HEBCELT: KARINE’S SONGS ALWAYS STRIKE A CHORD
Interview Release
Hebridean Celtic Festival
Year of Natural Scotland
- Heb-Celt date for singer Karine Polwart
- Award-winning artist makes return to island festival
- Trio to showcase new songs at event
Karine Polwart has never been one to shy away from controversial issues. Her songs have addressed subjects such as alcoholism, nuclear weapons and, more recently, Donald Trump’s golf course in Aberdeenshire.
‘Cover Your Eyes’, on last year’s album Traces, was the Scottish singer-songwriter’s response to the political, environmental and human issues surrounding the development on the Menie Estate.
“You can tear these dunes asunder, turn this wonder into dust“, the song goes. “With your cruel hands and crooked hearts laden with lust and expensive lies / But the haar will stumble in to cover your eyes / The haar will stumble in.”
It is clear that putting her feelings into the song did not purge all the anger.
“The Trump International Golf Course is an embarrassment to this country”, Polwart states. “The sleekit way it came about, and the way the local residents were treated, in particular.
“It’s an absolute disgrace to what I think of as Scottish values of community and care for our beautiful environment, and just basic human decency. It’s a big red flag for the way money and power talk.
“The song is inspired by some of the folks who still live at Balmedie on the Aberdeenshire coast, what that place means to them in their bones. I have a real thing just now about the importance of home and place, and how little value politicians place upon those emotional connections. I think it comes from having a young family, and wanting to feel a proper sense of community in my own life.”
This summer Polwart will visit Lewis – ironically the birthplace of Trump’s mother – when she performs at the award-winning Hebridean Celtic Festival with her brother Steven Polwart (guitars and vocals) and Inge Thomson (accordion, percussion, vocals)
The HebCelt audience can look forward to hearing many of the songs from Traces, her fifth album, which has been nominated for a SAY Award (Scottish Album Of The Year) as well as new material from the trio: “I think we’ve really honed our sound as a three-piece since our last Stornoway visit. It’s much beefier, and has a much greater sense of texture and dynamics.
“I’ve also upped my own musical armoury since last time by adding Indian harmonium and percussion, as well as my trusty tenor and acoustic guitars.”
Polwart is a great lover and supporter of festivals, and HebCelt in particular: “I started making this kind of music as much to meet people, sing with them, and make pals, as to express my own take on the world.
“I never expected to do this for a living. Festivals are alive with that sense of community, and connection that drew me to folk music in the first place. And that’s only more alive when they’re sited in places that have their own unique character, as Stornoway does. It’s a privilege and a treat to travel this beautiful country as a musician.
“I think it’s brilliant that an island with the depth of musical heritage of Lewis is championing folk and Celtic music on such a big stage. Festivals work best when they have their own local character.
“HebCelt has become one of the biggest fixtures on Scotland’s folk and roots live scene each year, so it’s a treat to come back. And what’s not to love about taking the ferry from Ullapool eh?”
The 18th HebCelt from 17-20 July is headlined by Van Morrison, Dougie MacLean, Capercaillie, The Battlefield Band and the Red Hot Chilli Pipers. The line-up also includes Lau, Darrell Scott, Pete Roe, Paddy Callaghan, local artists Iain Morrison, The Boy who Trapped the Sun and Face the West, as well as Dundee’s Anderson, McGinty, Webster, Ward & Fisher.
I’m always very happy to see Lau, who just get mightier and mightier”, said Polwart. “I’m also curious to see some of the emerging artists, like The Boy Who Trapped The Sun and Anderson, McGinty, Webster, Ward & Fisher. You have to love a band that sound like a firm of solicitors.”
Polwart heads for Stornoway having again featured in the Radio 2 Folk Awards this year when she was nominated for Best Album (Traces), Best Original Song (King of Birds) and Folk Singer of the Year.
