As part of Sgeul at Under Canvas, we commissioned new folk music representing the voices of queer people in Scotland. Our Fundraising Manager Natalie caught up with some of the artists who brought our vision to life.
Sgeul, meaning story in Gaelic, was a special week at Under Canvas celebrating Scotland’s Year of Stories. We were delighted to be able to commission four artists to write new music. The musicians were asked to tell, re-tell or adapt a story centring a queer/LGBTQ+ experience, or create a musical response to a queer story, whether contemporary, historical, folkloric or from their own experience.
Susannah Armitage, Eden Court’s Senior Producer, reflected on the project:
“The majority of the traditional folk canon of music and songs comes from a very heteronormative place that does not necessarily reflect the lived experience of the artists performing or the audience listening to the music.”
Bogha-frois (the Gaelic word for rainbow) is a community of queer folk musicians who supported the weekend. Pedro Cameron (known as Man of the Minch), organiser of the collective, used his commission to build on a previous piece called Rosanna.
Rosanna is about a man asking his partner's parents for their permission to get married and the mother of his partner not approving. “I ended up writing two songs which are expansions of that story from the perspectives of the other people in the story," Pedro says, "I wanted to look at it with the new understanding that I have through doing Bogha-frois”.
One piece is about a man coming out to his family who were not necessarily OK with that and one was from the perspective of Rosanna, the disapproving mother.
“It was good to challenge my own perspective and perception and I think with the discussions around queer people, and transgender people in particular at the moment, people could do with taking a second and thinking about how somebody else views the world.”
Laura Wilkie, a Tain-based fiddler with a unique style, explains the meaning behind her commission:
“The piece is based on the feeling of being comfortable in myself now, as an adult after years and years of confusion, rejection and continual learning. It accepts and celebrates that everyone has the right to shift and evolve at any point in their life, in pursuit of their own truth, happiness and authentic self.”
Bagpipe and fiddle player, composer and musical director, Malin Lewis, was inspired by memories of growing up around ceilidh dancing.
“Becoming more aware of my gender, I started to feel less and less comfortable in these spaces and started playing the music more than dancing to it," Malin explained, "I wrote this waltz for all those people and all the dances that have not been danced and I hope the future will bring a lot more queer ceilidhs!”
We are so grateful that EventScotland’s support has enabled us to commission some of Scotland’s most exciting folk musicians to write new music with a queer narrative, adding to Scotland’s songbook and creating a legacy for the Year of Stories.
