Colum Sands (born 1951) is an Irish singer songwriter who made his first performances and recordings with The Sands Family of

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...

. Between his extensive solo appearances he continues to record and perform with his brothers

Tommy Tommy may refer to: People * Tommy (given name) * Tommy Atkins, or just Tommy, a slang term for a common soldier in the British Army Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Tommy'' (1931 film), a Soviet drama film * ''Tommy'' (1975 fil ...

and Ben and his sister Anne in the family band. Following appearances throughout Europe and North America in venues ranging from small

folk club A folk club is a regular event, permanent venue, or section of a venue devoted to folk music and traditional music. Folk clubs were primarily an urban phenomenon of 1960s and 1970s Great Britain and Ireland, and vital to the second British folk r ...

s to

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

New York City, in 1981, Sands set up the independent record label, Spring Records, with a recording studio at his home in

Rostrevor Rostrevor () is a village and townland in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies at the foot of Slieve Martin on the coast of Carlingford Lough, near Warrenpoint. The Kilbroney River flows through the village and Rostrevor Forest is nearby. ...

, County Down. He has produced around one hundred albums, working with young traditional musicians, songwriters and bands, ranging from first time recording artistes like

Cara Dillon Cara Elizabeth Dillon (born 21 July 1975, in Dungiven, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland) is a Northern Irish folk singer. In 1995, she joined the folk supergroup Equation and signed a record deal with Warners Music Group. After leaving t ...

and Oige, Deanta, Neil Mulligan and

Kieran Goss Kieran Goss is a contemporary singer-songwriter. Biography Kieran Goss was born and raised in Mayobridge, County Down, Northern Ireland. Goss recorded his first album, ''Brand New Star'', in 1989. It contained the songs "Brand New Star" and ...

to veteran performers including

Joan Baez Joan Chandos Baez (; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing more ...

, The Sands Family,

Liam O'Flynn Liam Óg O'Flynn ( ga, Liam Ó Floinn, 15 September 1945 – 14 March 2018) was an Irish uilleann piper and Irish traditional musician. In addition to a solo career and as a member of Planxty, O'Flynn recorded with: Christy Moore, Dónal Lun ...

Vedran Smailovic Vedran is a Slavic masculine given name of Croatian origin, which is also used among Serbs, Slovenes, and Bosniaks. Vedran means clear or cheerful. People * Vedran Perič, a Slovenian famous account manager * Vedran Celiščak, a Croatian footb ...

and

Pete Seeger Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American folk singer and social activist. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, Seeger also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of the Weavers, notably ...

. Sands has released eight albums featuring his own songs and a songbook titled ''Between the Earth and the Sky'' illustrated by Colum McEvoy. As well as performing his own songs, Sands has translated

Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as treat ...

into English (recording a bilingual version of "Nähe des Geliebten" with Berlin singer Scarlett Seeboldt), worked and toured in the Middle East with Israeli story teller Sharon Aviv on the English/Hebrew peace initiative production "Talking to the Wall" and translated Scottish Gaelic songs into English on his collaboration with Scottish singer and harper

Maggie MacInnes Maggie MacInnes (born 29 August 1963 in Glasgow, Scotland) is a Scottish folk singer and clàrsach player, who performs primarily in Scottish Gaelic. She is the daughter of two Barra-natives; lawyer Alister MacInnes and legendary Gaelic folk sin ...

. His own songs have been translated into German, Dutch, Danish and Hebrew and have been recorded by many artistes including

Maddy Prior Madelaine Edith Prior MBE (born 14 August 1947) is an English folk singer, best known as the lead vocalist of Steeleye Span. She was born in Blackpool and moved to St Albans in her teens. Her father, Allan Prior, was co-creator of the police dr ...

June Tabor June Tabor (born 31 December 1947 in Warwick, England) is an English folk singer known for her solo work and her earlier collaborations with Maddy Prior and with Oysterband. Early life June Tabor was born and grew up in Warwick, England. As ...

