Lismore fiddle player reaches A High Place
Scottish folk duo Joseph Peach and Charlie Grey from Lismore are releasing their new album Spiorachas - A High Place on October 1.
Fiddle player Charlie lives on the Isle of Lismore where in his free time he restores small boats, occasionally works on a creel fishing boat and spends his time walking his border collie Hector.
Charlie is also an outstanding musician, having spent time studying the fiddle, Gypsy Jazz, Bluegrass, Blues-fiddle music and mastering his own aesthetic of improvisation.
Developed through improvisation, Charlie and Joseph reinterpret the traditional Scottish Gaelic melodies of times past, continuing their multi-generational story, as well as introducing new pieces of their own.
The album’s first single, Gathan-grèin, was composed by Joseph as he took in the inspiring crepuscular sunbeams off the coast of Scotland.
This single provides a and life-affirming introduction to Spiorachas - A High Place. Throughout Spiorachas, Charlie can be heard playing on a Hardanger D’Amore, an incredibly rare, ten-string Norwegian bowed instrument designed and built by Salve Håkedal.
Only the 33rd Hardanger D’Amore ever made, Charlie’s instrument is likely one of a kind in Scotland.
‘The landscape surrounding Lismore is a constant source of inspiration to me,’ Charlie told
The Oban Times. ‘It is a truly unique place. I always think of the island being trapped between worlds: you have the dramatic hills of Ben Nevis, Ben Cruachan, Glen Creran and the back of Glencoe on one side; the barren highland landscape of Morven to your north; the rolling lush green to your south that is so unique to Argyll and, finally, to the west you have the Western Isles, the gateway to the Atlantic Ocean and beyond. My grandmother Ishbel Macaskill was a great
Gaelic singer and throughout the world music.
‘Although me and my siblings were aware she toured the world singing, it wasn’t something we ever thought much about when we were with her, as she was just granny to us.
‘Unfortunately she passed away when I was in my young teens, just as I was starting to take my music more seriously.
‘I’d love to say I had played lots of music with her and we had collaborated on projects together, but time didn’t allow us that pleasure. Her presence lives on, however, and it’s one of the great joys in my life to meet new people all over the world who knew and loved her as I did.’
After the release of Spiorachas- A High Place, Charlie and Joe will be sitting down with musicians for a series of intimate and personal conversations discussing creation, collaboration and inspiration on their new podcast show, launching in November.