Mairi Campbell
Traditional Singer & Fiddler
Mairi Campbell, award winning Scottish singer and violist/fiddler is a key contributer to Scotland’s vibrant traditional music scene. Her concerts are a combination of traditional song and improvised music. Mairi is a unique and powerful performer with skilled stage craft who is expanding the boundaries of Scottish traditional music and creating new soundscapes in the current Scottish traditional music scene.
Mairi’s most recent work explores the relationship between traditional and elemental, finding voice for the indigenous that rests deep within our culture. This takes the form of what she refers to as ‘soundings’ on viola and voice.
Mairi is equally at home on a big festival stage or in intimate folk clubs. She shot to public awareness in 2008 when her version of Auld Lang Syne was placed in the pivotal scene of the blockbuster ‘Sex and the City’. It came about when Sarah Jessica Parker heard her sing live in 1999 at the Presidential lifetime achievement awards for, among others, President Clinton, Sean Connery and Stevie Wonder!
The songs, written with long-term collaborator, husband and lyricist David Francis, also feature in her set. Mairi and Dave find the universal in the personal and write songs that many can relate to. They were winners in the Burnsong competition in 2009 and worked as a duo called ‘The Cast’ which performed over many years performing extensively throughout the UK and Ireland, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Italy and North America.
Mairi won the award of ‘Tutor of the Year’ in 2011 for her contribution to teaching of Scottish traditional music. She is a popular workshop leader who is musical director of a 60 member folk choir based in Edinburgh and arranges their repertoire. She hosts her own fiddle courses on the West Coast island of Lismore, Scotland called ‘Lismore Music Retreats’. These music camps support adult learning of traditional music and artistry.
Our thanks to www.mairicampbell.co.uk for their help with this information
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