From: Martin Snodin [martin.snodin_at_homecall_dot_co_dot_uk]

Sent: 13 September 2011 20:25

Subject: Acoustic Sussex Newsletter 2011-09-13 - Iain Morrison Band - 1st October

 

Newsletter                  13 September 2011

Contact details
Tel. 01342 716975
or email:
info_at_acousticsussex_dot_org_dot_uk

Listen and watch:
The kid who hid under the water

Click for YouTube clip

Remember the Cuisine Studio is open for pre-show meals from 5.30pm - reservations 01342 324860    

Saturday
1 October 2011
8pm
Iain Morrison Band
at Chequer Mead
East Grinstead

Support: Wallis Bird

www.chequermead.org.uk

£12.50 all seats
Box Office 01342 302000

 

Click here for News Release in PDF format

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Winner of The Scots Trad Music Award for ‘Composer of the Year 2010’, Iain Morrison is one of Scotland’s most inventive and exciting new contemporary musicians. A singer-songwriter and acclaimed piper from the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, Morrison’s music has been likened, at one extreme, to artists such as U2 or REM, set against the poignancy and longing that is the essence of Gaelic song. With a golden ear for strong melody and an engaging, expressive singing voice, he produces an enigmatic and truly original mix of creative elements capturing sonorous beauty with poetic and often witty observation.  His performance at this year’s Glasgow Celtic Connections festival gained a 5 Star review for his 'New Voices' composition.

Stornoway-born, Morrison was for a time the frontman and guitarist of Glasgow indie band Crash My Model Car but with an alter ego as a piper. Taught by his musically-renowned Pipe-Major father at the age of eleven using canntaireachd (the ancient Gaelic verbal notation of music), there was an unspoken expectation that Morrison would follow into the family tradition. For a while he did, but in his late teens he picked up a guitar and his music took off in a wholly different and unique direction. In his hands, ancient music such as ‘Mackintosh’s Lament’ (the main theme of which was famously taken by Dvorak for his New World Symphony) becomes a raw and powerful music tour de force that was likened to the Velvet Underground when it was performed by his band at the festival.

Morrison has appeared once before at East Grinstead when, in January 2010, he provided solo support to a show by US artist Anais Mitchell - and wowed the audience with his singing, song-writing and piping skills. After joining her onstage, the two became musical collaborators and she made a guest appearance on his most recent album, Haunted Bird.  He also played the part of Orpheus in Mitchell’s acclaimed folk opera, Hadestown, a production performed in Glasgow and London that included stellar folk names such as Martin Carthy, Thea Gilmore and Jim Moray. This year has seen him appear at major venues and on TV and radio, including a recent live session on BBC Radio 4’s Loose Ends.

In this special one-off show (in which he breaks into his tour dates with Julie Fowlis), Morrison appears with his full band and is joined by the enigmatic singer songwriter, Wallis Bird. She was also in the cast of the Hadestown productions and has recently supported The Feeling on tour.  Expect an evening of exhilarating, contemporary roots music when anything can happeof exhilarating, contemporary roots music that you'll love.

"For every boy who follows his father into the family business, there's a dozen more who push all that's expected away and tread their own path. Musically, Iain Morrison is the rare example of a man who has done both. His father, Pipe Major Iain M Morrison, is a distinguished piper of more than local renown, and Iain's handling of a set of pipes comes from tutelage at his father's knee. Yet, there was, by his own admission, a sometimes painful separation from the tradition into which most people expected to see him follow, and excel. Iain picked up a guitar, and started to experiment. For anyone who remembers Crash My Model Car, it's obvious how far from tradition he was prepared to go. He's someone who compresses music styles, life experience and emotion into a uniquely crafted style both distinctive and impossible to classify."
Hebridean Celtic Festival Review

 


Iain Morrison


Wallis Bird

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More information on all our events can be found on our website: www.acousticsussex.org.uk. You can also find us on MySpace (with Playlists of tracks from upcoming artists) at: www.myspace.com/acousticsussex.

If you know anyone who you think may enjoy our events, please forward this email to them.

 

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