Bliadhna Mhath ur Dhuibh Uile!

In case Hogmanay celebrations overtake me ( I wish!), I'd just like to wish you all a very Happy New year when it comes. Bliadhna Mhath ur nuair a thigeas e!
I'd be very keen to hear from anyone who'd like to learn some mroe wee bits and pieces of Gaelic with me or who have any queries about Gaelic Song?
I'd also be interested in hearing from anyone who may have musical projects they may have ideas for?
And also love to hear from anyone who'd be interested in coming with me to Spain this Springtime to learn Gaelic Song & Language? More detials to come soon.

A very safe and happy Hogmanay and Ne'Er Day to you all!

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

Christmas Eve Concert online update

Fiona and katie's concert of Gaelic carols on Christmas Eve shoudl be alovely way of seeing in Christmas Day ( if you're with UK time) and whatever time of day it is with you, its guaranteed to get you in the Christmas spirit! Join us at 1140pm for half an hour of old favourites and some newer ones too - download the lyrics and listen to the podcast on my website so you can join in!

Get the mulled wine or spiced apple juice out of whatever makes you feel festive an

d relax for a wee while. Katie will accompany me on the Scottish Clarsach for some of the songs. If you do join us for the carols make sure and close any other programs you may have running on your computer before watching as they may mean your computer will struggle to stream the broadcast

Look forward to seeing you - and hope you enjoy it!

A very Nollaig Chridheil to you all!

Fiona

http://www.fionamackenzie.org/

Duan Nollaig Christmas Show

The Duan Nollaig TV Christmas carol concert will be aired again this Christmas, twice! On STV on the 23rd Dec at 1135pm and then on BBC Alba , Christmas Eve at 2015. Heres a taster.
http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzilo8ZIISw

Live Christmas Gaelic Carol Concert- streamed on web

Im going to be performing what we think is the first ever Gaelic Christmas carol concert streamed live on the web on Christmas Eve! From 1140 till 1210, myself and singer and clarsach player Katie Mackenzie will take you gently into Christmas Day with some well known and not so well known Gaelic carols. You will be able to join in too but downloading the lyric and phonetic sheets which will be available shortly from my website http://www.fionamackenzie.org/

We will be performing , from my home, of course in UK time so if you're elsewhere in the world, you'll need to adjust your time schedule accordingly! The carols will be available, recorded on the site , after the broadcast.

The carols will be broadcast from my site at http://www.fionamackenzie.org/

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.

Lisa and AJ rehearsing harmonies for The Tinto Hymn for the Burnsong Big Gig

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

The Burnsong Peacock

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

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

Mike Wilson's Music Blog: ALBUM REVIEW: Fiona J Mackenzie - 'A Good Suit Of Clothes'

Mike Wilson's Music Blog: ALBUM REVIEW: Fiona J Mackenzie - 'A Good Suit Of Clothes'

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

Review of The Lassies Reply

Excellent review of The Lassies Reply by Pur which has been nominated for Album of the Year at the MG Alba Scots Trad Music Awards- have a listen on their Myspace www.myspace.com/purlassiesreply and if you like what you hear vote for them at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=Y4fgcFLw4XfvD_2fFFtSAKSQ_3d_3d

Give 2 young singers careers a real boost!

Review by Mike Wilson at http://mikewilsonmusicblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/album-review-pur-lassies-reply.html

Autumn in the Highlands

Weathers getting gradually colder- a lovely fresh crispy morning yesterday with a sharp frost on the grass, but back to grey wetness today. We're still very lucky to live here though, its beautiful whatever the weather!

MG Alba Scots Trad Music Awards Nomination

Delighted to announce that MacDug Music's newest release "The Lassies Reply", by 'Pur' has been nominated for Album of the Year at the MG Alba Scots Trad Music Awards. This unique album is very special- the only CD in the wolrd of the Songs of Robert Burns sung in Scots and Gaelic. The 2 young singers featured are Katie Mackenzie (Gaelic) and Shona Donaldson (Scots).Please take a listen to some tracks on their Myspace at www.myspace.com/purlassiesreply
and if you like what you hear, please consider casting your vote for them on
www.handsupfortrad.co.uk and look for the link to the MG Alba Awards.
This is a great album, very different to any other Burns album around. We hope you like it!