Mairi Campbell
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Mairi Campbell

Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom | Established. Jan 01, 2013 | SELF

Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom | SELF
Established on Jan, 2013
Solo Folk Celtic

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This band has not uploaded any videos
This band has not uploaded any videos

Music

Press


"Norman Bissell"

Feeling exhilarated today after last night's marvellous performance here on Luing of Red Earth and Revival! by Mairi Campbell and David Francis. By turns deeply moving, humorous and inspiring this fascinating mix of storytelling, dramatic narrative, music and song about Mairi's forebears and present day family points the way forward for a traditional and contemporary music that is grounded in the incredible reality of people's lives and the earth that supports them - Oban Times. 2013


"Two extraordinary musicians"

The Cast is two extraordinary artists from Scotland. Mairi Campbell and David Francis. Mairi has a gorgeous voice, and plays a wondrous fiddle and viola. Let us repeat. Gorgeous. Francis remains on the cutting edge of trad guitar playing. This album may show us the Female Vocalist of the Year, as well as Composition of the Year, 'Jean Yelland'. This is the group's third album. It is terrific. Great technique meets real soul. Highly recommended. - Bill Margeson - Chicago, USA


"'Campbell is an exemplary fiddler'"

Campbell is an exemplary fiddler. Her mastery of Cape Breton style jigs and reels marries well with Francis's guitar playing which at times chimes like a bright clarsach. - the Scotsman'


"'best of the year'"

If a clear indication of talent is the ability to turn the maudlin and mundane into the exceptional, then this Scottish duo is endowed with more than their share of musical aptitude.... Campbell's singing is always emotive, Francis provides precise and thoughtful guitar accompaniment which both respects and reflects the spirit of the lyrics...one of the best of the year. - Dirty Linen (USA)


"..'one of the great sounds of Scottish folk'.."

Campbell's voice, warm and beguiling is one of the great sounds of Scottish folk music today. - The Herald


"..'relaxed masterwork'.."

A regal grace pervades their work and eye for creating moods and melodic textures remain their ace card. Colours of Lichen is a relaxed masterwork. - Irish Music (Ireland)


"'..timelessness.'"

In Scots, "cast"has implications of fate, or the divining of it, and of course, it's also what you do with a spell. They may not put themselves about much, but when The Cast work their own particular magic they manage to invoke a very particular sense of timelessness, of music emerging from shadows and, naturally, into light. - The Scotsman


Discography

2015  Mairi Campbell Soundings

2014 Campbell and Gray  - David Gray and Mairi collaborate on electro-acoustic sound paintings

2013 Revival and the Red Earth  ( website sales)

2011 Mairi Campbell - solo album ( itunes/ website)

2007 - GREENGOLD (Greentrax Recordings, and on iTunes and Amazon)
1996 - COLOURS OF LICHEN ( iTunes, Amazon, Greentrax)
1994 - THE WINNOWING ( iTunes, Greentrax, Amazon)

Photos

Bio

'Campbell's voice can stop the clock, and there is a pervading sense of renewal and even transcendence in this material'  The Scotsman.

Award winning musician, Mairi Campbell is one of Scotlands' most respected musicians.  Described by Simon Thoumire as the 'musicians' musician',  Mairi works both as a performer and facilitator, supporting the tap root and shoots of Scotlands current vibrant traditional music scene.  Her skill and profound musicality combined with her insatiable curiosity around sound and personal process means her own work is constantly shifting and stays alive to influences from Bothy ballads to free improvisation.

The songs are co-written with David Francis, her long term collaborator and husband, with whom she had the duo, 'The Cast'. In 2008, their version of 'Auld Lang Syne' was placed in the pivotal scene of the blockbuster movie 'Sex and the City'.

 

  • Scots Singer of the Year - Scots Trad Music Awards
  • Tutor of the year - Scots Trad Music Awards
  • Composition of the year ( Liveireland)
  • Neil Gow award for composition
  • Female Musician of the Year - ( liveireland)
 In 1976, aged 11, Mairi created a string quartet that played Elgar's Serenade for Strings.  The string quartet were her sisters, aged 8,11,15 and 16. Her mother was the Scottish artist Marjorie Campbell.  Mairi went on to study at the Guildhall school of music in 1984.
Since 2003 Mairi has been musical director of a sixty member folk song choir based in Edinburgh called Sangstream


 




Band Members