Felicity Greenland

Felicity is an English woman who loves singing and is fascinated by the stories behind songs and their place in the popular consciousness. She is based in Kyoto, Japan. She came back to Kyoto in 2005 from London where she had been a regular at folk clubs  (Sharp's, The Cellar Upstairs, Musical Traditions, and Islington), playing in Irish sessions and working for the English Folk Dance & Song Society. She lived in Kyoto in the 1980s too, and altogether has been in Japan for over 15 years. She sings solo and in various bands, and plays bodhran, guitar, tin whistle and ukulele. She runs song workshops and classes including a monthly singing and ukulele club. 

Music...Songs, mainly old, mainly from England, Ireland and Scotland; bodhran and bones; guitar accompaniment; tin whistle; jews harp; mouth music; unaccompanied singing; chorus harmony.

Current bands/projects… 'MacFiddles' with Jay Gregg and Atsuko Kasamura; 'Kyoto Singing Around the Table and New Ukulele Club' at Gnome; 'Traditional and popular songs of the British Isles' and 'Culture Through Music and Song' university courses; Kansai 'Celtsittolke' project.

Other music...Felicity was featured in the song-themed May 2011 edition of Venetia's NHK TV programme 'Neko no Shippo Kaeru no Te'. In 2009 she taught bodhran and tin whistle to the parade performers for Universal Studios Japan, in Osaka. In the 1980s Felicity toured Japan with the folksinger-songwriter Takaishi Tomoya. More recently she has sung with Leslie Denniston as 'Gruesome Twosome' and 'Celtic Orlan with Taro Kishimoto'; vocals and percussion with guitarist Genta Fukue and Shunsuke Shimizu on flute as a quasi-trad band called 'Hardy & Heidi'; guest vocals for 'Mine' Samurai Celt Band (on the 'Ethno' album); mouth music, toys and percussion with Atsushi Iwata's band 'Mesuinu & Co'; English music sets at Hankyu Department Store British Fair and Dreamton English Village, Osaka. Her recording of Mary and the Soldier  with Atsushi Akazawa and Atsuko Kasamura was used in the 2017 promotional video of Doshisha University's Department of Global & Regional Studies.

Recent research... Western song repertoire in Japan; Japanese whaling songs as reflections of cultural attitude and practice; reception of song in language learning (at university and elementary school levels in Japan).

(English updated 2018)

Felicity Greenland　イングランド出身　音楽に恵まれた家庭環境に育ち、ロンドンのパブで繰り広げられる伝統的なアイルランド音楽シーンでは、欠くことのできない人物の一人。活動の傍らロンドンにある『English Folk Dance & Song Society』で12年間仕事に携わり後に来日する。時にアカペラで静謐に、時にバウロンやギターを携えパワフルに歌いあげる歌は人を引きつけてやまない。評して『Sweet & strong』歌のレパートリーはソロやコーラスにかかわらずイングランド、スコットランド、アイルランド、フランスのブレトン地方の歌、また、ゲール語のmouth musicやアイルランドの流浪の人達(ジプシー)から習ったコミカルな歌まで多岐に渡る。これまでにイギリス、アイルランド、フランス、日本等のアーティストと共演、レコーディングに参加している。
マイ音楽...歌、大体イギリス、アイルランド、スコットランドの古い歌。バウロン（アイルランドの太鼓）、アコギ、ティンホイッスル。口音楽。今のバンド...　'MacFiddles' (Jay Gregg　と傘村あつこ　と）。

前のバンド...高石ともや　と。レズリーデニストンのケルチックオールラン（伝統的なブリッチシュの歌)。ハージアンドハイジ（福江元太と清水俊介と)。メス戌&Co.

２００９年USJのパホーマンス　チームにバウロンとティン ウィスルを教えました。

２０１１年５月にNHKの猫のしっぽカエルの手と言うベニシアさんの番組に参加しました。