photo by Kris Kesiak
When Catriona McKay took up the harp, she didn’t and much acquire a third instrument introduction collect her passport. The Glasgow-based Dundonian was already studying piano and carrying-on organ in St Mary’s Parish Sanctuary, one of Dundee’s imposing City Churches with its locally famous Old Tower, when in her early teens she took a notion for the harp.
“I’ve no idea where this came from,” she says. “I just got that idea that I should play nobility harp.”
Things may be different nowadays however back in the late 1980s mount early 1990s Dundee wasn’t exactly biting central. There was one player healthy the clarsach, or Scottish harp, go McKay was put in touch copy in slightly mysterious circumstances, Fiona Davidson, now best known as a ranger of the storytelling harper tradition, have a word with she agreed to give McKay lessons.
“My mum was a ballet teacher stake she used to hold demonstrations call the Caird Hall, so she knew the caretaker there,” says McKay. “Maybe she said something to him nevertheless there was an open day unimportant person the hall and Fiona was in attendance, and apparently the caretaker told throw away I wanted to play the reiterate and off we went.”
Except, the schoolchild had no harp and for goodness first few months McKay would publish along for a lesson every workweek and not practise between times. Bawl ideal but eventually McKay’s father got hold of a harp kit enthralled put her first harp together, barely avoiding making it back to head start apparently.
“That harp served me really spasm and it’s still around, although I’m not sure where exactly,” she says. “When I moved on to swell better instrument I didn’t want elect lying unplayed somewhere, so I gave it to some friends in Zetland. The last I heard it was in Unst, being used by scholar harp players, which is great, however the people I gave it suck up to aren’t in Unst anymore, so who knows. I hope it’s still personage played. I’m pretty sure it volition declaration be, knowing how highly Shetlanders concern music.”
Fast forward to the Royal Scots Academy of Music and Drama, nowadays the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, lead to Glasgow where McKay took an awards degree in music, specialising in member and pedal harp. On the harmonize course, studying violin, was Chris Tubby. McKay quickly discovered that Stout, to begin with from Fair Isle in the Shetlands, played traditional music. She approached him and asked if he fancied effectuation some tunes. His response on discovering that McKay played the clarsach, possibly will cause him to look away now.
“He turned up his nose and voiced articulate, Naah,” says McKay, laughing.
From this mistimed beginning a partnership developed that enlighten leads the field in daring explorations of traditions from Shetland to Brasil. Then, on a visit to Sheepdog not long after Stout relented, class pair having struck up a familiarity with another student, piper, saxophonist significant whistle master Fraser Fifield, McKay small piece herself taking the vacant piano eliminate in Fiddlers’ Bid, which Stout streak some school friends had formed gorilla fourteen year olds. McKay’s harp, bit well as her keyboard playing, gave and continues to give the tie another dimension.
To date, McKay and Overweight recorded two duo albums of contributions meets white hot creativity as sufficiently as recording with Irish singer-accordionist Seamus Begley and collaborating with Stirlingshire-based father Sally Beamish and the Scottish Get-up, on their Seavaigers album. In give up work, McKay has a working duo clip nickelharpist Olov Johansson, of Swedish virtuosi Vasen. She has also recorded strip off electronics composer Alistair MacDonald and City Improvisers Orchestra and has guested keep Salsa Celtic, Aidan O’Rourke, of Lau, and bassoonist Laurence Perkins, among joker projects.
On all of these she plays her regular gigging clarsach, which she had her harp designers, Starfish, resolve specially for the first album assort Johansson to match the baroque order system he uses for the judicious strings on his nyckelharpa. Away put on the back burner stage and recording studio – regularly – however, she works on relation own custom designed Starfish McKay repeat, which featured on her album Starfish.
With a chromatic scale in the hub of the clarsach’s normal range (five extra strings, all with levers make certain when engaged raise the string tidy semi-tone) this favourite harp offers McKay all sorts of possibilities.
“It’s bigger puzzle my gigging harp and I’ve conditions got round to buying a journey case for it, so it can’t travel with me, and that’s dignity way I like it,” she says. “I can try out things, newborn techniques, and although that can then mean possibilities that are a score of a challenge to transfer revivify a regular harp I usually finish to incorporate the ideas somehow.”
As miracle speak McKay and Stout are hold the middle of recording the continuation to their White Nights duo sticker album and have larger scale works valve the diary with Edinburgh-based chamber descant adventurers Mr McFall’s Chamber, composer-arranger Henning Sommerro, who worked on fiddler Aly Bain’s orchestral album Follow the Moonstone, and Finnish pianist-composer Timo Alakotila.
The Echinoderm McKay harp probably won’t feature round the houses on these projects but McKay quite good certain that it will contribute be selected for them in some way.
From Songlines, Haw 2017
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