Sagas and Seascapes goes to Edinburgh – and a chance to help us on our journey!

We have some very exciting news for you today. Sagas and Seascapes will be going to Edinburgh Festival Fringe this summer for three performances from 15th-17th August at the Scottish Storytelling Centre on the Royal Mile. We will be part of a prestigious showcase of Scottish art, but I’ll save details of that for the official launch date of 31st May. Subscribe below to make sure we keep you up to date!

Live performance, art and more

For the very first time, we will be combining live musical performance of works by Gemma McGregor, Lillie Harris, Eli Tausen á Lava, Kári Bæk, Linda Buckley and the Danish String Quartet‘s wonderful arragement of “The Dromer” with Orla Steven’s specially commissioned art on screen alongside the music. There’ll be footage of Orla creating the paintings as well as film shot on location in Orkney by Craig Sinclair. The composers offer personal insights into their music as they converse together in Orkney at sights that inspired their music.

A chance to support us and collect some special rewards

Of course, more than anything, we hope you’ll be able to travel to Edinburgh to hear us play live in August, but we’d also like to invite you to play a key roll in our journey. We are running a crowdfunding campaign to raise £2000 between now and 2nd May to commission new art by Orla Stevens to accompany Eli Tausen’s wonderful Søgnin um Kópakonuna í 10 Myndum (The Tale of the Sealwoman in 10 Pictures) and also to support our musicians in rehearsal and for all the additional costs involved in taking 6 musicians through to Edinburgh.

Rewards

We have a few exclusive gifts at all levels of donation. Everyone who donates will be mentioned in our programme for the event. We also have everything from merchandise to signed posters to give away. If you are able to support us with a larger sum, we have limited edition prints of the new artworks that Orla will produce for the show for you and the offer of an open rehearsal where you can meet our musicians. These higher value offers are limited, so jump in quickly!

At the corporate level, we can feature your business logo in our publicity and websites for £200. Or perhaps you’d like to see your own community benefit? For £500 we are able to offer an art/music workshop for the school or community group of your own choice.

We really hope you can join in with us in this very personal way, and we look forward to meeting with you as we share our journey to Edinburgh together. Pledges can be made at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/sagas-and-seascapes-at-edinburgh-festival-fringe-1

Tuning In To The Trossachs Workshop this Saturday!

It’s less than a week now until Orla Stevens and I host our Tuning In To The Trossachs Workshop in Aberfoyle in the beautiful Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park in Scotland on 5^th March.

I thought I’d just take a bit of time to tell you a little bit more about what to expect on the day in case you’re not sure whether to sign up.

Orla and I have spent the last year or so working on Nordic Viola’s Sagas and Seascapes project. We’ve become increasingly interested in how music influences art and vice versa. We also share a love of the outdoors, of northern landscapes in particular and the cultures that surround them and we want to share this with you.

Both of us have worked experimentally and are great believers in being able to express ourselves freely without worrying about “getting it right.” Our workshop will be very much exploratory, allowing you to paint and make sound in the way that expresses your feelings about being outdoors. We’ll encourage you to try both art and music. Orla got me drawing again after a 40 year break, because she gave me permission to work quickly and just draw what I felt without fear of judgement. If I can, you can!

For me, music is about so much more than playing the notes right. Even if you’ve never played an instrument, there are sounds all around you. You can make recordings and perhaps shape them into a soundscape, you can find objects lying around that create sound and you can use your own voice. Equally, if you want to write a good honest lyrical melody inspired by your surroundings, then that’s great, too.

We’ll aim to produce a graphic score and a short piece of music/sound art by the end of our day.

Our workshop is open to anyone aged 14 or over. It is fully accessible as even the outdoor part of the day has level access and parking. Just let us know in advance via Eventbrite or the contact form here, and we’ll arrange to meet you.

Tickets in advance from Eventbrite. Just 8 places left as of Monday, so sign up quickly!

I’ll leave you with a couple of short video clips where we talk about our work together.