One Christmas album I'm particularly enjoying again this year is the live Chieftains celebration from 1991 The Bells of Dublin featuring not only the Chieftains but several guests too. Towards the end there is a medley (The Wren! The Wren!) of 5 or 6 songs (The Arrival of the Wren Boys/The Dingle Set - Dance/The Wren in the Furze/A Dance Duet - Reels/Brafferton Village & Walsh's Hornpipe/Farewell:The Piper Through the Meadow Strayed/This is the Season to be Merry).
The medley reflects music that may have been heard when the wren boys came calling to bury the wren on St Stephen's Day (December 26) as they traditionally did in Ireland, Wales and elsewhere. (More here). The boys would chant (as is done here and as Kevin Conneff sings) "The wren, the wren, the king of all birds. Up with the kettle and down with the pan. Give us a penny to bury the wren." The medley features dance music, a couple of pieces by Northumbrian piper by Kathryn Tickell and my favourite - "The Wren in the Furze" which is as Irish as a song could be. Kevin Conneff sings the lead accompanied by the Voice Squad.
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