DISTIL SHOWCASE 2013
Friday 22 March
The Tolbooth, Stirling
8.00
A Creative Scotland initiative delivered by Hands Up for Trad.
Distil has teamed up with the Tolbooth to present the seventh showcase of new music composed by musicians who have taken part in the Distil project.
Distil was established in 2002 to give adventurous musicians, whose main musical dialect is traditional music, the opportunity to explore a wide range of other musical styles and collaborate with musicians they might not otherwise get the chance to work with. The project opens up possibilities for a new kind of composer, working out of the folk tradition but moving freely and with understanding among the forms and sounds of other cultural traditions.
The twelve composers chosen for this showcase have worked at various Distil events with people as diverse as Karen Wimhurst, theatre practitioner Kath Burlinson and Dutch-Surinamese improviser Andro Biswane. Others have worked at previous residentials with composers Eddie Maguire, Alasdair Nicolson and David McGuinness, and improvisers Paul Rogers, Mihaly Borbely, and Simon Fell. The Distil concert showcases work which has come out of those contacts. Each piece is from three to ten minutes long. This year we welcome back Mr McFall’s Chamber as our house band.
Programme of work
Mike Vass and Mairearad Green
A Day A Month
A day a month sees the collaboration between composers Mike Vass and
Mairearad Green. From December through March, Mairearad and Mike have met one day each month to write new music for Distil. They have been experimenting with new sounds and recording techniques. The opening section will be similar to the ground of a pibroch in introducing the main theme. The second section will feature a recapitulation and some ‘found sounds’ captured during the monthly writing sessions.
Gillian Fleetwood
Craft
I am fascinated by the rhythms created by the repetitive motions of craft and I wrote this piece as a celebration of the quiet, considered, contented concentration this brings. It connects easily with music and the intertwined loops and threads which tie rhythms and melodies together as well as being able to pull them apart and shift them around.
I was inspired by an event at the Tramway in Glasgow where I was overwhelmed by the sight of tens of millions of stitches being knitted, sewn and crotched together by a team of dedicated crafters in celebration of the centenary of International Women’s Day at the Tramway in Glasgow in 2011.
Mhairi Hall
Act of Union?
The Act of Union was passed by the Scottish Parliament in 1707, the English Parliament having passed mirror legislation the year before. The Union of the Parliaments caused profound upheaval in the Highlands of Scotland. As a traditional musician, I’m interested in the cultural impact of that Union on everyday people. To help understand their strength of feeling and emotions I have studied the Gaelic poets from that era. My composition includes quotes from ‘Do Rìgh Seumas’ by Sìleas na Ceapaich (Julia MacDonald), written around 1714. Sìleas was an ardent Jacobite and this poem reflects her hope, like many others at the time, that James Stuart would return and succeed Queen Anne. In composing Act of Union? I wanted to combine today’s technology, ancient words and live, acoustic performance. I hope you enjoy my union of the modern and the traditional!
Hamish Napier
Lament for John McGann
Composed in memory of leading American mandolin player John McGann, who passed away in 2012. John was a very popular professor at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, greatly respected for his diverse musical knowledge and skill, and loved by all for his tremendous sense of humour. This slow air was played at John’s memorial concert, and echoes John’s love of classical, jazz, American roots and celtic music.
Duncan Lyall
Earthrise
This piece is inspired by the photograph of the same name, taken by NASA astronaut William Anders during the Apollo 8 mission in 1968. The public release of the photograph had a profound effect on how we perceive our planet, allowing us to see the planet from afar for the very first time. In this piece I have tried to explore the idea of seeing planet earth for the first time from this perspective and seeing something very beautiful and incredibly fragile.
Jen Austin
Airing
Airing: to express an idea, an excursion in the open air or the act of supplying fresh air.
I like to think of this piece as a walk through a murky, gloomy forest and into a clearing. I Hope it gives you an airing too. Feel free to open your mouth and let out a yell. Get it out. Go on.
Ailie Robertson
The Lewisman in exile
This piece takes as its starting point the traditional Gaelic Air, Leodhasach An Tir Chein. This composition is a response to this very simple, modal melody. The texture is kept very sparse, utilising the quartet mainly as four soloists, rather than an ensemble, to reflect the isolation of this man. The simple melody is constantly developed and varied, yet always retains its identity, but the natural resonances of the instruments are altered and distorted using extended string techniques, giving an air of discomfort, and unfamiliarity to the surroundings. I’ve tried to really focus on the tone-colour of each note used, often playing enharmonic notes but on different strings of the instruments to explore as much of the tonal variation each instrument can produce as possible.
Amy Duncan
Constant Without Me
This song is inspired by an Anthony Gormley sculpture of a male figure from his ‘6 times’ project, which I passed on daily walks along the Water of Leith. The figure fell over and was face down in the river for several weeks, and then another time I passed it had gone. In a half sleep one night I imagined that the male figure had come alive and walked away. Fiona Rutherford created the harp part for this song which greatly inspired me to write the string parts.
Calum MacCrimmon
Sunday Funday
Glasgow has a thriving traditional music scene. There are currently dozens of musical gatherings or ‘sessions’ running in pubs all over the city each week. Over the last 15 years in Glasgow I have been involved in a very exciting and organic musical cross-over involving Scotland’s trad music scene and the world, jazz and popular music scenes. Sunday Funday identifies three Glasgow sessions that provide a warm social platform for our modern Scottish roots music:
1st Movement – Picking up at the Duck
2nd Movement – Head to the Ben
3rd Movement – Taxi to Bloc
The movements run back to back – similar to the sessions. Come through sometime for Sunday Funday – if you think you can handle it!
Musicians
Mr McFall’s Chamber
Violin Rosenna East
Violin Robert McFall
Viola Brian Schiele
Cello Su-a Lee
Bass Rick Standley
with
Fiddle Adam Sutherland
Harp Fiona Rutherford
Accordion Mairearad Green
Piano Jen Austin
Guitar Anna Massie
Tenor guitar Mike Vass
Percussion Donald Hay
Whistle s Calum MacCrimmon
Chanter Calum MacCrimmon
Voice Amy Duncan
Programming Pippa Murphy
Produced for Distil by Simon Thoumire and David Francis
Thanks to: Judith Walsh; Carolyn Paterson, Chris Waite and all at the Tolbooth; Becky Milne (Bass Clarinet sample on Act of Union?); all Distil participants and mentors; Persephone Nichol-Bose; Creative Scotland.
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO TAKE PART IN DISTIL PLEASE CONTACT US AT THE
ADDRESS BELOW.
Distil, Melville House, 70 Drymen Road, Bearsden, Glasgow,
G61 2RH, Scotland
Tel: 0141 280 2803 Email: info@handsupfortrad.co.uk Web: www.distil.org.uk