on my profile if you’re interested =)

The CD is also available through Amazon and Createspace, and will soon be available to buy (in the next two weeks!) from most digital stores. Oh, and it can be downloaded at Amazon MP3 =) I’m being kept busy!


On to other updates, I’ve not been too well recently, I’ve had a bad cold and my nerves are away with it again xD I hope y’all are doing fine! Drop a message anytime! =)

Rob.xoxoxo


PS!!!!!!!!!! You can’t beat Tomb Raider for PS2 when you’ve gotta cold, or alphabet soup! And the snow is terrible here!! D=
xD

From: Source

Music is becoming far easier to access every single minute of the day thanks to sites such as Tunecore, MySpace and Last.fm. But sometimes people don’t want to buy full tracks or use pay per play, or listen to the bad quality of MySpace. And that’s where Raidió Idirlíon comes in. Irish traditional music isn’t exactly the most popular genre out there and is often treated quite crap really by those who know nothing about it. Therefore, traditional music has been suppressed.

And let’s face it, if you’re looking for radio play on any of Ireland’s major (non-independent) stations, you gotta bust your ass, and even then there’s a slim chance. Independent Irish trad artists are simply treated badly by the media. It’s a ratings thing. But now, there’s a new radio service, which is busting the ass out of all other trad radio sources. Raidió Idirlíon had an ever-changing playlist that hundreds of artists have already featured on, including myself. It has two stations - Irish Traditional and Rock Music. Most of the rock is from Ireland as well! This is a big big promotion opportunity for any trad or rock artist. RID (abbreviation) promotes both the Irish language and music from the island in a way that no other person, organisation or company has done.

So, go and have a look. And if you’re a musician, record a jingle, link to RID and help them out. I have a feeling they’re gonna be absolutely massive in the next few years. They’re the only group/site/station promoting us indies. Check it out:

>> rid.ie

Finally got the new design up! Hope you like it =)

Moving on nicely;

You’ll see the banner reads that the new album is on iTunes, but not at the moment. Thanks to Tunecore though, it should be up in the next few weeks on the following digital stores:

* iTunes U.S.
* iTunes Australia/N.Z.
* iTunes Canada
* iTunes UK/European Union
* iTunes Japan
* Rhapsody
* Napster
* eMusic
* GroupieTunes
* Amazon MP3
* Lala

Thanks for reading =)
Love/Le Grá/Le Gaol
robbi.x

From: Source

In an article written on the 4th of February for The Daily Record, purrring George Galloway wrote an article, describing the (upcoming!) Gaelic station as theft and Gaelic as a dead language.

I have to take a few points to correct, and put into a sane view what he said. I was sparked to write something in my wee blog after hearing about it on Julie Fowlis’ MySpace blog. I was, in nicer terms, peeved off.

Gaels have picked the pockets of the tax payer again and Angus Og has made off with millions with the start of a new Gaelic TV station.

Firstly, the Gaels have a right to a full-time broadcasting service in their own language. There are many Gaels in Scotland who use Gaelic as a first language. In saying what he did, he is saying that TG4 is money taken from the tax payer. TG4 has been an absolutely massive success, and I find myself watching an nuacht or ’Aifric’ almost every single day, as well as the chart shows and trad music programmes. I am 100% confident that the new Scottish station will be just as successful, if not more so. Scotland is absolutely booming with language enthusiasts, and events such as Celtic Connections and the upcoming Heb Celt Festival prove that.

I don’t know why they need one when they’ve got BBC Scotland, where if your first name is not Farquar, Crawford or Torquil, you haven’t got a chance.

George Galloway seems to be racist, and must still be bitter about his Big Brother days when he pretended to be a cat to get a chance with his housemate. Poor desperate man. Another thing, BBC Scotland is just like BBC northern Ireland. MOST programmes, and I’m being nice, are in English.

Language is a living thing or nothing at all if you ask me. And the rest of us, by a stroke of luck, are in possession of a tongue worth the weight of Ben Nevis in gold. The English language is our greatest asset and the government spends far too little spreading it even wider.

I’d expect George Galloway to do is research. Then he’d find out that both Gaelic languages are alive and kicking!! And before he goes all ’English language’, Gaelic was here first. I do hope he remembers the suppression the English used to try and destroy two of the most interesting cultures about. I don’t speak Gàidhlig fluently, but I have a bit, and am fluent in Gaeilge, and I use it every single day. It’s my first language, and it’s the first language of hundreds of thousands of people around the world.

The money spend on Gaels and their obscure language could be spent by the British Council teaching, for example, the people of China to speak English with infinitely more returns.

Em, it’s Scotland. They live in the un-united queendom. They have a right to come first in their own country. They trust on the people of the rest of that queendom to respect their culture. There are more people speaking the Gaelic languages than there are speaking Welsh... favouritism never goes down too well. It is unjust.

There are more people who speak Punjabi in Scotland than have the Gaelic. Can you imagine the outcry if the government gave £50 per week per head to subsidise Lahore TV?

There are more people who speak Polish in Ireland than there are those who can speak Gaeilge. They have a right to speak Polish and the good people of Ireland respect that. But don’t forget that Gaelic is our history and our Culture. And it’s the same for Scotland.

We are not even spending enough teaching our own kids how to speak, read and write our own language properly as the poor level of English Higher passes testifies.

What an arrogant *******. the GAELS HAVE A RIGHT to have money spent on the education of their own children - many of whom learn Gaelic or use is as a first language.

I get a shoal of texts and emails from Scottish listeners to my Talksport radio show every weekend. Many of them tell how patriotic they are about Britain, but not patriotic enough to be able to spell the words of abuse they hurl at me.

I always thought racists deserve what they got. I take it then this article is just an emotional huff because he can’t take the (perfectly right) abuse they throw at him.

If a handful of people in Scotland want to keep this obscure language alive, they can do so. Like the Amish in the United States, let them be self-sustaining.

My final response, nothing can be as obscure as the English language, and its ex-big-brother-loser-politicians. The Scottish and Irish people have each other to keep going, and they’ll always want to promote their language.

'Façade : Special Bonus Edition' (Façade : Deluxe Edition - Japan and Australasia) will be available to purchase from Amazon, HMV and Virgin Megastores (Zavvi) from 12th March 2008. The tracklist and all details are available at my new (permanent) website, here. The album will contain SIX new tracks, and will be followed by a small tour. We hope you like what Ochre (Chris Leary) has done with the album!

Tá an áthas orm rá libh go mbeidh an albam úr are fáil ar fud an domhain ar Amazon, i Virgin Megastores agus in HMV ar an 12ú lá de mhí an Mhárta 2008. Tá an raonliosta ar fáil ar an suíomh úr (buan), anseo. Beidh SÉ raon úr ar an chérnín, agus tá camchuairt bheag á eagrú againn. Tá súil agam go mbainfaidh sibh sult ás!

http://www.robbimcmillen.com

Hosted By: Iain Baird
When: 24 Feb 2007, 04:00
Where: Belfast National Hall
City Centre
Belfast, NI
United Kingdom
Description:
Iain Baird

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