Catriona McKay

Catriona McKay sounds like



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Catriona McKay & Chris Stout



Scottish Harp & Shetland Fiddle



OUT NOW! The new self-penned duo cd by Catriona McKay & Chris Stout!!



Here is a short audio clip from WHITE NIGHTS with photos from the new cd release by Catriona McKay & Chris Stout. WHITE NIGHTS is available to buy NOW from www.codamusic.co.uk



a short biog -



Musical partners in crime and dynamic duo sound sensation. Having gigged, explored and sculpted their musical identities together for 15 years now Catriona McKay (Scottish harp) and Chris Stout (Shetland fiddle) continue to evolve and create a sound and style "operating at a rarefied level of expertise" (The Herald). They recorded their first duo cd "Laebrack" in 2005 and have been part of many other projects together over the years as trustworthy collaborators.



The crafting of their voice as a duo which blends "elemental intensity with graceful eloquence" (The Herald) has drawn them to explore new music and new ideas for this partnership of traditional instruments - "sensual, throaty fiddle lines.harp is deliciously angular and haughty" (Irish Times)



For more information and to buy the new cd WHITE NIGHTS please visit www.catrionamckay.co.uk & www.chrisstout.co.uk



Laebrack (2005)



Live photo, Tokyo, Japan 2009



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Catriona McKay - Starfish (2007)

- scottish harp music written and arranged by catriona mckay for harp | guitar | fiddle | strings and electroacoustics



nominated album of the year at the 2008 scots trad music awards



Little Impulse / Fechin Inn - composed by Brian Finnegan, arranged by Catriona McKay, from the cd STARFISH



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Fiddlers° Bid



Fiddle - Andrew Gifford

Fiddle - Kevin Henderson

Fiddle - Maurice Henderson

Fiddle - Chris Stout

Piano/Clarsach - Catriona McKay

Guitar - Fionan de Barra

Bass - Jonathan Ritch



All Dressed in Yellow (2009) - our new cd is available to buy from us now - recorded in British Grove Studio, London.



"a ground-breaking recording. delivered in the now trade mark Bid style" Shetland Times



Fiddlers° Bid are internationally respected as leading exponents of their unique musical heritage and rich fiddle tradition and are global ambassadors for Shetland. A dynamic four fiddle front line joins with a powerhouse of piano, bass, guitar and Scottish harp to create a display of stunning virtuosity.



Since their formation in 1991, the "flying fiddles and furious talent" of Fiddlers Bid have astounded audiences all over the world with their expressive, high energy music and performance. "Beware: Fiddlers Bid is infectious and habit-forming."



The SOUND of SUMMER 2010! Da Skeklers was filmed in Shetland last August in preparation for SUMMER 2010 - Da Skeklers is a track from our award winning album ALL DRESSED in YELLOW. You can see the full film (without the added text) and buy the cd at www.fiddlersbid.com



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Catriona McKay & Olov Johansson

Scottish Harp & Swedish Nyckelharpa



cd available! - foogy (2009)



Catriona & Olov met for the first time in Stockholm 2002 at a concert they shared with their bands, Väsen from Sweden and Shetland based Fiddlers’ Bid. Backstage before the concert Catriona asked Olov “Do you know this one?” and played Eric Sahlström’s Spelmansglädje, the most played Nyckelharpa tune ever!



They both really enjoyed the sound and the music they made together that afternoon and that created a desire to further develop the collaboration. The next opportunity to play was at the Celtic Connections 2007 concert Fiddlers’ Bid International and since then they have met regularly. After a very fun tour of Sweden in the summer of 2008 they decided to make a cd.



‘FOOGY’ is a recording of traditional and new music from Scotland and Sweden by Catriona McKay and Olov Johansson. It presents their way of making music and explores the stunning sound of Scottish Harp and Swedish Nyckelharpa.



".their instruments seems to liberate themselves from their original traditions and improvise a fine threaded, personal web of sound – a giving and taking where also the old melodies are given totally new dimensions. It might be a Scottish harp piece from the 18th century , or a polska after Gabriel Höök. Several of the tracks are composed by themselves. Johansson and McKay are both masterful instrumentalists, but it’s the way they listen to each other and play together that is the big reward, the ability to exchange solo-space and to vary the playing from the most ethereal and lyrical to the driving dance rhythms in the Foogy Set."?Ulf Gustavsson, Upsala Nya Tidningen



For more information and to buy foogy go to www.myspace.com/olovjohanssoncatrionamckay



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Strange Rainbow



Catriona McKay (harp) and Alistair MacDonald (laptop/live electronics)



Strange Rainbow play in imaginary worlds where the familiar dissolves into the unfamiliar.



This is a very deliberate meeting of traditions. Catriona plays a customised clarsach with sounds processed by Alistair MacDonald's laptop, along with soundscapes drawn from the environment.



As a duo they make music that seems at once dislocated and greatly concerned with roots and connections; a rendering of traditional musical language refracted through contemporary performance technique, and then again through the transformations of live electronics to explore new, unimagined colours.



new cd out 1st nov 2009 - recorded in Battlehill Wood, Huntly, Scotland, midsummer weekend 09



skimmerin' (2009)



invisible from land and sea (2008)



strange rainbow playing live in Glasgow



strange rainbow cds are available to buy from www.strangerainbow.co.uk



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Chris Stout Theory



With a unique driving vision influenced by his island roots, the outrageously talented and big warm hearted cheeky personality of Chris Stout embodies the extraordinary meeting place of the atlantic ocean and north sea - which is of course where his island of birth is located - Fair Isle, Shetland!



Devil's Advocate (2007)



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Historien om en Gut

music for Peter Lykke-Seest’s 1919 norwegian silent film by catriona mckay | premiered in the Haugesund at the Norwegian International Film Festival 08 | more info at www.catrionamckay.co.uk



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Embracing the Unknown (2009)

- new compositions by contemporary classical composers for the unusual combination of John Kenny, trombone and Catriona McKay, harp with the Edinburgh String Quartet - a project dreamt up and masterminded by the charismatic trombonist John Kenny! more info at www.carnyxscotland.co.uk



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Catriona McKay solo album 2002!

aye, it's a while ago now!

"sparkling gem of an album" Glasgow Herald



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plus more at www.catrionamckay.com