In Conversation With Morag Brown & Lewis Powell-Reid 28th September 2024–
Morag Brown & Lewis Powell-Reid – Auld Springs New – AOW 28th Sept 2024Join Auntie Liz on Saturday 28th September 12pm on Celtic Music Radio when she will be In Conversation with Morag & Lewis about their new album – Auld Springs New.
Morag and Lewis play a rich repertoire of instrumental music from Scottish traditions along with many others. Lewis performs with accordion, cittern, guitar and bouzouki, and Morag plays fiddle and five-string fiddle. Their shared intuition and love of spontaneity allows them to freely move be- tween melody, harmony and improvisation.
Both musicians have performed extensively with bands playing music from the Balkans, Greece and beyond, and have pursued these musical interests in depth over the years. It is this tangle of influences and experiences that nourish and bring colour to their work as a duo, and it is their fa- miliarity with each other that allows their music to unravel anew on each playing. In one moment their music might be heard to draw deeply on their Scottish and Celtic heritage, the next to slip into a sound which is altogether eclectic. Together, they speak their music with one voice.
As a young duo, Lewis and Morag performed across the UK for charity Live Music Now, performing at events such as Cambridge Music Festival and St Magnus Festival. Other performance highlights include the Sage Gateshead, Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall and the Pianodrome. Over the years they have performed together in various ensembles: Horovod Balkan Band, Babylon Arabic Band, Jiginaboot Ceilidh Band and the Matt Seattle Band.
Lewis group in the Borders, initially becoming proficient on fretted instruments for playing Scot- tish music. He took up accordion to pursue an interest in Balkan music and his dedication to this genre later led to collaborations with world class artists: in 2011 he toured with virtuoso Tcha Lim- berger while playing in the band of Hungarian violinist Jani Lang and in 2019 he performed on gui- tar and accordion at Musicport Festival as a duo with Amira Medunjanin, considered the foremost singer of Bosnian Sevdah music. Lewis’s versatility as a cross-genre multi-instrumentalist was no- ticed early on and he worked for several years with violinist/ producer Martin Swan and with fiddler Tim O’Leary before embarking on the Newcastle University degree in Folk and Traditional Music. In 2012 he studied bouzouki with virtuoso Giorgos Manolakis in Crete and in 2013 Lewis complet- ed his degree with first class honours and won the Harry Clews Prize for final recital with highest mark.
Morag’s musical journey started with Scottish fiddle music, but she soon found herself swept up in an exhilarating Balkan music scene while studying Gaelic at Edinburgh University. Before long she was performing at venues up and down the country – notably the Barbican and Glasgow Old Fruit- market at Celtic Connections. In 2011 Morag was awarded funding to study Shetland and Greek fiddle for a Music Masters at Newcastle University, and achieved a distinction. This also gave her the opportunity to learn Indian improvisation techniques and Breton music. Morag’s past collabora- tions include performances with Esther Swift (2024), Bulgarian singer and Booker prize winner An- gela Rodel (Fringe 2023), Kate Young (Celtic Connections 2017) and Rona Wilkie (Scots Fiddle Festival 2022), and recordings with Jim Sutherland (2022), Jemima Thewes (2022), The Katet (2016) and Mr McFall’s Chamber (2016). Morag also performs with ‘psyche-Gaelic’ band Awry.
Track List
- Tide Time – Powell-Reid
- Kiss’s Her Under The Coverlet Trad – Matt Seattle / Nighean Nan Caorach / Fa’s Sae merry’s the Miller when a’ his pocks are fu’
- Vas-y Mimile – Marc Perrone
- The Knockie Set- Trad – Choir’-a-Ghearraig / Am Monadh Liath / Am Botal dudh’s an t-siige cheachann / Am Fasan th’ aig na Caileagan
- Midwinder Makedonska Powell-Reid / Miss Taylor’s Delight
- Pearlin Peggie’s Pibroch -Trad Pearlin Peggie’s Bonny / The Kail Reels of Fittie. / Pibroch
- Kemenska Trad – Bulgarian
- Four Bare Legs Together – Trad. Fy let us a’ to the Wedding / Four Bare Legs Together / Go to Bwewick Johnny
- The Orange Blossom – Lost Hearts – Nigel Eaton / The Orange Blossom – Trad – Shetland
- Schottische A Yann – Yabnn Goas from La Troisieme Collection – Jules Marquard
- An Carn Gorm Trad Scottish
Upcoming gigs:-
5th Oct Traquair Village Hall
9th Nov Lancaster (house concert)
24th Nov Jedburgh (house concert) 24th Nov
6th December Edinburgh (Stockbridge Music Hub) – lunchtime recital
7th December Amble, Northumberland, Dry Water Arts Centre