FREEBORNMAN...........
Terry Free.....Storyteller,Singer,Raconteur,Street Photographer
Due out mid-DecemberIt's official !!..Traditional folk music is 'hip' and 'cool'
6th October 2008
Mark Radcliffe hailed her voice and songs as “enchanting, beguiling and as fascinating as songs by Kate Bush and Björk” and KT Tunstall described her voice as "formidable and amazingly rhythmic". The elfin figure they are describing is Julie Fowlis, a talented singer and instrumentalist from Scotland. She is the BBC Radio 2 Folk Singer of the Year 2008 and in a few short years has taken the music scene by storm, gathering a small army of fans around the world plus an impressive list of celebrities including the afore mentioned Mark Radcliffe, KT Tunstall plus Ricky Gervais and Phil Selway from Radiohead. In 2007 she was invited to appear on "Later...with Jools Holland" and was a special guest on the critically acclaimed "Transatlantic Sessions" series and has entertained millions of radio listeners around the world with her engaging live sessions and live performances.
However she is somewhat of an enigma as she sings in a language only understood by around 60,000 people - which accounts for only approximately 1% of the population of Scotland. She sings in Scottish Gaelic and spends her time touring around the world bringing ancient songs form the Hebridean Islands to new audiences. She is an accomplished musician as well - playing Highland bagpipes, smallpipes, whistles, oboe & cor anglais and three waltzes on the one row melodeon. (Folking.com).
Now she is dipping her toes into the streets of New York City.....you know the town....where all the poor people are fat and it's best to keep your valuables in a safe place ..... like Switzerland.
Coming from the Hebrides I guess that she will have quite an experience, after all New York is an exciting place where something is happening all the time ... most of it unsolved! In the following article she is interviewed by music/event blogger Lucid Culture who poses sixteen questions to her and can't resist asking her to say something in her native Gaelic..... even if it is " my hovercraft is full of eels” .......but that's America... don't forget 11% of them think soccer is played under water!!
