Gaelic Song, Kilmarnock Edition and lots more!

Gaelic Song Update- I've been away for a while but decided I should really get back to Blogging and tell you what I've been up to recently!

2012 has been a busy year for me, musicwise. I've not only recorded a new solo album 'Archipelago', again on Greentrax Recordings but I've just released a new album with the band "Kilmarnock Edition" too. "Archipelago" is a unique recording of Songs of the Scottish Islands sung in Scots & Gaelic and visits some of the less well known islands of the Scottish coastline. The cover image is of St Kilda , or Hiort, in Gaelic. 

 I even get the chance to sing in the ancient Northern Isles tongue of Norn. It was a fascinating project to work on and one with which I learned a lot. It was produced by David Lyon of Greenock, an amazingly talented and conscientious musician and producer. He is the husband of Yvonne Lyon , who also sings with Kilmarnock Edition.

I was delighted to be nominated in the Gaelic Singer of the Year category at the Scots Trad Music Awards this year- a tremendous honour, particularly given the talent amongst the other singers in the category. The results will be announced at the glittering ceremony in Fort William on December 8th this year. The whole event is a fantastic celebration of the good things that go on inthe world of Scottish Traditional Music throughout the year.

Kilmarnock Edition goes from strength to strength and we celebrated the launch of our album 'Pay It Forward' on Friday Nov 23 at the Scottish Music Centre in Glasgow. We now look forward to our Celtic Connections debut in January in Glasgow . Hope to see you there!




In the meantime I will be busy working on my Mackay Country Song Residency, which looks at the history and effect of social migration within Sutherland. My residency is entitled "Dachaidh" or "Home" and examines what 2Home" means to different people.

Delighted if you like to leave any comments of questions here abut anything I have written about.

Songwriting Escape

Just spent a creative few days onthe Aberdeenshire coast with my fellow songwriter Lisa Rigby- being inspired by the windswept and snowbound landscape. Managed to write 3 songs in the space of 48 hours which was great. Now just need to get them recorded.....

Edinburgh Gig - 28th December

Delighted to be catching up with my Burnsong pals again in Edinburgh tomorrow night ( 28th) and delighted to see anybody else there too. @ The Village, Leith around 730p.
Andy Tucker of The Scattered Family will be hosting the evening and it promises to be an eclectic set! Link to location http://http://www.multimap.com/maps/?zoom=16&title=The%20Village%20Bar%20and%20Restaurant%2C%20South%20Fort%20Street%2C%20Edinburgh&countryCode=GB&qs=EH64DN

Burnsong jetlag etc...

Beginning to recover from the Burnsong week. Still cant believe I actually managed to write 5 songs- hope to record them sometime in 2010. Topics as diverse as Robert Burns and Blackberry.........:0) We Burnsong incumbents are so missing each other that we 're having 2 meetups over Christmas - firstly at Andy Tuckers gig at King Tuts in Glasgow on the 19th then in The Village , Edinburgh on the 28th and several tiunes and songs will be had so if you're inthe vicinity,we'd be delighted to see you and you can hear some of our new material! Watch this psace for details of gigs for 2010

Been busy with Christmas carol services for TV this year etc - my own Duan Nollaig Christmas Specialis to be screened again several times over Christmas- firstly on BBC Alba on Christmas Eve at 2015 so hope you can tune in for 45 mins of very Christmassy music from St Andrews in the Square, Glasgow.

Burnsong HOuse Day 6

Day of rehearsals for the Big Gig on MOnday in the Scottish Parliament. This week has been full of revelations - and none more so than that I feel like a whole new world of music is on my doorstep, not to sound too cheesy! The people in the house are such fantasic singers and musicians and Ive been priviledge to learn so much from the. And my doo wop BV's are getting better by the minute!
the gig will be broadcast on Radio Scotland on Monday 30th at 10pm .
My songs are called Guthan air a'Ghaoith and Thuirt Thu Riumsa. Guthan was the song I won my place in the House with and Thuirt Thu is one I wrote yesterday.

Burnsong House Day 5

Another productive day in the Burnsong House although there were a few very tired musicians floating around first thing. Have to decide today which of our new songs we want to do on Monday - think I'm going to sing the one I actualy wrote for today - a sort of a protest song or as near as Gaeldom can get to a protest song! Quite different to anything Ive ever done - or heard- before.
Task for today is to write about a place or an inanimate object. Im on the Blackberry.....

Day 4 in the Burnsong House

Some more great songs emerging today, from all. Everyone's style is so different but all have something special. Learning so much about the pitfalls and the intrinsic writing techniques which I either didn't realise existed or even didn't realise I was using anyway.
Really hope that I can come out of here with at least one song which DOESN'T sound like a Gaelic song....

