Pro arts
‘The Dead Stations’: Charlotte Hathaway and Mike Vass
‘The Dead Stations’ is a story told through original music and animation; combining live performance, recorded actors and projections. It has also been released as a recorded album (produced by Mike Vass) through Unroofed Records. I wrote and directed the script, and produced the project in 2015/16. The music was composed by Mike Vass and performed by (among others) Mike Vass, Mairi Campbell and Yoann Mylonakis. The animation was by Nica Harrison, Atikah Zailani and Gavin Robinson, and sound design was created by Lewis Jones and Yoann Mylonakis. Key voice actors were Ishbel McFarlane and Tommy Herbert. We toured the show live in Edinburgh and rural venues, and showcased at the Hidden Door Festival 2016 and online via Tradtv (coming soon!).
Generously supported by Creative Scotland, Arts Trust Scotland and Edinburgh College of Art.
‘Crossing Points’: Kathleen MacInnes and Fiona Hunter
I produced this project through Unroofed Records in 2014. It brought together two of Scotland’s leading traditional singers to explore common ground and find a meeting place between the Scots and Gaelic traditions. This project saw them develop a set of new material which blends songs from both traditions in new and inventive ways.
“It was those two voices working in tandem … that served notice that they already have something special going on… a quality of vocal sound that made it exciting just to be in the same room.” Rob Adams, The Herald.
“inspired collaboration” **** Jim Gilchrist, The Scotsman.
Listen: Live recording of ‘I am a miller tae my trade’
Generously supported by Creative Scotland, TRACS and the Scottish Storytelling Centre.
Mike Vass ‘In the Wake of Neil Gunn’
In 1937 Scottish writer Neil Gunn sold his house, quit his job and went off in an old converted lifeboat for a summer to inspire his writing; voyaging around the west coast of Scotland. Composer and multi-instrumentalist Mike Vass took inspiration from this and sailed a mirror voyage in May 2014, performing community concerts with guest musicians in the ports Gunn stopped at, and eventually composing a new suite of music.
This was Unroofed Records’ first project, which I produced along with Mike. It featured a traditional arts commission, two live tours and an album which was later long-listed for the SAY Award and nominated for Album of the Year at the Scots Trad Music Awards in 2015. Mike went on to develop further live tours and individual performances and has received much critical acclaim for the work.
Watch the YouTube playlist:
Generously supported by Creative Scotland, Enterprise Music Scotland and Calmac Ferries.
Youth
I co-ordinate youth music projects including events, international partnerships, and artistically ambitious collaborations. Find out more below:
Tigerstyle presents HypeSound : developing and managing a free course for young people in Glasgow, working with top DJ/Production outfit Tigerstyle and maverick instrumentalist Mike Bryan. The young people used software to compose new music, then collaborated with live musicians to produce an electronic/live crossover show
Northern Exchange / Band of Vikings : forging a relationship between Aberdeen International Youth Festival and UKM Arctic festival in Northern Norway bringing young traditional musicians together from Scotland, Norway and Finland
Coming Home : Managing EYG’s Big Band to collaborate with composer Mike Vass and artist Jan Been Brown (in a project led by Jan), creating a show featuring commissioned new music, photography and storytelling.
Edinburgh Youth Gaitherin Big Band : Setting up and co-ordinating a youth trad orchestra in Edinburgh
Bhangra Gaitherin : Managing Edinburgh Youth Gaitherin’s 4-day event for 120 young people this year celebrating the Commonwealth Games and fusing Scottish Traditional music and dance and Bhangra music and dance. Working with partner organisation Sikh Sanjog and Bhangra DJ/Production outfit Tigerstyle.
Edinburgh Youth Gaitherin welcomes Norway : Managing Edinburgh Youth Gaitherin’s 4-day trad music event for young people featuring workshops from Scotland’s top musicians. This year we welcomed a visiting group from Norway and incorporated tuition in Norwegian traditional music.
EYG: The Archive Project : Designing and co-ordinating a year-long project where 7 young traditional musicians explored the School of Scottish Studies sound archive and created new music in response to what they found; eventually recording an album.
