Kathryn Tickell has unveilled a promo EP for Northumbrian Voices which goes on tour this month. The project which is directed by Annie Rigby (Unfolding Theatre) and Kathryn Tickell will rate as her most important work to date which goes to the very heart of her music and Northumbria. It is also one of her most beautiful, just listen to the tracks below.
Northumbrian Voices is based on interviews and recordings Kathryn has done over the years with family members and old shepherd musicians from whom she learnt tunes and songs, including mouth organ player Will Atkinson and fiddler Willie Taylor. Three generations of musicians perform in this reflection of immensely strong communities, their music and collective stories.
“It’s not just a nostalgic look back to the past though. Many of the people whose words we are using are still alive and very much of the modern age: my neighbour, my cousin – both Northumbrian farmers. I always wish that audiences could meet some of the people I learnt from — they were such characters — and this show feels as if we are letting those people speak.”
Kathryn Tickell.
Tracks
“History, ecology, music, myth…
the local and the universal.
This is beautiful and important work.”
DAVID ALMOND, AUTHOR
(SKELLIG, KIT’S WILDERNESS).
Northumbrian Voices will be toured from August 2012 kicking off at Towersey Folk Festival on August 27th. Full Dates here
www.kathryntickell.com/northumbrian-voices
Photo credit: Reed Ingram Weir
