Edinburgh’s music fans are in for a treat next month when Northern Lights take to the stage at the Queens Hall.
Northern Lights brings together six world-class musicians from Scotland, Northern Ireland and Scandinavia in a cross-cultural celebration of new music that bridges the divide between folk, classical, traditional and avant garde in six new compositions.
The group feature Brian Finnegan (Flook, Kan) flute, whistle, Niall Vallely (Buille) concertina, Ailie Robertson (The Outside Track) harp, Donald Grant (Elias Quartet) fiddle,Nikolaj Busk (Dreamers’ Circus) accordion, piano and Ale Carr (Dreamers’ Circus, Basco) cittern.
As musical collaborations go, this promises to be an extraordinary music interchange. Individually, each member has carved out a reputation for not just mastering their chosen fields, but rising above, redefining and renewing the musical world they come from.
In Northern Lights, they come together to premiere six new compositions, written by each musician specifically for the ensemble, resulting in a concert of enthralling new music, grounded in tradition, but shot through with the adrenaline of contemporary influences. This is music that is both ancient and utterly new!
Ailie Robertson who last month was nominated for Composer of the Year in the Scots Trad Music Awards took time out from her busy schedule to talk to the Edinburgh Reporter about the show: “The project was initiated by me. I had the idea to bring us all together, as I felt it would be a very interesting and creative group who all shared similar interests.
“Subsets of the group have worked together before, so we were all familiar with each other’s work, but this is the first time that we will have worked together in this combination.
“The audience can expect six totally new pieces of music. I think for the audience it will be very exciting because the music will be very fresh, with a lot of spontaneity – all the pieces have room for improvisation and experimentation so each night will be slightly different, which makes it really interesting for us also.
“Brian, Donald and I have all played the Queens Hall before with other projects, but this will be the first time for the other boys. We’ll be recording the shows, and releasing a ‘live’ CD afterwards. Beyond that, we hope to take the project over to Ireland and Scandinavia, and hopefully you’re further with it in Scotland. Hopefully this will just be the start of a fruitful collaboration between us all!”
The Queen’s Hall Tickets & Information: 0131 668 2019
http://www.thequeenshall.net/whats-on/shows/northern-lights-2014
Please see below January 2014 Scotland tour dates.
Jan 15 – Gairloch, Village Hall
Jan 16 – Aberdeen, Lemon Tree
Jan 17 – Edinburgh, Queens Hall
Jan 18 – Inverness, Eden Court
Jan 19 – Celtic Connections
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
