Scotland's Music: Sarah-Jane Summers: Solo

Image, emotion, connection, story: these elements are parts of what makes music, and what connects musician and listener. At times musicians use words. At other times sound of the instrument holds the stories and ideas.

So it is with the recording Solo, from Sara-Jane Summers. In it, Summers and her fiddles stand alone, and yet they are not alone, as they hold dear and convey a wealth of stories.

Often Summers shares her gifts of playing and composition in collaboration. The Nu Nordic band Fribo, the chamber folk ensemble RANT, the contemporary string quartet Quatuor Bozzini, the Celtic fusion Grit Orchestra, top Gaelic singer Julie Fowlis, are some of those with whom she has worked. There are also the albums Summers has made with her husband, Finnish guitarist Juhani Silvola, which have won wide acclaim.

For her album Solo, however, Summers wanted to create what the title suggests: just the woman and her fiddle. She recorded it in a church near her adopted home in Norway. Summers, who comes from the Highlands of Scotland, has long been drawn to and has studied music of the Nordic lands. Elements of that infuse her work. Her heart, though, is in the Highlands, and it is to that music she looked first when choosing what to include her solo project.

There are slow airs, and there's a snap of strathspey. There's a nod to the Nordic lands on one tune, and one original composition which stands well alongside material from the tradition. What comes clear is the sound of Scotland. Though it is not spoken, what comes clear is the cadence of Gaelic. In the faster paced tunes such as the set including three traditional strathspeys, one can hear the cadence of the dance, as well.

For the most part, the music Summers has chosen here tends toward the side of reflection. That's not to say it's quiet, always, though that's included. What stands out is, rather, the quiet intensity and the deep connection among musician, instrument, and the music she's chosen.

It is a recording well worth your time for repeated listening in order as Summers has set it out. If you've only time for a taster to begin, though, the opening track, Lath' a' suibhal Sleibhe Dhomh/ On a day as I traversed the mountain makes a fine place to start. Riddell's Lament for King George V, that set of strathspeys which begins with the tune Are You Always Pleased, and Morning Prayer, a tune written by Summers herself, combine to make a good introduction to the whole. You will want to listen to all of them, though, and to read the sleeve notes in which Summers gives a bit of history and context to each the tunes.

Some of the tunes Summers has chosen from her own research; some are ones she's known most of her life; in several she makes tribute to her teacher the late great Donald Riddell, and to his teacher, Alexander Grant of Battangorm/ Sandy Battan, who was a relative of Summers. "Donald was very excited to give the gift of the tradition back to my family and this circle has always meant the world to me," Summers says.

A gifted and creative tutor herself (she has. among other things made an instructional dvd focused on the strathspey), Summers keeps the giving of gifts going with that work, with her collaborative projects, and especially, with this recording, Solo.

You may also wish to see
Scotland's Music: Julie Fowlis: Alterum
website of Sarah-Jane Summers
Celtic Music and Nordic Music Meet: Fribo

Photograph of Sarah-Jane Summers by Johannes Selvaag.

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Scotland's music: Katie McNally: Flourish

Right from the first moments of the opening track on Katie McNally’s recording Flourish there’s a sense of invitation, a sense of engagement, a sense of adventure, all of which she sustains through the music she’s chosen for the album. McNally’s instrument is the fiddle, both the conventional one and the hardingfele. She bases her music in the traditions of Scotland. That’s a base and a matter of respect, to which she brings her own gifts as an interpreter and a composer.

That first track sees Waulking of the Faud from the tradition joined with McNally’s own tune called Lillian’s, a graceful, lively, and inviting beginning to a journey which leads through to a set of original jigs and into a pair of tunes from the tradition. There’s a tune from iconic Scottish fiddler James Scott Skinner and music from contemporary Scottish composer Phil Cunningham, whose work you’ve met before here along the music road. There’s an original waltz, and a set that pairs a jazz inflected tune with one that heads right for tradition, along with the intriguingly titled Bad Soup/ Riff Raff and Widget set, and Da Unst Bridal March from the tradition.

It’s all good stuff, music which finds McNally well able to negotiate tradition, and compose in it, while forging her own style within it. It is a style that respect her own experience as an American as well as it does her love of Scotland and its music. She has created music which will make good listening any time of year, but this recording seems an especially good companion for late winter musing and reflection -- and dancing too, the lively tunes may well have you going for that, or picturing those from bygone days doing so.

Katie McNally co produced Flourish with Hanneke Cassel, a fiddle player and composer you have met more than once here along the music road. Cassel sits in on harmony fiddle, and other musicians whose names may be familiar support McNally as well, among them Eric McDonald on guitar, Ariel Friedman on cello, and Corey DiMario on bass.

you may also wish to see
Hanneke Cassel: For Reasons Unseen
Cathie Ryan: The Farthest Wave
Long Time Courting: Alternate Routes

-->If you'd like to support my creative work,
here is a way to do that, through PayPal. Note that you do not have to have a PayPal account to do this.Thank you.

Sarah-Jane Summers: Nesta

Sarah-Jane Summers
Nesta


Sarah-Jane Summers evokes the voices of the north in her playing. Sometimes that’s the voice of the Norwegian Hardanger fiddle. At other times it’s the voice of Inverness, where the fiddler grew up and learned her first bits of music. And at one point, there’s even the sound of a Tibetan singing bowl added in. Summers, whom you might know from her work with the nu Nordic band Fribo, has the gift of creating really eloquent and clear images through her music, whether she’s offering tunes she’s written herself, ones she learned growing up in the north of Scotland, or music from her contemporaries including Jenna Reid and Charlie McKerron. It’s a well thought out, well sequenced collection that shows both the power of her imagination and the sureness of her technique. Notable sets include Guddlin’ in the Burn and Athole Brose, but every track is well worth your listening.

you may also want to see

Music Road: now playing: Hanneke Cassel and Christopher Lewis: Calm the Raging Sea

Music Road: Celtic Connections 2009 on the way

Music Road: Dochas: An Darna Umhail/ A Second Glance