FOTS Records
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Blog
Hurrah - we're here!
| Posted on November 22, 2011 at 5:20 PM |
Well after much blood sweat and tears, here is Fots Records website hand made by only the top technical staff at our organisation!
Hope you enjoy having a browse, a listen and maybe even a wee bit of shopping.
cheers for now.
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Pam
9:28 AM on December 5, 2011
Grogarry Lodge welcomes Benbecula Music Students for a spectacular St Patrick?s Night
Review by Mary Morrison. Those of us who attended this concert to celebrate St Patrick?s Day were in for a real treat. Rick Taylor, based in Skye, one of the tutors on the course, had rehearsed and was the genial host to the final, stunning arrangement of sets for the night, each illustrating the important and profound connections between Irish music and that of the Gaidhealtachd, and the wider world.
Grogarry Lodge made an amazing, intimate venue. Formerly, the house of the Laird of the Long Island, it is now owned by Storas Uibhist, and its Victorian period furniture, ambience, welcoming open fires and a wonderful spread of locally sourced and prepared food, allowed us a wee taste of the high life of past times. A perfect backdrop for the musical feast to follow.
A lone piper welcomed the audience with his opening set and there was soon spontaneous dancing in the hall. A great start, as people then chose to sit comfortably in the drawing room on armchairs or sofas, closer or further from the leaping peat fire. The evening included the students in differently grouped and versatile sets, each blend of instrument or voice carefully chosen to reflect the meaning, musical style and period of the piece or song. (It would be invidious to name the students individually, since their hallmark was collaborative working and playing.) Fiddle played alongside pipes, singers sang alone, in duet, or in groups, sensitively accompanied by skilful choices from keyboard, fiddle, bouzouki, guitar, double bass, small and large pipes and whistles. Some dexterous students played on three or more different instruments; arrangements themselves were often original and innovative. In addition, several of them played their compositions, ably demonstrating that the tree of ?traditional music? has not fossilised, but is alive and growing, stretching its branches well into the future. The outstanding, hauntingly lyrical composition, ?Chinese Violins? showed the inspirational awareness the students have of the relevance of global connections and influences upon their music-making.
One highlight of the evening was the tutor set. Simon Bradley, on fiddle, was invited to join Rick Taylor, on keyboard, and Ian MacDonald, on flute, to accompany Paul McCallum singing the iconic ?Mountains of Mourne?. We were taken to a different world by the exquisite melody and meaning interpreted by the singer and the elongated, harmonies of the musicians. Shivers went up the spine.
Another invited Irish star, was Padraig Hughes, who sang the extraordinary, unaccompanied solo ?Roisin Dubh?, a lament for Ireland, (disguised in the song as a woman). The range of his voice was wide; the complicated modulations and intricate melodic line were brilliantly sung. There were undertones here of Arabic raga, Portuguese/ North African fado and Gregorian line-singing, all poignantly integrated within this accomplished performance.
The evening ranged from well-known, Irish audience participation favourites, such as ?Bantry Bay? and ?She moved through the Fair?, alongside ?Rowing from Castlebay ? or an Ingrid Henderson arrangement of ?The Northern Lass?, reflecting and celebrating the closeness of our cultures. There were explosive renderings of hornpipes, reels and jigs, as well as rarer items such as a carefully researched and beautifully sung seventeenth century lament for Shehan, and the more recent version of ?Breisleach? of Aonghas MacNeacail and Donald Shaw. The evening ended with two exciting ensemble performances , the first, two stirring and evocative numbers from Ian MacDonald?s repertoire class, followed by Rick Taylor?s rousing South African inspired ?Homecoming? and ?Hector the Hero?, set by Rick to a moving collage of quotations from the bards.
Tconcerts, if you can.
From ?Triall na h-Uine? by Domhnall Aonghais Bhain.
Review by Mary Morrison. Those of us who attended this concert to celebrate St Patrick?s Day were in for a real treat. Rick Taylor, based in Skye, one of the tutors on the course, had rehearsed and was the genial host to the final, stunning arrangement of sets for the night, each illustrating the important and profound connections between Irish music and that of the Gaidhealtachd, and the wider world.
Grogarry Lodge made an amazing, intimate venue. Formerly, the house of the Laird of the Long Island, it is now owned by Storas Uibhist, and its Victorian period furniture, ambience, welcoming open fires and a wonderful spread of locally sourced and prepared food, allowed us a wee taste of the high life of past times. A perfect backdrop for the musical feast to follow.
A lone piper welcomed the audience with his opening set and there was soon spontaneous dancing in the hall. A great start, as people then chose to sit comfortably in the drawing room on armchairs or sofas, closer or further from the leaping peat fire. The evening included the students in differently grouped and versatile sets, each blend of instrument or voice carefully chosen to reflect the meaning, musical style and period of the piece or song. (It would be invidious to name the students individually, since their hallmark was collaborative working and playing.) Fiddle played alongside pipes, singers sang alone, in duet, or in groups, sensitively accompanied by skilful choices from keyboard, fiddle, bouzouki, guitar, double bass, small and large pipes and whistles. Some dexterous students played on three or more different instruments; arrangements themselves were often original and innovative. In addition, several of them played their compositions, ably demonstrating that the tree of ?traditional music? has not fossilised, but is alive and growing, stretching its branches well into the future. The outstanding, hauntingly lyrical composition, ?Chinese Violins? showed the inspirational awareness the students have of the relevance of global connections and influences upon their music-making.
One highlight of the evening was the tutor set. Simon Bradley, on fiddle, was invited to join Rick Taylor, on keyboard, and Ian MacDonald, on flute, to accompany Paul McCallum singing the iconic ?Mountains of Mourne?. We were taken to a different world by the exquisite melody and meaning interpreted by the singer and the elongated, harmonies of the musicians. Shivers went up the spine.
Another invited Irish star, was Padraig Hughes, who sang the extraordinary, unaccompanied solo ?Roisin Dubh?, a lament for Ireland, (disguised in the song as a woman). The range of his voice was wide; the complicated modulations and intricate melodic line were brilliantly sung. There were undertones here of Arabic raga, Portuguese/ North African fado and Gregorian line-singing, all poignantly integrated within this accomplished performance.
The evening ranged from well-known, Irish audience participation favourites, such as ?Bantry Bay? and ?She moved through the Fair?, alongside ?Rowing from Castlebay ? or an Ingrid Henderson arrangement of ?The Northern Lass?, reflecting and celebrating the closeness of our cultures. There were explosive renderings of hornpipes, reels and jigs, as well as rarer items such as a carefully researched and beautifully sung seventeenth century lament for Shehan, and the more recent version of ?Breisleach? of Aonghas MacNeacail and Donald Shaw. The evening ended with two exciting ensemble performances , the first, two stirring and evocative numbers from Ian MacDonald?s repertoire class, followed by Rick Taylor?s rousing South African inspired ?Homecoming? and ?Hector the Hero?, set by Rick to a moving collage of quotations from the bards.
Tconcerts, if you can.
From ?Triall na h-Uine? by Domhnall Aonghais Bhain.
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