Day 3 in the Burnsong House

Day 3 dawned with several very sleepy songwriters- some were 'writing' till the very wee sma oors....:0)
Still dreadful weather in the dales.
Task today wa to write in the completlely opposite way to which we normlly write- ie for me , that meant NOT writing the melody without recourse to using accompanying instrumentation - to make me look at chords etc - which- when you dont actually PLAY anything that makes chords, aint easy..... found it very hard not to just write the tune in my head. enlisted the help of Lisa who gave the me benefit of her lovely wee sheruti box but I still found it hard- we'll see what happens tomorrow....
Set list out for the Parliament gig. First set is the 'winning' songs. The gig will be broadcast on the Iain Anderson Show on BBC Scotland on Monday nigt.

Day 2 proper in the Burnsong House

First whole day in Burnsong - dreadful weather, get soaked between house and studio. Started at 10 and had first task - to come up with 10 titles. then a lecture on pitfalls of song writing and various challenges then given task no 2- to a) write lyrics for a song then give them to one of hte other writers to do the melody. Mean that one poor writer had to do a Gaelic song - poor Lisa, she coped fantastically well after a wee Gaelic cramming session! I wrote a song called Barr an Crois- the place we're staying is called Barncrosh and I dont know if its from the Gaelic but Ive used it as inspiration anyway.
Then had to perform the songs we were given the melody to compose- I got Andys' song a- a 'blokes' song!! Kebabs and Playstation 2 and drinking sessions featured heavily......... however he seemed happy with what I came up with!
Now after dinner off to write another one before 11am tomorrow- lyrics and melody with a chorus which EVERYONE can learn....... Any ideas!!!

Day 1 1/2 in the Burnsong House!

All arrived in the House now apart from Nuala, Ziggy & Yvonne. Weather very wet,as it has been in Dumfries for the last few days - extensive flooding as reported in the media, very wet and lots of stranded sheep and cows! W're not really affected at Barncrosh though as we're up on the hills - the llamas will look after us.........
Jennie ( our 'minder' for the week) is looking after us us beautifully and we're all settled into our rooms - the house i beautiful and full of creative potential! Methinks there will be lots of great artistic debate this week and everyone seems lovely.
Joe ( Bennett) wants us to get to work tonight ( hes also going to blog the week - http://joebennett.wordpress.com/2009/11/08/and-so-peaceful-until/- but says he'll be gentle with us as some of us are pretty tired from travelling - 2 from the US, Emily and AJ included- but we're having a musical 'get to know you circle' - bit more fun than the usual 'dynamics' session........

Day 1 in the Burnsong House......:0)

Heading for lovely warm, dry Dumfries..............with waders safely packed....... hope the floods havnt affected the Burnsong House!
Looking forward to a challenging week - its good to be pushed out of your comfort zone now and then - but it is a bit daunting too! Im sure we will have a great time but the dynamics of 12 creative folk in one house could make for some interesting debate!
Co dhiubh, I shall endeavour to keep up to dat e with the blog- internet connection allowing....
wee articla on Bord na Gaidhlig page about Burnsong-
http://www.bord-na-gaidhlig.org.uk/Default.aspx.LocID-006new0d5.RefLocID-00600f006.Lang-EN.htm

Burnsong Update & Trad Awards! Last Chance to vote!

Things hotting up preparation wise for Burnsong next week. Getting exciting! Local papers ran pieces on it last week and I gave an interview on Radio nan Gaidheal this morning. Im sure it will be a very exhilarating if exhausting week!
And then of course theres the Trad Awards on Saturday the 28th in Dumfries. Its still not too late to vote for Pur's album The Lassies Reply as reviewed on Mike Wilson's Blog here. You can vote at
www.handsupfortrad.co.uk Album of the Year category number 1. the girls will much appreciate your vote! Listen to them on www.myspace.com/purlassiesreply

Burnsong 2009

Press release about the Burnsong 2009 winners here
http://www.burnsong.org/news/article.php?id=5
really excited about this opportunity - sure it will be a tiring week but also very creative! And delighted that I am the first Gaelic writer to have won a place in the House!

BURNSONG 2009

Delighted to be able to say that I've been named a winner in the prestigious Burnsong House this year! A song I wrote last year, Guthan air a'Ghaoith has won me aplace inthe house which takes place late Novmeber this year. I will have the opportunity to live with 9 other winners , drawn from hundreds of entries from all over the world - all genres of songs, not just Trad. We will debate, write, work with industry professionals and ultimately perform our winning songs in the Scottish Parliament on St Andrews Day! This is a great opportunity and I am very excited to have been selected. More details are available on www.burnsong.org.
http://blip.fm/home?quickBlipId=101568
Guthan air a Ghaoith - Voices on the Wind, No matter where you live in the world, Song unites races.