Fiere

Lovers of Scottish poetry from writers such as Jackie Kay and Liz Lochhead can look forward to getting a literary treat with a twist, in a town near them, as Gaelic singer and Mòd Gold Medalist, Joy Dunlop, and Twelfth Day, a dynamic fiddle and harp duo, launch their unique joint project, an album of Scottish poetry put to music.

Exclusively using poems by female Scottish writers, the collection of songs, dubbed Fiere (a Scots word for companion or friend), is a collection of new songs by the trio who met via Twitter, celebrating the creative output of Scottish women through fresh and innovative compositions. The launch of the eleven-date tour, spanning the length and breadth of the UK – from Orkney to London, takes place at St Andrew’s in The Square in Glasgow, showcasing the unique collaboration which explores the lives, loves and experiences of women in Scotland.

Drawing from a mixture of Gaelic, Scots and English texts, Fiere, which is also being released as an album, includes poetry from a wide range of esteemed writers such as Carol Ann Duffy and Morag Montgomery and also features a traditional Gaelic waulking song and a poem by Sheila MacLeod commissioned especially for the project.

The musicians said, 'We are very excited to be performing these songs up and down the UK and especially in and around our home towns. This is the first time that most of these poems have been put to music but as soon as we read each one, they just cried out to be sung. There was something unique and distinctly beautiful in each poem that caught our attention and brought us an idea for a melody, or musical character which we then developed together.'

Text supplied by third party.