Here I am in Pittenwiem collecting shells for my tapes

Here are the tapes! If you want to buy one you better be quick cos I only have about 15 left out of a hundred! https://glarc.bandcamp.com
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What a dreamy weekend! Playing my international* tour across the world**
*scotland is a different country
**lie
First off was Edinburgh with a bunch of drunk rugby lads who told me that the 80s had called and they wanted their fringe back. BUT my spirits where lightened by Burnt Paw s magical tales, the breathtaking album launch of Burd Ellen , and the enthusiastic reception from my mum, dad, auntie cath and uncle damien.
Then it was home to mop Glasgow Autonomous Space up after our fundraising party, a sausage sandwich courtesy of Jonathan Miles, a quick stand in a field with a bucket and Maisie, and on to the The Glad Cafe. This was a super special gig- I always like playing at Glad but it was just so exciting to see a room packed full of people who I didnt know! haha. no disrespect to uncle damien and aunty cath, they were just as exciting. Great sound by Jer Reid and Kim from glad was fab and looked after us all. Thanks to everyone who introduced themselves over the weekend, bought tapes and shared songs.

Monday commenced with a delicious breakfast of eggy bread courtesy of Dan Bman, Me Lost Me was given a small instructional map to get her to alba books, and i went off to stand in the field again with maisie (running theme). Then it was off to newcastle with Sade and smooth radio keeping us flowing along nicely. We met some geese at a service station and arrived at @cumberlandarms in time for hot toddies. One of my favourite venues and with special memories from my time at University in newcastle, it was super nice and nostalgic to be back. bUt i had a cold and felt a bit sorry for myself. Cue friends old and new to come along and hear our now semi-rehearsed stage jokes, and the jokes about the jokes that where beginning to emerge...
I woke up to a handsome window paint chipper man trying to get in to William Tasker and Anna Furniss ' house, feeling like my lungs had left, had a crumpet and headed home to radio 4 where i learnt about the origins of the word 'bread line', dyselxia and a new book called 'the threads of life' which sounded quite good.
In all seriousness (incredible if you have got this far) Im really grateful to Debbie Armour for putting so much work into this tour and thankful to lizzie higgins for inspiring me to be a singer cos its fun.

In February I'll be traipsing around with this lovely lots- come catch us somewhere!

Edinburgh, Saturday 9th February, (£5 entry/ Henry's Cellar Bar)
Facebook event

Glasgow, Sunday 10th February, Glad cafe
Facebook event

Newcastle, Monday, February 11, 2019 at 7:30 PM, The Cumberland Arms Bed & Breakfast
facebook event

ABOUT THE OTHE ARTISTS
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BURD ELLEN

Burd Ellen is a new solo project from Debbie Armour (Alasdair Roberts, Green Ribbons, Alex Rex) featuring Gayle Brogan (Pefkin, Barrett’s Dottled Beauty) and Lucy Duncan (Luki). The group uses traditional song to explore and evoke dark landscapes and deep stories. Innovative instrumentation, drone and sound-wash support detailed vocal work to create a unique sonic atmosphere. Burd Ellen will release SILVER CAME in early 2019. A record exploring women's narratives in British folk song, SILVER CAME investigates ideas of persistence, defiance, devotion and transformation. Pre-order details coming soon burdellen.com
Burd Ellen

ME LOST ME

Me Lost Me is the solo electronic music project of Jayne Dent; a collision of thudding rhythms, lush vocal drones and haunting melodies. Using the voice as her main instrument alongside the concertina, she electronically manipulates and samples sounds to create a unique, folk-influenced experimental pop music. Nestled among atmospheric and powerful original compositions are arrangements of traditional folk songs; beautiful and gripping in their storytelling. She released her debut album "Arcana" in November 2018 - "If Sandy Denny and Laurie Anderson had made an album together it might have sounded a bit like this." - Tallbird Records

BURNT PAW

Burnt Paw is a songwriter and fingerstyle folk guitarist who lives beneath Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh. His music is influenced by a wide range of alternative and experimental artists/styles from both sides of the Atlantic, including psychedelic folk and new/dark folk. Paw’s songs unwind from oral histories, dream-fragments, myths, imaginary adventures and life-stories.
Burnt Paw

​Quinie, Serious Sam Barrett and Paul & Liz Davenport
Hosted by Heretics' Folk Club and nice nice
Sunday, February 24, 2019 at 6 PM – 9:30 PM

Rutland Arms
86 Brown Street, S1 2BS Sheffield

https://www.facebook.com/events/557539878086798/?active_tab=about

I have been prepping for the launch fo my second album, Buckie Prins, on the 3rd of November. Its more ambitious that the last- with a host of talented musicians, some amazing camera work, and two essays to accompany it! 

