This sounds amazing!
Well, our boat has well and truly come in – and now you can be part of the voyage all over again, on radio TV and download!
Watercolour Music’s Mary Ann Kennedy and Nick Turner have made an epic journey over the past eighteen months to bring to fruition a significant new Gaelic work for strings, chorus, trad soloists and soundscape, culminating in performances in Skye, London, Inverness and Glasgow at the heart of the Commonwealth Games’ cultural celebrations.
‘Aiseag – The Ferryboat’ was part of the first-ever PRS Foundation New Music Biennial – twenty 15 minute compositions exploring different corners of the Commonwealth around the globe. Mary Ann and Nick’s commission saw them collaborating with the highly respected Canadian composer Scott Macmillan and poet, lyricist and Gaelic guru Aonghas MacNeacail. The quartet worked transatlantic-style with the help of Skype and email, with only one face-to-face meeting during the entire process, to produce a ground-breaking musical experience that has set a new benchmark in Gaelic choral music.
The ferries which have been a lifelong fascination for Mary Ann, and the various ferry stories in each of the creative team’s own lives and upbringings were the background to ‘Aiseag’, but the epic sound-poem that resulted covers a wealth of human experience and connection on both sides of the Atlantic with the central narrative a journey from youth to old age, experience and beyond.
The premiere of ‘Aiseag’ took place at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig as part of SEALL Arts newly resurgent Fèis an Eilein in Skye at the end of July, featuring the quartet of writers, plus Cape Breton fiddler Colin Grant, Skye-based Cape Breton piper Angus MacKenzie, percussionist Allan Òg MacDonald, reader Christina MacDonald from the Isle of Skye, the strings of the Scottish Festival Orchestra, led by Stewart Webster, and the award-winning Inverness Gaelic Choir. The commission was won by Mary Ann during her tenure as Musician in Residence at SMO in 2013.
Subsequent performances involved a Caledonian Sleeper safari-ceilidh to London for a massive Biennial celebration at the Southbank Centre, a home-town gig at Eden Court Theatre in Inverness, and the finale at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall as part of the Commonwealth Games celebrations.
There are several opportunities now to experience ‘Aiseag’ for the first time or to revel in some great memories from the project across the summer. The live Glasgow performance of ‘Aiseag’, will be broadcast ‘Hear and Now’ on BBC Radio 3 on Saturday 9th August at 2200 BST. BBC Radio 3 is broadcast in the UK on digital radio and on 90-93FM, and online at www.bbc.co.uk/radio3 – the programme will also be available for seven days after broadcast on the BBC iPlayer.
A MacTV documentary produced by Skye director/cameraman and musician Magnus Graham, following the entire ‘Aiseag’ voyage from first meeting to maiden voyage and safe return to harbour, will be broadcast on BBC ALBA on Monday 22nd September. BBC ALBA can be found on Sky 143, Virgin Media 161 and Freesat 110 (UK), Freeview/You View 8 and BT Vision 8 (Scotland only), and Smallworld 170 (Ayrshire and North West England). It can also be viewed live throughout the UK on the BBC iPlayer. www.bbc.co.uk/alba
A download album of all twenty of the PRSF New Music Biennial compositions is available on the NMC label in MP3 and FLAC formats. The entire collection can be purchased for ten pounds and the various commissions are downloadable as they become available online. ‘Aiseag’ will be available to buy from August 25th, but you can pre-order now. Go to http://www.nmcrec.co.uk/new-music-biennial/mary-ann-kennedy and click on the New Music Biennial icon to find out more.
The Watercolour Music team are grateful to all the wonderful artists who have been involved in the ‘Aiseag’ project, and especially to the various organisations whose financial assistance have helped make this a reality.
Our funders:
Performing Rights Society Foundation
Bòrd na Gàidhlig
Touring Network (Highlands and Islands)
Creative Scotland
Fèisean nan Gàidheal
Highlands and Islands Enterprise
Music Nova Scotia
Our crew:
Mary Ann Kennedy – composer, vocals, harp
Scott Macmillan – composer, guitar
Aonghas MacNeacail – lyricist, reader
Nick Turner – soundscapes
Colin Grant – fiddle
Angus MacKenzie – pipes/ whistle
Allan Òg MacDonald – percussion
Christina MacDonald – reader
Inverness Gaelic Choir
Scottish Festival Strings:
Violins
Stewart Webster
Liam Lynch
Stephanie Brough
Gillian Risi
Ysla Robertson
Violas
Emma Peebles
Ian Anderson
Ronan MacManus (London)
Cellos
John Davidson
Rosie Townhill
Alice Murray (London)
Bass
Brodie Jarvie
Our associates:
Jennyfer Brickenden at Scojen Productions, Halifax, Canada
Donald Dixon and crews, Corran Ferry
Vanessa Reed, James Hannam and team, PRS Foundation
Clare Hewitt, Creative Scotland
Duncan MacInnes and team, Fèis an Eilein, SEALL Arts
Magnus Graham, Seumas MacTaggart and team, MacTV
Josh Williams and team, Howl Films
Margaret Cameron and team, BBC ALBA
Rebecca Hannah-Grindall and team, Southbank Centre, London
Colin Hynd and team, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
David Boag, Nicola Simpson, Toria Caine, Chrissie Cumming and team, Inverness Gaelic Choir
John Davidson, Scottish Festival Orchestra
Loudon Temple, Bloody Great PR
Roz Bell and the Eden Court Theatre team
Seumas MacDonald
Arthur Cormack at Fèisean nan Gàidheal
Iain Hamilton at Highlands and Islands Enterprise
Graham McKerrow at the Touring Network
Campbell Cameron, Marlene MacKinnon and teams, Benderloch Victory Hall and Lismore Village Hall
Lucy Mackay and team, Craignish Village Hall
Hannah MacAllister and team, Colonsay Village Hall
Mary Ann Kennedy
Watercolour Music Limited
Ardgour, PH33 7AH
Scotland
T: +44-1855-841320
M: +44-7918-618374
E: mak@watercolourmusic.co.uk
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