SISTERS BRING FRENCH CONNECTION TO HEBCELT
Interview release
Hebridean Celtic Festival
Year of Homecoming 2014
- HebCelt date for Magnolia Sisters
- Louisiana band will celebrate traditional music
- Group voted top live act by Songlines
As a leading performer and chronicler of traditional music, Ann Savoy sees her appearance at this year’s Hebridean Celtic Festival as an enjoyable way of bringing together two rich and connected cultures.
Ann, who will be playing at HebCelt as part of the Louisiana-based group Magnolia Sisters, grew up listening to rare collections of Cajun music and has since documented the culture by interviewing and photographing musicians and transcribing the Cajun French songs.
“The old songs help the younger generations learn the French language. These songs also help them connect to, and maybe understand better, their pasts”, she said.
There is an obvious affinity with HebCelt, which runs from 16-19 July in Stornoway in the island of Lewis, and promotes all forms of Celtic music as well as the Gaelic language and culture to its international audience.
“The attraction of the festival is being able to share the traditional songs from the Cajun people who have fiercely guarded their culture, with people from Scotland who have also persisted in maintaining their cultural traditions.
“Musical connections between the two mostly come through the fiddle traditions - reels - many of which have their roots in Ireland and Scotland. There are a lot of drones in Cajun music, too. Drones of resonating fiddle strings, drones of accordion reeds – there are lots of parallels.
“We have many ballads in the Cajun tradition, too. The other obvious connection is the music is for the same purpose – socialising and dancing.”
Ann’s cultural research became a book - Cajun Music: A Reflection of a People Volume 1 – which won her an award from the American Folklore Society and her photographs have been exhibited at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and at the Festival of American Music in Eugene, Oregon.
A multi-instrumentalist and record producer, she has a band with her husband and two sons – The Savoy Family Cajun Band – and has also toured with her husband and Michael Doucet as the Savoy-Doucet Cajun Band.
She recently recorded the Grammy-nominated CD Adieu False Heart with her friend, the legendary artist Linda Ronstadt, while a CD she produced of Cajun and Creole music featuring mainstream and traditional musicians was also nominated for a Grammy.
The Magnolia Sisters, who will play in the HebCelt main arena on Friday, 18 July and at the Seallam Visitor Centre in Harris the previous evening, have been voted at No 1 in the summer live gig guide by influential magazine Songlines, which also gives the group’s new album Love’s Lies a four-star review.
The group was founded by Ann and Jane Vidrine, a musician, folklorist, cultural activist and teacher, to explore the feminine side of Cajun music and play the many styles of French music from southwest Louisiana.
The other members of the band are Lisa Trahan, whose family has a long history of French music and culture, and Anya Burgess, who plays, builds and restores fiddles and was once a member of a group in Louisiana called Celjun, which played songs connecting Cajun and Celtic traditions.
For Ann, the group’s performance at HebCelt it mark a return to the Outer Hebrides where she visited with Aly Bain, Phil Cunningham, her husband Marc Savoy, and Michel Doucet a few years ago.
“We were so thrilled with the harsh beauty of the place, totally charmed. Also, my husband loves Laphroaig scotch. We want to soak up as much of your area as possible.”
As a regular on the music festival circuit, what are her own favourite memories? “
Memories come from the sharing of something you love with people from other places. And we meet so many great people and make new friends.”
The 19th HebCelt,will feature its biggest ever programme. It will be headlined by Levellers, Big Country and Donnie Munro and also include performances by Cara Dillon, Rachel Sermanni, Duncan Chisholm and Canadian outfit Gordie MacKeeman and His Rhythm Boys.
The festival has its two main stages in the spectacular setting in front of Lews Castle in Stornoway, and this year is introducing an acoustic stage for the first time. There will also be concerts in An Lanntair arts centre and in rural parts of Lewis and Harris.
The four-day festival is expected to attract an audience of about 16,000 – double the population of Stornoway – with more than half coming from outside the Hebrides and helping to generate around £1 million for the local economy.
NOTES TO EDITORS
This year HebCelt was selected as one of the top 10 UK summer festivals for the fourth year in succession by influential publication Songlines.
It was also hailed as one of the greenest festivals in the world after being the only Scottish event to receive an Outstanding award from environmental campaign group A Greener Festival. In addition, it was shortlisted in the Greener Festival category in the UK Festival Awards and in the Best Independent Festival category in the AIM Independent Music Awards.
In 2011 it was ranked Best Large Festival at the industry-sponsored Scottish Event Awards and it won Best Event of the Year award at the MG Alba Scots Trad Music Awards in 2004 and 2009.
For more information contact
John Ross
Lucid PR
01463 724593; 07730 099617
johnross@lucidmessages.com
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