The show featuring my songs and the beautiful textile works of artist Katy Schwab will be coming down on the 13th of October, so if you haven't had chance to see it I would urge you to pop in!

Cairn Gallery is in Pittenweim, Fife. I did a live Quinie performance there on the opening day and it was a brilliant day and an intimate performance with such good listeners!

As part of the show I wrote a piece exploring my work and how it relates to my visual arts practice, and I have included a copy of the text here if you are interested.

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A Quinie, or quine-stane, is a corner-stone, a foundational stone of a building. I am an artist and musician and I use the name Quinie to explore my position as a student of the foundational space that women occupy in the Scots song tradition.

I first began singing in Scots three years ago. I had always sung folk song and enjoyed using my voice but it wasn’t until I heard Sheila Stewart on BBC Radio Scotland that I understood the capacity of the voice to become an instrument. What struck me about this tradition of singing was the women’s voices, which were powerful and unapologetic in their coarseness. Scots as a language sat with me as a homing force. I grew up hearing Scots day-to-day, and was amazed to discover that the words that I was hearing and using were part of a language that I didn’t know existed.

I began listening to recordings of Lizzie Higgins, a Scottish Traveller singer who was born in Aberdeenshire. Her voice has inimitable control, strength and depth. The restrained way that she can communicate anguish, joy and frivolity never ceases to amaze me. I set about trying to grasp her ornamentation and the way she lets the songs sit in her throat. I realised that the songs that I was drawn to were those of women’s experiences -- ballads about unwanted pregnancy, infanticide and fear, songs about birds, seasons and the passing 
of time.

Accumulating a repertoire of traditional song is similar to the work of a quilter; practising, reiterating, choosing the colours, shifting, recombining and ultimately bringing together. Like objects, these songs embody histories, and when we sing them they become part of our narratives too. I have developed a repertoire of stories sung from women’s perspectives which play with the inconsistencies and familiarities between the formidable (mountains / moor / ocean) and the domestic (tedium / objects / care).

Musician Richard Dawson describes his songwriting and performance as ritual community music. I am drawn to these stories of women whose lives are different from mine. I share images of spinning wheels, peat, washing drying on lines or abortive forest herbs, evoking a shared cultural understanding of a past. These songs draw a sense of community and give me connection to an imagined and real Scottishness.

One aspect of my music that has translated from my visual arts practice is the play between formality and improvisation. The restrictions set down by Scots singing present me with a framework in a way that is similar to those in printmaking. The parameters provide a rigid space within which to work but each reproduction, performance and recording feels different. Green Door Studios, who I record with,  really give space for this kind of making. Recording on tape is similar to using printmaking processes involving press and paper. You can’t control the hiss and the crunches and the whorls and the juices that all bleed into the tape, giving a sense of timelessness and richness to the songs. Traditional unaccompanied song as a medium is not sat in the past – it thrives in a constantly evolving community of singers.

Voice is mark making. It can communicate meaning through shape, tone, texture and volume. Wherever you sing, the rawness of a voice that is not afraid to crack can bring in the sea or wind or salt or peat. This expression of an imagined landscape brings my music together and when I am singing these songs I am exploring an amalgamation of feelings of places.

This singing tradition is not mine and I have sat with this tension throughout the process of learning these songs. This style of singing is a working class art form rooted in communities of Scottish Travellers of the North East of Scotland. Authenticity is earned and owned by the communities that sing these songs regularly as part of their daily lives. As a middle class settled person I have a different cultural history and identity, but am nonetheless committed to exploring and making visible the stories, voices and styles of singing of these women.

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