Liam Clancy Liam Clancy ( ga, Liam Mac Fhlannchadha; 2 September 1935 – 4 December 2009) was an Irish folk singer from Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary. He was the youngest member of the influential folk group the Clancy Brothers, regarded as Ireland's ...

Tommy Makem Thomas Makem (4 November 1932 – 1 August 2007) was an internationally celebrated Irish folk musician, artist, poet and storyteller. He was best known as a member of the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. He played the long-necked 5-string banjo ...

, Roy Bailey, Andy Irvine and Mick Hanly. Apart from songwriting and studio production, Sands has worked in a number of theatrical collaborations and his involvement as a musician with the Lyric Theatre (

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

) in 1976 found him working with

Liam Neeson William John Neeson (born 7 June 1952) is an actor from Northern Ireland. He has received several accolades, including nominations for an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and two Tony Awards. In 2020, he was placed 7th on ''The I ...

in the

Patrick Galvin Patrick Galvin (15 August 1927 – 10 May 2011) was an Irish poet, singer, playwright, and prose and screenwriter born in Cork's inner city. Biography Galvin was born in Cork in 1927 at a time of great political transition in Ireland. His moth ...

play ''We Do it for Love''. He has also composed music for Community Playwright Patch Connolly's plays, ''The Fair Day'' and ''The Square''. Sands is also well known as a radio presenter, from the 1990s until 2016 he presented ''Folk Club'', the popular weekly programme on

BBC Radio Ulster BBC Radio Ulster ( ga, BBC Raidió Uladh) is a Northern Irish radio station owned and operated by BBC Northern Ireland, a division of the BBC. It was established on New Year's Day 1975, replacing what had been an opt-out of BBC Radio 4. It is ...

. He has also compiled and/or presented radio programmes for

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...

(''Shifting Sands'')

RTÉ Radio 1 RTÉ Radio 1 ( ga, RTÉ Raidió 1) is an Irish national radio station owned and operated by RTÉ and is the direct descendant of Dublin radio station 2RN, which began broadcasting on a regular basis on 1 January 1926. The total budget for th ...

(''Rootin' About''.) and BBC Radio 4 "The First LP in Ireland". Sands received a Living Tradition Award for his services to Folk and Traditional Music and his song, "

Donegall Road The Donegall Road is a residential area and road traffic thoroughfare that runs from Shaftesbury Square on what was once called the "Golden Mile" to the Falls Road in west Belfast. The road is bisected by the Westlink – M1 motorway. The lar ...

" was included in the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

's album ''Sound Neighbours,'' which received three shortlisting nominations for the 2008

Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

Discography

Studio albums

*1981: ''Unapproved Road'', Spring Records SCD 1001 *1989: ''The March Ditch'', Spring Records SCD 1014 *1996: ''All My Winding Journeys'', Spring Records SCD 1035 *2003: ''The Note That Lingers On'', Spring Records SCD 1051 *2009: ''Look Where I've Ended Up Now'', Spring Records SCD 1059 *2013: ''Turn the Corner'', Spring Records SCD 1062 *2020: '' Song Bridge'', Spring Records SCD 1067

Live albums

*2007: ''Live in Concert Songs and Stories'', Spring Records SCD 1054

Collaborations

*2002: ''Talking to the Wall – with Sharon Aviv'', Spring Records SCD 1048 *2011: ''The Seedboat (Bàta an t-Sìl) – with Maggie MacInnes'', Spring Records SCD 1061

Other Appearances

*2007: ''Sound Neighbours: Contemporary Music in Northern Ireland'', Smithsonian Folkways Recordings SFW40544 *2009: ''Dear Irish Boy – Marianne Green with Andy Irvine'', Glas Records MEGCD02

Books

*2000: Colum Sands Songbook ''Between the Earth and the Sky'', Cottage Publications

References

External links

Artist's Official website

MySpace

The radio show that Colum Sands hosted
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sands, Colum 1951 births Living people Irish male singer-songwriters Irish record producers