£10 plus postage
Karen plays an Ardival Rose wire-strung clarsach and Urquhart bray harp, Jack Yule’s Raven 001 gut-strung harp, and a Jon Swayne boxwood D whistle.
Produced by Robin Morton at
Temple Records Studio, Midlothian
Engineers: Robin Morton & Ewan MacGregor
Photography: K. O’Sullivan
Design & Layout: John Slavin at Designfolk
all rights reserved
Released July 15, 2019
TRACK LISTING (click to listen on Bandcamp/buy downloads)
1.The Road to Kennacraig (An rathad gu Ceann na Creige) Comp. Karen Marshalsay PRS/MCPS wire-strung clarsach 4:37
Written on Islay in 2013 to explore theme and variation using pipe ornamentation. The Islay ferry leaves from Kennacraig, near Tarbert, and the road there and back holds many memories.
2. St Fillan's / The Rhymer's Reel Trad. Arr. K Marshalsay / Comp. K. Marshalsay PRS/MCPS gut-strung harp 4:12
The slow air is from The Gesto Collection (1895) where it’s called ‘St Filans Monastery’. St Fillan was an 8th century Irish monk associated with several sites in Scotland. The reel comes from Thomas the Rhymer, an instrumental narrative depicting the harper who met the Elfin Queen and was taken off to Elfland for seven years.
3. The Journeying Jig Comp. K. Marshalsay PRS/MCPS gut-strung harp 3:57
From Journeying, my Celtic Connections 1999 New Voices commission, which reflected how travelling had influenced my music. The variations are pibroch-like and were the beginnings of my exploration of this pipe music on the harp.
4. Jane Pickeringe's Lilt / Emma Both Trad. Arr. K. Marshalsay PRS/MCPS gut-strung harp 2:10
When James VI of Scotland became James I of England he took his court musicians south and the book that contains this tune may well have belonged to one of them, as the cover bears his coat of arms. The tune was untitled in the book, which was in the possession of Jane Pickeringe by 1616, and I have called it after her. The second tune is a traditional Finnish waltz which I learned on my travels and later played with the band at my wedding reception.
5. Ülle’s Reel Comp. John Saunders Arr. K. Marshalsay PRS/MCPS gut-strung harp, whistle 2:16
Learned from John, a piper I met in sessions in Glasgow years ago, and played as a slow reel. John wrote it for a friend who was returning to Estonia.
6. Ellen's Dreams / PM Donald MacLean of Lewis Comp. Robin Morton Pub. Kinmor Music / Comp. PM Donald MacLeod PRC/MCPS gut-strung harp 4:07
Two favourites I’ve arranged and enjoyed playing for many years. The first is a beautiful melody with an Irish feel written by Robin for his daughter, Ellen, and learned from his wife, Alison Kinnaird, who has been a great influence on my own harping. The march was written by the great piping composer PM Donald MacLeod.
7. Carrill's Lament Trad. Arr. K. Marshalsay PRS/MCPS wire-strung clarsach 2:02
From Book Two of James Oswald’s Caledonian Pocket Companion, of which twelve volumes were published between 1743 and 1759. Like many Scottish and Irish tunes of the period it’s in a series of related parts or variations. I originally learned it from Alison Kinnaird’s book The Harp Key.
8. Bert Mackenzie's 70th Birthday Waltz / Isabel Gow's Welcome to Edinburgh Comp. Louise Mackenzie Pub. Grian Music / Comp. K. Marshalsay PRS/MCPS gut-strung harp 3:19
I met Louise when she was teaching fiddle at the Gordon Gaitherin. She’d written this tune as a present for her dad and I’ve arranged it for harp. The march I wrote for my mum, who left school at 14 and travelled into Edinburgh daily from Broxburn to work at the old Royal Infirmary biochemistry lab in Forrest Road.
9. The Battle of the Bridge of Perth (Ceann Drochaid Peairt) pibroch Trad. Arr. K. Marshalsay PRS/MCPS wire-strung clarsach 5:53
Learned from master piper and pibroch authority Allan MacDonald for his Edinburgh International Festival 2004 pibroch concert series, From Battlelines to Bar Lines. The battle, at North Inch in 1396, saw 30 warriors, selected to represent clans Chattan and Kay, fight before King Robert III.
10. Helen's Farewell Comp. K. Marshalsay PRS/MCPS gut-strung harp 2:58
Written for Helen Bullen when she retired from the RSAMD (now the RCS). Helen was the Scottish music department secretary when I was teaching and doing research there, and a woman of great wisdom and patience! On her last day we decorated her office, had strawberries and champagne and I played her this tune.
11. Dr Karen McAulay of the Books Comp. K. Marshalsay PRS/MCPS gut-strung harp 3:00
Written for a good friend, author of Our Ancient National Airs, and as the music librarian at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, very much a person ‘of the books’.
12. The Rhymer's March / MacKinnon's Brook Comp. K. Marshalsay PRS/MCPS / Trad. Arr. K. Marshalsay PRS/MCPS wire-strung clarsach, gut-strung harp, bray harp 2:57
Another tune from my Thomas the Rhymer piece, this is what I imagined him to be playing as he sat on the Huntly bank watching the Queen of Elfland approaching. The strathspey I learned from students at a session when I was teaching at the National Centre of Excellence in Traditional Music at Plockton. This features all three of Scotland’s harps, the wire strings of the Highlands and Gaelic culture, the modern gut-strung harp with semitone levers, and the bray harp of the Renaissance and Baroque periods, with the buzzing brays (wooden pins that touch the base of each string) used to amplify the sound and cut across the dance floor in the great halls.
Total running time 41.28
Karen Marshalsay plays all three Scottish harps - gut-strung, wire-strung and the buzzing, sitar-like bray harp. Deeply influenced by the piping tradition and particularly pibroch, Karen has honed her style through playing with Allan MacDonald of the famous Glenuig piping family, and in Boys of the Lough founder Cathal McConnell’s trio.
Currently wire harp tutor at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Karen taught at the National Centre of Excellence in Traditional Music at Plockton for seven years. She has performed and conducted workshops at many major festivals worldwide, and has worked with African and Paraguayan musicians on multi-cultural projects, including Yatra for the Edinburgh Mela. In 2018 she guested with the Russian String Orchestra during the Edinburgh Festival playing her own compositions. She has published many of these along her arrangements of traditional tunes in a series of books.
This first solo album shows Karen is a highly accomplished player of traditional music and a fine composer of tunes in a living tradition.
“one of the leading contemporary performers on the instrument” - The Scotsman
THANKS to
Robin Morton for his insight and help in creating this album; Alison Kinnaird for inspiration and tunes over the years, and for encouragement and help on this project; Ewan MacGregor; Allan MacDonald, Cathal McConnell, Kathryn Nicoll & all the musicians I’ve learned from and played with over the years; everyone at Ardival Harps and Starfish Designs; Kate O’Sullivan; my friends & family; and especially my husband Rab for all his support and encouragement.