Firelight Trio are a new Scottish band who perform a full broad and colourful sweep of European Folk Music from the music of the Balkans, Scandinavian polkas, and, to top it all off, lashings of irresistible klezmer.
They are:
Ruth Morris is more often found lingering in the wings as an advisor on set at big TV drama productions. Her most recent work includes being an on-set musician on HBO series ‘Outlander’ and playing nyckelharpa on the soundtrack of the Netflix film ‘Outlaw King’. Partner of respected fiddler and creative force Gavin Marwick (see below), she is also a member of his Journeyman Project, Bellevue Rendezvous, The Galloway Agreement String Quartet and her own ceilidh band, Whirligig. She has toured extensively.
Gavin Marwick is as busy as any musician could ever hope to be and has played in Europe, North America, Asia, Australia and Africa. As well as appearing with many different bands over the years, including those mentioned above, he has also played with Iron Horse, Cantrip, Up In The Air and Ceilidh Minogue. As a session musician, he has performed/recorded with The Unusual Suspects, Session A9, Wolfstone, Shooglenifty, Arz Nevez (BRZ), Malinky and Sogdiana (UZB) and others. He is a prolific composer who has been greatly inspired by musicians and cultures he has encountered on his travels and has self-published some 200 of his tunes in a collection called ‘Horizons.’ We also reviewed his 2014 solo album The Long Road and The Far Horizons.
Phil Alexander studied at Goldsmiths College with John Tilbury and has a PhD in Ethnomusicology. Besides leading Scotland’s top world-folk outfit Moishe’s Bagel, he has collaborated with a whole bunch of UK-based musicians, including the jazz tango trio Tangalgo, McFall’s Chamber, harpist Catriona McKay, Norma Waterson, Martin Carthy and their daughter Eliza, and many more. For several years he was a central part of the internationally-acclaimed Salsa Celtica. Phil has also written a book all about klezmer music in Berlin (Oxford University Press, 2021), which influential world music magazine, Songlines, described as “vivid and fascinating.”
Watch them performing Balkanpolska, a tune that captures the grace, energy and playfulness of this top-calibre trio of musicians:
Firelight Trio will be touring Scotland in September 2022 and these dates are so far confirmed:
Fri Sept 23: Performing Arts Centre, Kilbarchan
Sat 24: West Barns Village Hall, Dunbar
Sun 25: CatStrand Arts Centre, New Galloway (matinee show as part of Glenkens Folk Weekend)
Find out more here: www.firelighttrio.co.uk