As mentioned last time, I have one more artist to share with you for the letter I, and his name is Ian Smale, otherwise known as Ishmael & Andy, Ishmael, Ishmael United, or Rev Counta & The Speedoze.
I was about 13 when I first discovered him as Ishmael United. I was completely taken by the punk/ska style songs he was making. I went to see him perform at a local church with my parents, and I remember him wearing a boiler suit and dancing pogo style as he was singing.
Some of my favourite songs from that era were ‘Song Of The Last Generation’, here, which was a real punk classic. I found a video of him performing at a church event back in 2016, not quite so much pogoing but he was still going strong. You can see that here. Then there was ‘If You Can’t Shout Saved…’ here, and I think this one is brilliant in it’s reference to football.
Another is ‘Bartimaeus’ here. This is one that I remember him performing when I went to see him. He really brings the Bible story of blind Bartimaeus to life, as he acts it out as he sings, and you can almost imagine what it was like to be there. The final song I want to share from this era is ‘The Glories’ here. This is quite an odd song to find on a punk-style album but, as Ishmael himself describes in the video here, it started a whole new season in his life.
That new season was his songs for kids, some based around the glories that he mentioned in the previous song and many others designed for use in Church, and to help children learn scripture verses etc. I have so many memories of these songs, starting from the first album I bought when I was young, right through to working in the children’s ministry in our church. In fact it took me ages to write this blog because I was reminiscing and playing the songs I remembered and loved.
He actually wrote one of the songs to help him remember the books of the Bible better, the video is here. Most of the songs all had actions to them too, so it was quite a workout at our church kids club some weeks! ‘Quick On Your Feet Again’ here, was one of my favourites and it makes me smile to think I would lie on the floor then jump up ready to march around again. Sadly, I’m not sure I could get up again quite so quickly these days! We certainly had a lot of fun with his songs though. I must stop with the children’s songs now otherwise I will be here all day.
Finally I wanted to share a couple of songs that Ishmael has written as songs for adult worship too. A new one to me is ‘God Is Here, God Is Present’ performed here, with Martin Smith. The most popular song that he wrote, I would say anyone that has attended church since it was written in 1984, would have sung at some point. This song is ‘Father God I Wonder’. Here is Ishmael himself singing and talking a little about it.
I have so enjoyed looking back over all of my Ishmael favourites this week. I have only just scratched the surface, as there are many more albums to check out on Spotify. I shall be listening to a few more myself, I hope you do too.
See you next time.
The Church at Hiraeth 