Lismore ceilidh-life goes on record
Lismore islanders are 'soundly' following in the footsteps of such music greats as the Rolling Stones, The Killers and U2.
What some of the world's most famous bands and a talented crowd of Lismore inhabitants all have in common is that their albums have shared the same Brightonbased mastering engineer.
Avid supporter of unsigned music Pete Maher, tagged as the best in Britain, and who also had a hand to play in hit movie La La Land's soundtrack, has been putting the finishing professional touches to a double CD recorded on the tiny Inner Hebridean island in a recording studio owned by gigging musician and retired builder Davy Clincart, who moved there three years ago.
Sounds From The Great
Garden is a ceilidh-style celebration of Lismore's artists and will be released on November 30.
Funded by the island's Gaelic Centre and born from the island's September-time
Taproot Festival, the CD opens the door on a modern-day Lismore house-party.
'To have such a high-population of artists in such a small island really is something to celebrate. Lismore is the kind of magical place that draws that type of person,' said Davy.
'The CD is a snapshot of Lismore society and typical of the modern informal ceilidhs that go on in people's houses here. It's like a timepiece – in 70 years someone could listen to it and get a sound reflection of how Lismore entertained itself.
'We had more than three hours of material to choose from in the end and finally got it down to two hours. The content is extraordinary but typical to our island,' added Davy, who was not short of contributions from willing performers and spent hours upon hours working on it, long after the recording light went out.
From herding 20 choir members from Lismore Voices tightly into the studio built onto Davy's Tirlaggan home, to jazz musicians, schoolchildren and 84-yearold Duncan Laggan singing in Lismore Gaelic, the CD captured not just music and song but spoken word and stories too.
Lismore Voices sing a
Russian orthodox hymn for it, and top artist Mairi Campbell – who has just been inducted into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame – performs a new composition called A Wee Herd Laddie. A salty tale of high seas adventure written by a dad for his son's seventh birthday is part of the package, too, as is The Hill Gathering, a descriptive piece about rounding-up sheep written and performed by island shepherd Arthur Cross.
'It's definitely not another tartan, shortbread, jigs'n'reels CD – that's not what you hear when you go to someone's house here for a party. People do all sorts of different things and that's what people who buy it can expect – an invite to a Lismore party,' said Davy.
Sounds From The Great Garden will be available at Lismore shop, Oban Music as well as on iTunes, Apple and Amazon.