RITCHIE BLACKMORE RELEASES CHRISTMAS CAROLS aka SATAN MUSIC?

Ex-Deep Purple and Rainbow guitarist Ritchie Blackmore has released Winter Carols with his Rock-Folk-Renaissance project Blackmore’s Night

Former Deep Purple and Rainbow guitarist Ritchie Blackmore has released a new album. He’s teamed up with partner Candice Night for the new holiday Blackmore’s Night release Winter Carols. The first single and video from the collection is “Christmas Eve.”

The album is taken from the pre-church name for the songs we know as Christmas Carols. Blackmore told us that the tunes we all know and love were at one time considered devil’s music.

“Christmas Carols are old Winter Songs. They’re old medieval Renaissance tunes that have been changed throughout the years by the church. For a period of time, in the 1600s, Christmas Carols were banned by Oliver Cromwell and people like that. It was all because it was considered Satan’s Music. It was not considered religious. So, in the end, the Church gave up fighting the normal peasant that would alway sing these folk tunes and they said, ‘OK we’ll do those songs, but we’ll change the lyrics to suit whichever religion was appropriate at the time. It’s very interesting if you do the research on Christmas Carols on where the came from and the different words that were used. Amazing.”

Blackmore, who has joined with partner Candice Night in the Renaissance-folk-rock group, said that his fascination has gone back to the early ’70s. When he wasn’t rocking out at night with Deep Purple he was playing Renaissance-type tunes on his guitar.

“I was always playing this Renaissance music and to me that was the real music. I loved rock. I like going on stage and jumping around with the Marshalls and kind of hammering and the sustain, but it became a little bit Spinal Tap after a while. I’m sure Spinal Tap’s next version will be Robin Hood of the Glenn with my boots, which I’ll lend them, the musician goes medieval. I’m sure that’s what they’re going to do, which I think will be very funny.”

Candice Night said the album, which has remained on the Billboard New Age chart at Number 9 for the fourth straight week, reminds people that Christmas-time is supposed to be about singing and capturing that warm fuzzy feeling.

“I think Christmas time does that, or holiday time does that to everybody. It brings back that child like innocence. When you look that Christmas tree or see those presents wrapped for you, it always brings you back to being a kid. It’s such a great warm, kind of comfortable, you feel so safe and secure. The glow. That’s exactly what it is.”