Manitoba Hal - Live In Ghent

Size: 199 MB
Time: 1:24:42
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2017
Styles: Acoustic Blues Folk
Art: Front

CD 1:
01. Come On In My Kitchen (Live) (2:12)
02. Way Down In The Hole (Live) (3:05)
03. Atlanta Moan (Live) (3:10)
04. Automobile (Live) (2:22)
05. Baby Please Don't Go (Live) (3:29)
06. Evangeline Blues (Live) (3:53)
07. Dancing In The Moonlight (Live) (4:59)
08. Let The Mermaids Flirt With Me (Live) (2:54)
09. Sweet Home Chicago (Live) (3:34)
10. St James Infirmary (Live) (5:32)
11. My Babe (Live) (2:37)
12. Learned Pigs And Fireproof Women (Live) (3:53)

CD 2:
01. Ain't No Grave (Live) (3:47)
02. Tastes Like Chicken (Live) (3:45)
03. High Fever Blues (Live) (2:42)
04. They're Red Hot (Live) (3:38)
05. Built For Comfort (Live) (3:15)
06. Somebody On Your Bond (Live) (2:42)
07. Key To The Highway (Live) (2:16)
08. Dig Me A Grave (Live) (5:32)
09. Turn Out The Lights (Live) (2:58)
10. My Creole Belle (Live) (2:09)
11. Who Do You Love (Live) (5:17)
12. The Thrill Is Gone (Live) (4:51)

When you think Ukulele, you think Hawaiian music, but when you hear Manitoba Hal Brolund plucking and strumming on his ukulele to create great blues, you rethink the ukulele, as well as its place in music. Manitoba Hal has a strong voice that compliments the ukulele and the riffs that power this 2 disc, 16 song album. This album shows he is a master at the ukulele.

Live in Ghent was recorded at a tour stop in Belgium in April of 2016. Half of the songs are blues covers; songs by Robert Johnson, Bo Diddley and B.B. King are blended in with originals to compile a fine blues album.

Manitoba Hal’s own tunes are a mix of Mississippi delta, Cajun and Zydeco style blues. Several of his originals are toe tapping delta blues. Evangeline Blues and Robert Johnson’s; they’re red hot hints of the ukulele’s origins to Hawaii with Hawaiian styling’s added to these two blues tracks.

My personal favourite has to be “Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women”, which it’s Jazzy riffs and image provoking lyrics. When not playing at Ukulele festivals, he can be found at the blues and folk festivals across Canada. It’s no wonder why he is quoted as “a tireless live performer, ambassador for the ukulele and all around great musician”. ~Maxine de Graaf

Live In Ghent

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Manitoba Hal - Blues Is In The Water

Size: 191 MB
Time: 31:36
File: FLAC
Released: 2018
Styles: Acoustic Blues
Art: Front

01. Alligator (3:19)
02. My Dyin' Day (3:11)
03. Papa Gateau (Made Of Money) (2:58)
04. Peel Myself Away (3:16)
05. Paul Walked On (2:38)
06. Plenty Of Fish (2:50)
07. Saint Peter (3:04)
08. Hope Of A Brighter Day (3:25)
09. When Leadbelly Walked The River (3:06)
10. Blessed By Love (3:42)

For over 15 years, Canadian blues artist Manitoba Hal has been forging a career as one of the country’s most preeminent roots and blues multi-instrumentalists. With 14 recordings under his own name and appearances on countless others, guitarist, ukulele master and singer-songwriter Manitoba Hal is a musical renaissance man.

Known for his deep baritone voice and mastery of his instrument – whether it be on guitar or his trusty ukulele - Manitoba Hal takes his audience from the deep south to the islands with songs that are mournful, hopeful, silly, romantic and introspective. His original songs have become modern classics and his take on standards and popular blues songs of the past have brought him to the forefront of the blues scene. Manitoba Hal has been influenced equally by artists such as Gordon Lightfoot and Stephen Fearing as much as blues forefathers Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters. These influences offer a uniquely Canadian sound to Hal’s blues and work to tie together the exceptional prose in his lyrics with grit and spirit of blues music.

Beginning his career as a guitarist, Manitoba Hal began to play the ukulele when he inherited a 1955 Martin uke from his beloved grandfather who told him “you can have it if you learn to play it”. And so, he did, continuing to master the tiny instrument, thus proving that the ukulele can be small but mighty as he pulls out powerful riffs and melodies adding background beats with looping technology showcasing the blues in all its passion and groove. His approach to playing is simple – there’s not a lot of flash, just a brilliant understanding of the music, the mood and his audience. In an average year Hal performs over 150 shows throughout Canada, Europe and Australia. Be it a crowd of one or 1000, Manitoba Hal gives 100% of his energy and ability at each performance to ensure a night to remember.

Whether on four strings or six, Manitoba Hal is one of Canada’s most versatile, engaging, expressive and down-to-earth blues artists.

Blues Is In The Water

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