#Separation studio not responding full

Hazel Askew, Karine Polwart, Rowan Rheingansįrom the Robert Frost poem The Road Not Taken. Jean Elliot and Frederic William Moorman (Roud 3812) The title is from the book of the same name by Alastair McIntosh. Ībout human relationships to the land and to nature. īased on a 19th century Danish poem about a woman who becomes a mermaid. Ī music hall song about a woman with a baby born out of wedlock. It is mainly in the Norn language, extinct since 1850, with some Shetland dialect. The Unst Boat Song was collected in 1947 from John Stickle, of Unst. 'S Muladach mi 's mi air m' Aineoil ( Sad Am I and in a Strange Place)Ī gaelic waulking song about a woman left alone on an island. (Unaccompanied recording made on location in the Cathedral Cave on Eigg.) Ī broadside found in the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library, yearning for equality and love. Album Songs of SeparationĮigg is one of the last refuges of the corncrake in Scotland. Indian harmonium, percussion, tenor guitar and vocalīanjo, fiddle, percussion, viola and vocal Musicians Eliza Carthyįiddle, Indian harmonium, percussion and vocal The album release was accompanied by a film The Making of Songs of Separation.

#Separation studio not responding full

The first two tracks of the Songs of Separation album, 'Echo Mocks the Corncrake' / 'It Was A' for Our Rightfu' King' were released as a digital single on 20 November 2015, followed by the full album in January 2016. Rowan Rheingans' song Soil and Soul was influenced by the island's legend of the Big Women and a visit to the Loch nam Ban Mora ( Lake of the Big Women). The two a capella tracks were recorded in the island's Cathedral Cave, used for secret Roman Catholic services during the 18th century, which can only be accessed at low tide. The music reflects its creation on the Isle of Eigg, with its turbulent history. Andy Bell of Hudson Records, Sheffield was the recording engineer on Eigg, and co-produced the album with Hill. Įigg film-maker Ben Cormack of Picarus created short films of each day's activities. They stayed together in the island's Glebe Barn hostel, and recorded in the Eigg Studio. The only prerequisite was for each of the musicians to arrive with three songs from her own tradition exploring the theme of separation in any way she chose. They came together on Eigg in June 2015, with three days to create the arrangements and three days for recording. Hill selected a dream team of ten musicians, five from Scotland and five from England, some of the most well-known musicians in the genre including Karine Polwart and Eliza Carthy, some earlier in their careers, and was able to secure the entire list. Loch nam Ban Mòra ( Lake of the Big Women). A former charity director, Hill set about securing sponsorship, and gained support from Creative Scotland, Arts Council England and Enterprise Music Scotland. Her ethos was to treat the musicians fairly and to find the resources to pay them properly. She decided to create a music project comprising Scottish and English musicians to explore the concept of separation. She was also concerned that folk music was less concerned with current affairs and social commentary than it had been in earlier decades. She felt that the adversarial approach caused people to forget the bigger issues that affect everyone. Travelling a lot between her home in Eigg and her work in England, Hill reflected on the different ways that the issues around Scottish independence were presented and received in the two countries. The idea for Songs of Separation came when double bass player and composer Jenny Hill was living on the Isle of Eigg, one of the four Small Isles of the Inner Hebrides, off the west coast of Scotland.