For years now I’ve been certain that I scraped the barrel for quality yuletide tunes the previous year. But no - there's no end to xmas-gems if you know how-and where to look for them. Some of these lovelies are actually leftovers from Christmases past. But its common knowledge that some leftovers are better than when it was made fresh.
Here’s mostly folk, latin and lightly jazzy seasonal oldies - as always. Starts off (and ends) on a somewhat (beautifully) serious note but it gets all the more festive throughout. I’ll leave you with this call from A Christmas Carol:
«Drown sorrow in a cup of wine, And let us all be merry!»
-Moahaha
1 Folk & Rackare - Maria
-Traditional Swedish
2 Robert Maxwell And His Harp - Sing We Now Of Christmas
-Traditional french carol
3 The Harvesters - Virgin Mary
-Traditional spiritual
4 The Young Tradition - March the Morning Sun
-Edmund Sears, Arthur Sullivan text: 1859 Melody: 1874
5 Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra - Silent Night, Holy Night
-Franz Xaver, 1818
6 Anne Briggs - The Snow It Melts the Soonest
-British folk song, 1821
7 John McCarthy & The Regency Choir - Pat-A-Pat-A-Pan
-Bernard de La Monnoye, 17/18th century. France
8 Eduardo Zurita - Navidad Negra
-José Barros, Columbia
9 Nati Mistral - Los Peces en el Río
-Traditional Spanish
10 Paradosiakí Orchístra Kai Chorodía Néon - Xristougena Protougena
-Thessaly / Greek carol
11 Ray Rasch - Sugar Plum Cha Cha
-Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, 1892
12 The Anita Kerr Singers - Snow in Lover's Lane
-Al De Vita, Jerry Ball, Fred Kelly, 1951
13 Pedro Vargas - Padre Nuestro
-Albert Hay Malotte, 1935
14 Valentina Félix - Natal Em Portugal
-Valentina Felix 1965?
15 Esa Katajavuori - Jo On Joulu
-Esa Katajavuori, 1975
16 Banquo Folk Ensemble - A Christmas Carol
-George Wither, 1626
17 The Beers Family - Three Little Drummers
-Traditional Irish
18 Waterson:Carthy - Sugar Wassail
-Sussex/England. Published by Rev. John Broadwood, 1843
19 Orkesteri Oiva - Nyt Ilovirttä Veisaten
-Latin-German, 13th century.
20 Teodora Păunescu Ţucă - Sosit-A Praznicul Iară
-Romanian colinde
21 Götterfunken - It Barn er Fød
-Danish traditional
or
Link to XD-VI & XD-V (where you’ll also find I-IV) & here's the streams for 2017 + 2016: