Capercaillie, Thirty Years On

Their song A Prince Among Islands was the first Gaelic song to chart. Capercaillie developed the Gaelic song tradition through the creative use of modern production techniques. The band, originally called The Etives, was begun by  Donald Shaw and Karen Matheson in 1982. They are from Taynuilt south of Oban, near Loch Etive, where there was a strong tradition of folk music  - both Donald's parents are musicians and his father is also a accordionist.

Their first two albums were recorded traditionally – Crosswinds (1987) and Sidewaulks (1989). 

In the 80s Capercaillie were greatly influenced by Irish folk music of the 80s, with bands like Clannad and Planxty. Irish music was more advanced then and the Irish band Clannad proved the wider appeal that was possible with their chart success for the theme Hurry’s Song.

So for their albums Delirium (1991) and Secret People (1993) Capercaillie added basslines, drum machines and synthesisers and this fusion sound let to chart success in the 1990s. Shaw said that some may feel they sold out from the folk traditions but he feels they would have sold out by making the same record over and over. The  band preferred to move on and try new things. Their sound became contemporary traditional music. The band toured worldwide and continue to tour today.

Now in the 2000s, Capercaillie have returned to a slightly more traditional arrangements and instruments with a more subtle fusion of modern instruments.

Capercaillie are considered folk royalty. Donald Shaw has been the musical director for Glasgow’s highly successful Celtic Connections since 2007. I cover the festival each year and I am well aware of the diversity, quality and musicianship that Donald pulls together to make this highly successful event for the city of Glasgow.

One aspect that makes the band stand out is the clear beauty of Karen Matheson’s subtle expressive voice. She often sings in Gaelic. There are some wonderful clips of her on YouTube singing with the unmatchable quality of the Transatlantic band  - nothing much beats a perfect vocal, beautiful  melody and the TS band!  In a BBC documentary Karen said as a teenager she was dragged around venues to sing by her dad. It was only when she met Donald and realised his drive and creative enthusiasm for the folk music that she was able to see the purpose of it all.  Donald and Karen married ( ) - I notice at Celtic there are several married couples in folk music! 

On this documentary about the bands thirty years together Shaw said that there was no music industry compared to 30 years ago and that it is all about making music for the live experience now.  Donald Shaw is very much the musical driving force of the band. He is also a successful composer and arranger and recently he composed music for the BBCs 'Hebrides; Islands on the Edge.'

The present day line up of the band consists of - Karen Matheson (vocals), Charlie McKerron (fiddle), Michael McGoldrick (flute, whistle, pipes), Manus Lunny (bouzouki, guitar), Donald Shaw (keyboards, accordion), Ewen Vernal (bass), David Robertson (percussion), Che Beresford (drums), James Mackintosh (drums).

Capercaillie are a Scottish folk band, founded in the 1980s by Donald Shaw and fronted by Karen Matheson. They have seen four of their albums placed in the UK Albums Chart, and continue to perform and record to the present day.

Bring It All Home Festival

Martha Rafferty and Rab Noakes

A new festival being held in Paisley to celebrate the life and songs of world renowned Paisley born singer songwriter Gerry Rafferty.

15th - 19th April 2014

On what would have been Rafferty's 67th birthday the highlight concert is the sold out Bring it All Home, Gerry Rafferty concert -  a celebration of the music of one of Paisley’s most famous sons, Gerry Rafferty and featuring his popular  and lesser-known works and also never-before performed pieces, and also with songs especially arranged for the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.

This concert will differ from the hugely successful 2012 Bring It All Home concert at Celtic Connections. Instead of the full band there will be the RSNO and different songs are being performed. Rather than the full band version Rab Noakes will sing the song 'Baker Street' stripped back with only his guitar.

The show will be hosted by Martha Rafferty and produced by his friend and collaborator Rab Noakes.  Noakes has released over 20 albums and been described as ‘one of Scotland’s finest songsmiths’;

Martha Rafferty

Other artists performing are: Barbara Dickson, a platinum selling Scottish singer, she was awarded an OBE in 2002 for her services to music and drama. She has recently released her 25th studio album, To Each and Everyone; The Songs of Gerry Rafferty. Eddi Reader – another best selling Scottish singer, she began her career as the singer with Fairground Attraction and their chart-topping single Perfect. She has just released her 10th album, Vagabond. Roddy Hart – Glasgow songwriter, who has released a recent album with the band The Lonesome Fire. He curates the acclaimed Roaming Roots Revue at Celtic Connections and hosts a BBC Radio Scotland show. Siobhan Wilson – Scottish singer who spent several years studying music in Edinburgh and Paris and now based in Glasgow. Emma Pollock – a Scottish singer-songwriter known as part of the The Delgados, The Burns Unit and The Fruit Tree Foundation. 

I attended the Bring It All Home at Celtic 2012 and it was a wonderful night that included The Proclaimers and many other well known Scottish artists.

Here’s what I wrote then - Noakes gave the glue and character to the show with his stories about Gerry, the Humblebums, late night travels and more. He spoke of Rafferty’s intelligence and of his love of harmony; of his spiritual side and of his strong will and self belief. He spoke of the poignancy yet hard core centre of Rafferty’s songs. I'm still singing Rafferty songs two weeks later!

Rafferty’s songs cover the full spectrum of emotions - they express full-on-energy, questioning cynicism and mystical spiritualism. He was from Paisley and his music gave the folk song a new voice. He cared about the craft of the song and not celebrity or its trimmings. He was an artist in the true sense of the word and had a rare clarity of artistic vision. A wonderful celebration of one of Scotland’s greatest ever singer songwriters that did Gerry proud and a highlight of this years Celtic Connections.

The festival also hosts many other events showcasing the breadth and quality of Scottish artists, such as a songwriting night hosted by Hamish Stuart, John Grant and Midge Ure.

Details of events here - http://www.bringitallhome.co.uk/  

BLOGS 
http://www.musicfootnotes.com/2012/01/bring-it-all-home-gerry-rafferty.html
http://www.musicfootnotes.com/2011/10/gerry-rafferty.html

The Old Bookshop

Up in Callander Scotland there is a lovely old bookshop where they restore and rebind rare and second hand old hardback books.  We like to take a drive here as there are several bars and restaurants that welcome dogs. 

On our last visit I talked with Sally Evans, the owner of The Bookshop.  She is a poet herself and she used to hang about Sandy Bells Bar in Edinburgh when guys like the poet Hamish Henderson and his dog were there. She also hosts a poetry weekend here in September.  

I asked her if she thought books would disappear and she said she thought not and that we would want special hard back copies of the books we loved best - I think she may be right, I hope she is.  I thought of my own book collection for my favourite writers and poets, which are such an important part of my life and who I am. 
 

As book shops leave the high street and with books being cheaper to purchase online, I miss the time to collect and discover myself in them and vanish from those commercial clothes,  cosmetics and accessories high street merchandisers.

It’s of interest to me also that most of the writers, poets and musicians I meet support a yes vote for Scottish independence.  Perhaps it’s that artists are also dreamers of new visions and new horizons….

Kings Bookshop: Antiquarian and second hand books. Excellent bindings by bookbinder Ian W King; good Scottish, history, natural history and poetry sections, and our own garden behind the shop. Poetry Scotland broadsheet published here by Sally Evans, also diehard poetry and drama books. Annual Callander Poetry Weekend Party every first weekend in September.

Broken Records Queens Hall Edinburgh

Some gigs are simply so much fun! This was the Edinburgh based band Broken Records at the Queens hall Edinburgh, where I had unlimited shooting. The gig took place during the Edinburgh festival 2009.  I like to get to a good position at the side, if that’s possible. The converted church hall was packed so it wasn’t really possible to move about and I much prefer not to interrupt the gig when shooting.  The 3 song limitation is really so restrictive to getting good images.  It depends – you can get the shot but if you want to get something more than that it is not possible.  I remember feeling exhilarated and exhausted after the gig.

Over the years my eye has changed too. I’ve put a lot into my photography over the years and it means a lot to me following my passions for music and the combining two of my best loved arts is simply perfect for me.  Broken Records have a new EP Toska and play King tuts in April.  http://brokenrecordsband.com/

Broken Records are a six-piece indie folk band from Edinburgh. The band are signed to 4AD and released their debut album, Until the Erath Begins to Part 2009 and Let Me Come Home in 2010.

New Pono Player

In March Neil Young launched his high quality digital Pono music player at SXSW in Austin, Texas, where he said of his new player "once you hear this, you can't go back". The rock legend announced his plans for Pono - and during the event his Kickstarter campaign raised over $800,000 in just 4 hours! Young explained that 'Pono' is the Hawaiian word for 'righteousness'.

Pono promises lossless audio files, up to "ultra-high resolution" 9216 kbps. Pono consists of a digital music service (PonoMusic) and 128GB portable device (PonoPlayer) capable of storing 1-2,000 high resolution songs.
Some observers however have described the new player, which is yellow and shaped like a triangle, as looking like a Toblerone Chunky! Some also wonder whether we need higher quality sound for ‘music-on-the-go?

I read of Young’s music player,g which he called ‘Pure Tone’ at first, in his good read autobiography Waging Heavy Peace. Young was very concerned over the sound compression of mP3s and resolved to develop a high resolution sound. This reminded me of lo res web images compared to high quality prints. 

Young believes the quality of sound is being lost with MP3s as they compress the sound of music - whereas in the studio there are many layers of sound.  We might compare this to the quality of lo res web images compressed to 72 dpi to hi res prints 300dpi. 

The Pono Player is described as a "purpose-built, portable, high-resolution digital-music player designed and engineered in a "no-compromise" fashion to allow consumers to experience studio master-quality digital music at the highest audio fidelity possible, bringing the true emotion and detail of the music, the way the artist recorded it, to life."
Young is due to release a new autobiography. I enjoyed reading his Waging Heavy Peace last year his stories of both his passion for both vintage cars and music 


His next album will also be released this month and he said the record was "An unheard collection of rediscovered songs from the past recorded on ancient electro mechanical technology captures and unleashes the essence of something that could have been gone forever…".

Neil Young SECC Glasgow 2013

 

QUOTE Neil Young in Waging Heavy Peace: ‘I want to bring the soul of the music industry and the technology of Silicon valley together to create this new model using artists as the drivers’

I have an idea to build a portable player (I’ve called ‘Pure Tone’) and an online distribution model to present a quality alternative to MP3s.

‘To rescue music from the degradation in quality that is at the heart of the decline of music sales and ultimately music itself in popular culture with the advent of the new online music retailers (such as iTunes ) has some terrible quality. An mp3 has about five percent of the data that can be found in a ‘Pure Tone’ master file or a vinyl record.

I dislike what has happened to the quality of the sound of music, there is little depth or feeling left and people can’t get what they need from listening to music anymore, so it is dying.’

Recording is my first love in the creative field (along with song writing and music making)

Which all led me to think about how much I enjoy the quality of sound of live music. And also prompted me to restore our vinyl LPs and record player from their place in the attic. My son was highly impressed!

 https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1003614822/ponomusic-where-your-soul-rediscovers-music

Lyla Foy at Nice and Sleazy's Glasgow March 2014

Lyla took to the Nice N Sleazy stage, after a fine set by Scottish duo Turtles, who have a strong front singer and play powerful electronic melodic post rock. Worth checking out. 

Lyla sang with a subtle haunting country voice her memorable songs along with her backing band.  She sang with a dreamy ethereal, other worldly and even slightly hippy-ish look and feel to her music and look.

Her voice is pure and direct over a steady beat. There were some shades of  Christine McVie's melodic tones with the subtleness of Lana Del Rey and The XX in there too, as she mixes some folk with a more contemporary feel. 

Her songs have quiet reflective themes.  Notable songs were Easy, Feather Tongue and Left To Wonder.  

 

I hoped she didn’t feel let down that some mates of the support band had already left before her set -  fans of one artist should also support the other artists. It matters not the size of an audience but about impressing those who are there and the seasoned performers know this only too well! 

In 2013 the London singer songwriter put out her music under the pseudonym the WALL and her song No Secrets was well received by both BBC radio and the music website Pitchfork. Her single Magazine has good drama.

She also put out 2 pretty nifty covers - Something on my Mind by Karen Dalton and Where Did Our Love Go, sung by The Supremes.   

I might wish to hear more meat or edge come through at times in her sound though - to offer more dynamic range and moods to her intimate music.

She is a rising new artist now signed to Sub Pop records …. some artists slip quietly under our radar and Foy is one of them. . 

She is currently doing a UK and US small venue tour and has released her debut album titled Mirrors The Sky in which she recorded her vocals outside in fields and on beaches. . .http://www.lylafoy.com/
 

Dick Gaughan Milngavie folk club March 2014

The folk club was busy for Gaughan’s return gig here with both young and older fans. He prefers to stand tall with his guitar as he plays and sings.  

Dick Gaughan is a Scottish traditional folk singer, songwriter and guitarist. He sings of Scottish heroes and of stories of our lost past and long forgotten voices.  Gaughan has been playing the circuits both at home and abroad for many years now and he is a legend among folk circles. He is also one of the most down-to-earth and likeable artists without pretensions of any kind.  

He sang songs by Brian McNeill, Robert Burns, Ewan McColl and Gaughan - What You Do With What you've Got, Yew Tree, Outlaws and Dreamers, No God and Few Heroes, Whatever Happened to We Shall Overcome, and the outstanding Burns song Westlin Winds.

 
He prefers to learn from the generations before that have all the knowledge. ‘If you're lucky you can add a wee bit'   He said, 'I don't go for autobiographical songs, there's more interesting topics than me.’ He took traditional folk stories and songs from the library archives and put new melodies to them and he draws from both the Irish and Scottish folk traditions. He also spoke of legend songwriter Yip Harburg who wrote Over the Rainbow and Finnegan's Rainbow (who found a pot of gold and it destroyed him)     

His songs can seem hard hitting but are also full of thoughtful optimistic themes. Like American folk singer Dylan his songs and voice don't come easily to the shore and they tell of straight talking stories. He is also a stand out guitarist and plays with a unique style with open chords and dramatic timing that he learnt from guitarist Davy Graham. 

I first heard Gaughan play in the 70s in Edinburgh when I was dating a folk guitarist who raved about how incredible and very distinctive his playing was. Many years later I heard Dick again at Milngavie Folk club in 2007 and this was an intimate gig where his chat between songs was worth going for alone. 

One of the great troubadours of life's journeys. You come away from his gigs questioning but ultimately renewed in the faith of our shared humanity. He sang, 'Keep your eyes on the road ahead, Keep looking at the light.... '

At this gig I thought - music is not about how good an artist might feel about their music but rather how much joy they can give their audience.  

Gaughan was well supported by guitarists Robin Miller, and Mike Simons. 

Robin Miller

Its' not just what you're born with, but what you do with what you've got.
What's the use of two strong legs, if you only run away.
And what use is the finest voice if you've nothing good to say?
What's the use of two good ears, if you don't hear those you love.
Words &  Music by Si Kahn

He sang not of resolutions but of holding on to your vision. Gaughan was warmly received and seemed to enjoy the gig. I felt that his substance, refreshing honesty and questioning words must have impacted on the younger members of the audience and on the older ones too!  Dick Gaughan Photo gallery - http://pkimage.co.uk/dickgaughan

Your Disco Needs You – NEW SCOTTISH Musical Needs Your Help!

Your Disco Needs You – The Musical will be showcased in October to coincide with Breast Cancer Awareness Month at the Mitchell Theatre Glasgow to raise funds and awareness of breast cancer issues.
It uses the songs of Kylie Minogue to tell a great story of five women coming together in a dance class to help save it from closure.

Grace, who runs DanzGraceful, decides to enter a dance competition, which has a prize that could save her business and help the community. She puts out the ad: “Your Disco Needs You” in a local paper in an attempt to attract new members, help revitalise class numbers and bring new ideas. Along comes: Sophie who lacks confidence because of her alcoholic husband and inability to find new work; Immy who is going through treatment for breast cancer but has a loving husband who supports her in everything she does even if he doesn’t always agree with it. Immy is also instrumental in bringing her fellow patients from their clinic’s exercise class to DanzGraceful to spice it up with the hula hooping and pole-dancing; Rosie is introduced after an argument with her partner that ends their relationship. A strong woman, she sees the class as an opportunity to find a new girlfriend; Jan is bored with the boyfriend she has been with since school and also finds new love at the dance studios.

The musical brings these characters together as they help change and support each other.
You don’t have to be a fan of Kylie to enjoy this musical. The songs seamlessly tell the story and will have you tapping along to the beat. Your Disco Needs You is a heart-warming story with laughter, song, dance, tears and a great feel good ending.

The musical was written by Neet Neilson a breast cancer survivor. Neet exercised through her treatments and continues to and felt that exercise through treatment helped her feel normal and recover well. It also helped keep the fatigue at bay.  There is plenty evidence from research validating the importance of exercise but this message isn’t reaching the patients.  Neet wrote the musical to help highlight this issue.  

Auditions in May!  As the musical has a breast cancer theme to it the production will also be inviting patients and survivors to audition for cast and chorus. The musical also has on board the amazing Tim Noble, Kylie’s choreographer, to ensure the dances have that Kylie-esque feel to them and is aiming to get five celebrities [one for each performance] to play a small guest part in the final scene. Keep checking the Your Disco Needs You website for details: www.ydny-musical.com

The musical will be staged at the Mitchell Theatre on the 24-26th October 2014.
 CrowdFunding!  PLEASE SUPPORT!
The production is currently crowd funding to raise the costs for the production so all the profit from ticket sales goes to the three cancer charities chosen: Macmillan Cancer, Breakthrough Breast Cancer and the MBrace exercise project run in NHSGG&C. Macmillan Information Services will be on hand at every performance should anyone require advice and a Breast Cancer Specialist Nurse from the MBrace Exercise Project will also be present.  A breast self check will also be performed [on plastic boobs] at the interval.  

The project really needs your help to fund this very special event.  Even a small contribution and sharing the link to others will help. YOUR PROJECT NEEDS YOU!
http://igg.me/at/ydny-musical/x/6644365

Hot Guys!

theo hutchcraft

rory sutherland

jamie sutherland

Paolo Giordano Italian writer and physicist

Over the years shooting I have taken photos of some hot guys!  My gallery of hot guys! on my photo website has had by miles the highest number of hits! I wonder why!  http://pkimage.co.uk/hotguys

Most photographers are male and they enjoy shooting females, so its the other way round for me and I enjoy shooting good looking men,  as one of the few female photographers and being used to the male scrum at some shoots!