This series documents the activities of The Chieftains between the years 1974 and 2002 when Derek Bell was a member of the group. The subseries contains promotional material produced by the group’s record companies, tour schedules and itineraries, performance set-lists, programmes, ephemera, newspaper clippings, reviews, articles, photographs and memorabilia. Also included are a number of awards including a Grammy Award nominee medal (DBE-239678/4/2/9) and platinum, gold and silver discs awarded to the group for achieving exceptional album sales in a number of different jurisdictions.
Commercial and non-commercial tape cassette. Includes recordings of Derek Bell and The Chieftains; a 3 tape cassette publication of The Chieftains: the authorized biography by John Glatt, narrated by Nanci Griffith (1999); various recordings relating to music and mysticism; recordings sent to Derek Bell of other artists including a recording of Irish fiddle player Sean Maguire in the Clare Folk Club (11 Jul 1978) and a recording of Sean Maguire and Josephine Keegan in the Shetlands (n.d.); radio interviews with Derek Bell and The Chieftains; demo tapes; recordings of lectures; recordings of various artists which have recorded with The Chieftains including Mark Knopfler, Van Morrison, Midge Ure; recordings of Derek Bell’s compositions; and recordings of folk music from around the world including Folksongs from Rumania (n.d.)
Original and photocopied typescripts, programmes and newspaper clippings, and two original letters. Includes various drafts of the programme notes for ‘Symphony No. 2 in D ( The violet flame-Comte de St. Germain ) for harp obligato and large orchestra, with piano, organ and wordless choir, Derek F. Bell’. Bell concludes the discussion about the symphony in his notes as follows ‘I hope it can be easily and quickly understood by the average concert goer for it is a reactionary work and it is not an esoteric piece for the avant-garde music-specialist, but for everyone.’ [1990]; copy of programme for the première of the symphony, performed by ‘The Colchester Chamber Orchestra, (in association with Eastern Arts), Promenade concert, sponsored by Colchester and East Essex Co-operative Society at St Botolph’s Church, Colchester [Essex, England]. Leader: Beth Spendlove, Soloist: Derek Bell, Conductor: Christopher Phelps’ (7 May 1990); programmes of other performances of The violet flame by the Northern Ireland Symphony (10 Aug 1991) and (10 Nov 1991); reviews of the composition and its performance in various newspapers including the Glasgow herald (15 Aug 1991), the Sunday press (10 Nov 1991), the Gaelic daily , Los Angeles, [California, United States of America] (27 Nov 1991).
Letters, rehearsal schedules, performance invitations, concert programmes, reviews, articles, posters and ephemera relating to Bell’s solo and orchestral career. Material dates from Bell’s time performing with the BBC Northern Ireland Orchestra and the City of Belfast Orchestra in the 1950s and 1960s. Bell’s successful international solo career performing on a range of musical instruments including the piano, oboe, pedal and Irish harp, cor anglais and cimbalom is also in evidence in this subseries.
Original and photocopied letters and articles. Includes letter from Priscilla ?, Amrita Foundation, Dallas, Texas, United States of America thanking Bell for his kind donation (27 May 1998); ‘notes on Kriya Yoga technique’; various letters and articles relating to the guru and founder of the Los Angeles based Self Realization Fellowship, Swami Paramahansa Yogananda and his direct disciple Swami Kriyananda (born James Donald Walters), much of the correspondence relates to a criminal trial. These letters are marked confidential.
This subseries contains seminar notes, letters, articles and religious texts relating to Bell’s interest in Buddhism, Eastern mysticism, Kriya Yoga and the power of music and meditation to counteract evil. Seminar notes and articles are from the teaching of guru, Gideon Fontalba. The second file in this subseries relates to letters and articles which refer to a legal case involving a minister of the Self Realization Fellowship, Swami Kriyanan (born James Donald Walters). Kriyanan was a friend of Derek Bell for many years and collaborated with him on two CDs - Mystical harp and Mystical harp II . Other religious texts are from a distance learning course provided by the Arcane School, London, England. The school provides students with training in meditation and offers a service to develop their spiritual potential.
Includes non-commercial reel-to-reel recordings of Derek Bell and folk music. Including ‘Seán Ó Riada and Carolan music’ (n.d.); ‘A programme of Romanian folk music’ Romanian RadioTelevision (n.d.); ‘Music for a while Derek Bell listening copy’ (n.d.); ‘The fairies’ lament and dance by Derek Bell’ (24 April 1975); and commercial harp recordings made by Ken Freeman of Harpcraft for Derek Bell (n.d.).
Letters, typescripts, newspaper clippings, draft programme notes and ephemera relating to various solo recordings, compositions, commissions and publications produced by Derek Bell over his lifetime. The majority of the material dates from the late 1980s and the 1990s. Material relating to The Chieftains’ recordings can be found in the subseries The Chieftains (DBE-239678/4/2).
