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Out of My Own Light

Margaret Sarah Tait

Out of My Own Light
 

Thank you!

Out of My Own Light, Orkney Folk Festival 2015

Hello and thank you for signing up to my mailing list! I'll be sending out occasional updates on the project, keeping you informed of my progress and I shall let you know about any future events and such like.

I had a great weekend at the Orkney Folk Festival, thank you for coming along to my concert/exhibition for Out of My Own Light. I am delighted with how things went and was absolutely over the moon to receive a fantastic review in the Scotsmans round up of the festival, written by Sue Wilson:

Bichan’s vividly expressive and evocative chamber-folk score underpinned a wonderfully engaging, absorbing illumination of past lives and family ties. Sue Wilson, The Scotsman, 25th May 2015

It was lovely to see so many familiar faces at the concert and exhibition and also fantastic to have some not-so-familiar faces as well, I'm delighted that so many people have taken an interest in the project. I'd like to say a huge thank you to all those who helped to make the concert and exhibition a success; the musicians Jen Austin (piano), Mike Vass (fiddle and guitar), Su-a Lee (cello), Euan Burton (double bass) and Signy Jakobsdottir (percussion), to my travel buddy and cousin Alice Tait who joined me for a few tunes and has helped me in lots of ways throughout the project, thank you to Innes Watson and the Orphir Hall keyholders for help setting up and clearing up, to Mike Guest for taking charge and doing a lovely job of visuals, my parents and family for all their help and support, my brother Finlay for the loan of his fiddle and Linda Hamilton for the loan of a cello to Su-a, Aquatera for the loan of a projector, to John and co of Sound Sense for doing a great job on sound, the Pier Arts Centre for hosting the exhibition and of course to the Orkney Folk Festival for allowing me to put the concert on.
Photo by Mike Guest
Photo by Mike Guest
Photos by Mike Guest

The week prior to the festival, I was at Watercolour Studio in Ardgour, near Fort William, recording the album. We had Angus Lyon at the helm, as engineer and producer, Duncan Lyall was on double bass and Mike Guest came along and took some beautiful video footage, some of which I hope you enjoyed during the concert. We have had an evening at GloWorm studio in Glasgow, with Jen laying down some piano on a lovely old upright and a day at Angus' own studio Grans House, near Biggar, with Signy spending some more time working on percussion parts. I hope to spend another day or so at Grans House this month, finishing off a few more things, before the album is mixed, mastered and ready to go to print. I can't wait to have the finished album in hand, I am so pleased with how it sounds so far and I feel so lucky to have had such a fantastic, creative, talented team, with great ideas, to bring my music to life.

I put together a sort of 'behind the scenes' type video of our time recording at Watercolour, take a look and have a sneaky preview to one of the (unfinished) tracks:
As part of the project, I have also put together an edition of 25 photographic books, which are being hand made by photographer and book maker Lachlan Young. The first few copies have been on display in the Pier Arts Centre and are now moving, with the exhibition, to the Lyth Arts Centre, near Wick, for the summer. I am delighted with how beautiful a job Lachlan has done.
Out of My Own Light book
Out of My Own Light book
Out of My Own Light book
Out of My Own Light book
I have just given my website a complete overhaul, so you can read more about Out of My Own Light, listen to some of my music, or look at more of my photography work here: www.louisebichan.co.uk

I am extremely grateful to both Creative Scotland and SJD Robertson Group, who have provided funding  to help make this project possible thus far. Sadly, as with so many creative projects, I have found myself going significantly over-budget, therefore I am currently looking for sponsorship/further funding, to complete the project, but I am confident and determined that I can make it work and hope to have a finished album ready by the end of the summer, fingers crossed!

I am really excited to say that in September I will be heading to Boston, to study music at Berklee College of Music for a year. It is a real honour to have been awarded this opportunity and a scholarship to do so and now I'm really looking forward to working on my skills as a player and a composer, to learning Old Time, Bluegrass and Appalachian fiddle music and to meeting and playing with lots of new people. I am currently trying to raise the funds to help with my fees and living costs while studying. I'm running a crowd-funding campaign, offering music and photography related things in return for donations, such as signed prints, copies of the Out of My Own Light book and album, as well as fiddle lessons and even house concerts. I'd really appreciate if you would take a look and consider helping me in any way you can. Thank you.

www.indiegogo.com/projects/study-at-berklee-college-of-music/x/6333096#/story

 
Thank you for reading, please do get in touch with any comments or questions, I'd love to hear your feedback and thoughts about Out of My Own Light. For more snippets, photos and updates, take a look/follow my blog: www.mstait.tumblr.com.

All the best,
Louise


 
Copyright © 2015 Louise Bichan, All rights reserved.

www.louisebichan.co.uk             www.mstait.tumblr.com

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