Hands Up for Trad’s Women in Music and Culture 2024 list has been announced to celebrate just some of the women working in Scotland.
Launched as part of International Women’s Day 2023, we shine the spotlight on 12 women who all contribute towards Scotland’s cultural landscape through their work. Read the 2024 list here.
We asked Gillian Frame to tell us more about there work, influences and ambitions for the future.
How did you first get involved in the arts and who were your early influences?
I grew up in a house full of music. My parents were students in Ayr in the late 60s and early 70s and both loved singing and playing the guitar so were involved in the folk scene there. When they moved to Arran they continued to play, entertaining tourists in the hotels around the island. From an early age I would sit in on their rehearsals, often learning a harmony part so I could join in with the songs. Eventually by the time I was around twelve I could play a few tunes on the fiddle and I was able to join in more often. In the early 90s I joined a band called the Angels Share, the members of which were; my mum and dad, my big brother on pipes and whistle and two other local musicians, Dònal Boyle on fiddle and Simon Thorburn on vocals, guitar and bodhran. The few years I played with the band were hugely influential. I learned lots about performing, band dynamics, arrangements, pipe tunes from my brother and Irish tunes from Dònal. We performed at Lorient Festival in Brittany and various other festivals around Scotland including our own Arran Folk Festival. It was at these festivals that I got to see other bands of the time performing (Iron Horse, Deaf Shephard, Fiddlers Bid, Saltfish Forty, Altan and Capercaillie to name a few!) and was tremendously inspired by their shows and of course playing tunes with them in the pub afterwards too!
At a time which has been very challenging for many people working in the arts, how did you use the last 3 years to develop your creativity?
The last few years have seen some major changes for my family and I. My husband and I are both professional musicians and like so many others all of our work switched to online during the lockdowns. We were lucky that through online teaching and performances we were able to keep afloat and do some reassessing. We realised we could be based anywhere for our work and in the summer of 2022 we relocated from Glasgow (our home of 25 years) to the Isle of Arran, where I grew up. I am teaching fiddle in the local schools here and have over 40 pupils. We also started a youth traditional music group which has 20 members and is going from strength to strength. In 2021 I was invited to join Scottish folk chamber quartet RANT. This came at a perfect time for me as it gave me a real focus for my playing and practise. I had three albums worth of material to learn for some rescheduled gigs the band had cancelled due to the pandemic so that put me through my paces. Then last year we set about writing a new album and we released it just there on the 5th February. It is called SPIN and you will find it to stream or download on all the usual platforms.
Who or what interests you creatively?
I have always loved community music making and am getting a great deal of enjoyment and inspiration through my work here on Arran. We recently completed a songwriting project with the local primary schools where we encouraged them to write a song about their own village and what makes it different and special. Sitting in the classrooms looking out at the sea, wildlife and ever changing weather really is amazing.
I am also relishing the challenge of working with RANT. Having always played in bands with a mix of instruments like guitar, pipes and fiddle, working with just four fiddles has been so different. It’s great fun to be creative with our instrument and work outside the box of what we might normally do to make exciting and interesting arrangements.
What are your plans for the next year or so and/or what are your longer term creative ambitions?
This year I will be on tour a fair bit with RANT promoting the new album. We are heading for Orkney Folk Festival at the end of May which I am very excited about as I haven’t been there for a long time!
I am also delighted to be teaching at the Adult Fèis in Ullapool at beginning of May. This is always a lovely weekend and as I am mostly teaching children just now I am looking forward to working with adult learners for the weekend. That is something I have always really enjoyed. There will be quite a big team of tutors which always makes for stimulation conversations and planting the seeds for future projects and collaborations.
Long term… I think it’s maybe time Findlay Napier and I do something creative together again, although first we have to get the home studio conversion finished!
Find out more about Gillian Frame here.
Read the Hands Up for Trad’s Women in Music and Culture 2023 List
Hands Up for Trad are an organisation who work with Scottish traditional music, language and culture. If you would like to support our work you can donate here.
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