Our Tune of the Day comes from Fara, a Scottish band made up of some the finest talents from Scotland’s folk music scene: Jennifer Austin, Louise Bichan, Kristan Harvey, Jeana Leslie (Jeana Leslie & Siobhan Miller) and Catriona Price (Twelfth Day). They play a mixture of self-penned and traditional Orkney tunes and some songs. They made a lasting impression at last year’s Orkney Folk Festival as they return again this year (21-24 May 2015). Folk Radio will be covering the festival, thanks to a new member of our team, a fiddle player no less, who hails from Orkney, you will be hearing from her soon. Fara are also performing at the mighty Tønder Festival (27-30 August) and Cambridge Folk Festival (30 July – 2 August). A band we think you’ll be hearing a lot more of through 2015.
Jeremy and Regina’s/Bright Grey features on their self-titled debut release which you can also hear in full below and order via Bandcamp.
“Sickeningly talented and mad as brushes. A potent combination.” Kevin Macleod
BIO:
The girls grew up under the musical guidance of Douglas Montgomery (The Chair, Saltfishforty) with the four East Mainlanders of the band in fiddle group Hadhirgaan at Kirkwall Grammar School, and Kristan, a West Mainlander, in Jenny Keldie’s Shoramere at Stromness Academy. Between them, the girls hold degrees from The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Glasgow School of Art, the University of Strathclyde, The Royal Northern College of Music and The Royal Academy of Music. They have all since established themselves in the Scottish music scene, gaining many accolades along the way – including the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award, the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year, The Deutsche Bank Award in Performance and Composition, and Celtic Connections’ Danny Kyle Award.
After several appearances as ‘The Chairettes’ – The Chair’s backing band – at one gig, the girls were asked to play a couple of sets on their own, and it was suggested that they form a new band. Much to The Chair’s disappointment, ‘The Chairettes’ was dropped, and Fara was born.
Get their debut release from Bandcamp: