Folk star Iona Fyfe set to explore new directions
with us and a few folk clubs.
“I guess it’s early days. I’m just trying to figure out what to do going forward because of course Aidan and I worked together throughout my entire time at the Conservatoire, so he’s like a long-time collaborator.”
Iona covered works by the likes of Planxty, Gregory Alan Isakov and Peter, Paul and Mary on her minialbum Dark Turn Of Mind last year, and plans to further broaden her musical canvas by taking on a raft of iconic musical theatre standards at the Edinburgh Fringe in August.
“When I studied Scots song I did musical theatre as well and I really enjoyed it — somewhere in my deepest darkest dreams I would’ve loved to have been an actress,” she quipped.
“That would have been much more fun than being a touring musician, I’m sure. I thought that if I did these two small shows at the Fringe with a pianist I could just delve into classic musical songs or songs from movies.
“I think that it’s sellable. Who doesn’t want to see a folk singer try to reach high notes that she’s not trained for? Scots song and musical theatre come from the same tree of storytelling and narrative singing, but the Fringe is such a separate thing and a bit of fun.
“I would never go and sing a musical theatre song at a folk club. You’d be shot for that.”
Poised to perform in mainland Spain for the first time this weekend, Iona remains better known for singing in Scots or Doric than in English but says she has relished the opportunities to diversify musically that have come her way recently. “It’s healthy,” she added.
“I still go to ballad competitions and compete and sing really old songs in dialect. It’s still fun but it’s about having a nice mix of traditional material as well as stuff that’s not, because the more accessible you can be is probably the better.
“I’ve an interest in Appalachian ballads as well. They’re the exact same ballads that went from Scotland to the mountains. You’ll find the same Child Ballads in Kentucky as you’ll find in north Aberdeenshire. It’s amazing.
“I’ve been singing the type of repertoire that’s on Away From My Window since I was five or six so it’s quite refreshing to be able to do something that’s slightly different.”
Iona recently released updated renditions of Violet Jacob’s poem Baltic Street and Aberdeenshire anthem Bonnie Lass Of Fyvie online, but says a new album is still a distance off. Meantime, she’s looking forward to her Crieff return and has fond memories of her previous visit.
She recalled: “Me and Aidan went there and it was a month before the album was officially released and it was really lovely. Margaret Bennett came along, so did Jimmy Hutchison. Yeah, it was kind of like a good old folk club and everyone sang.
“I don’t like smoke and mirrors, I’d just rather it’d be a small intimate folk club where people can sing along. I think I prefer being able to see the audience and make them sing along.”
• Tickets for Thursday’s Crieff Folk Club event are £12 via www.strathearnarts.org