Award ceremonies are nothing new for the singer who moved into music full time in 2000 after studying politics and philosophy at university and later worked in the area of women’s and children’s rights. She was part of MacAlias, Battlefield Band and Malinky, and collaborated with Roddy Woomble from Idlewild, before going solo in 2003.
Since then she has been voted best Scots singer (2003) and nominated for songwriter of the year (2004), album of the year and composer of the year (2006) plus album of the year (2012) at the Scots Trad Music Awards.
She was also awarded best album, best original song and best newcomer honours at the Radio 2 awards in 2005, best original song in 2007, and received nominations for best original song in 2003 and best singer in 2005
Despite her success, she remains in two minds about the awards system: “Make no mistake, things like the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards have been, and continue to be, enormously helpful to me, and others, in getting our music to new ears, and in making a sustainable career.
“And The Scots Trad Music Awards are a great gathering of all corners of the Scottish folk scene. Just having the opportunity to be heard and seen is the biggest challenge to all musicians. And the sense of community and support that awards offer to some is important. So I’m lucky.
“But the trick is never to believe that awards represent reality. If you stake your self-esteem on them it’s a recipe for either arrogance or despair.”
Later this year Polwart will be taking part in the Sea Change project, which is exploring the impact of climate change on the cultures and ecologies of Scotland's island communities. It is run by Cape Farewell, an international project examining climate change.
She has also has ‘fledgling’ projects emerging involving working with a storyteller, a children’s novelist, and ornithologists.
“I’m a 42 year-old mother of two wee kids, who kind of fell into music a little by accident. I feel incredibly fortunate to make my living doing something I love so much, and that takes me to people and places that inspire me.”
The HebCelt line-up also includes Darrell Scott, Pete Roe, and local artists Iain Morrison, The Boy who Trapped the Sun and Face the West, as well as Dundee’s Anderson, McGinty, Webster, Ward & Fisher; Lau, voted ‘Best Group’ at this year’s Radio Two Folk Awards; Orcadian eight-piece The Chair; The Hot Seats, from Virginia; Manchester outfit The Travelling Band; Welsh band Rusty Shackle; Fatherson and The Dirty Beggars and Donald MacDonald & The Islands, from Glasgow, Rose Parade, a four-piece from Ayr and Gria, winners of this year’s One Step Further competition.
The festival attracts interest from across the world and was recently selected as one of the Top 10 UK summer festivals by influential music publication Songlines for the third successive year.
Tickets have already been snapped up by fans across the UK and Ireland, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and America.For further information contact
For further information contact
John Ross
Lucid PR
01463 724593; 07730 099617
johnross@lucidmessages.com
NOTES TO EDITORS
The 18th HebCelt takes place between 17-20 July, 2013 and will have two main stages on the Castle Green in front of the Lews Castle in Stornoway, as well as performances in An Lanntair and throughout the rural community.
This year the festival has been selected for the third year in succession as one of the top ten UK summer festivals by music magazine Songlines. It emerged victorious as Best Large Festival at the industry-sponsored Scottish Event Awards 2011, in a three-way final with Edinburgh’s Hogmanay and Glasgow’s Celtic Connections.
Visitors from Algeria, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Romania, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand and the US made the journey to Lewis last year, as well as many from across the UK.
The overseas contingent helped swell the ranks of a 120-strong volunteer army that contributed over 3,500 unpaid man hours over the course of the four days.
HebCelt is supported by Creative Scotland, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar and Highlands & Islands Enterprise and injects more than £1.5 million annually into the local economy.
It is regarded by critics, performers and festival-goers as one of the top Celtic music festivals in Europe and has twice won the Best Event of the Year award at the MG Alba Scots Trad Music Awards, which is voted for by the public.
HebCelt has been hailed as one of the UK’s top 50 festivals by the Daily Telegraph and one of the top five by The Scotsman.
The festival has its own YouTube channel, Facebook and Twitter outlets.
http://www.youtube.com/user/hebceltfest
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hebridean-Celtic-Festival/70400006768?ref=ts
http://twitter.com/#!/hebcelt/
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