‘It was so important to hang on to positive stuff’
Savourna Stevenson and Steve Kettley let rip in a lively harp-saxophone hoedown for this week’s Scotsman Session, with Kettley switching to that hoary old twang of the jawharp. The tune, Silverado Squatters, was composed by Stevenson the best part of three decades ago for her suite, Clyde to California, commissioned by the River Tweed Festival and inspired by the travels of Robert Louis Stevenson (no relation), whose memoir The Silverado Squatters described his stay in an abandoned Californian miner’s shack with his new wife Fanny.
This and two other pieces from the RLS project are reimagined, along with new compositions, by Stevenson and kettle yin their duo album The wine of life( is ours ), due out later this year on the Cooking Vinyl label. The pair will preview it as the opening concert of the edinburgh international harp festival on 8 april.
The contrasting yet complementary timbres of harp( Stevensonuses both c lars ac hand pedal harp) and saxophone make for a striking combination of ringing strings and sustained reediness and the pair’ s playing relationship goes back many years .“Steve is fantastic ally impetuous ,” says stevenson .“he’ s never lost his enthusiasm for music .”
She points to the lyricism of his playing in another Stevenson-related track on the album, la solitude, which also reflects her own classical influences, with its quotation from Ravel; another piece on the album, Gamelan, echoes that other French impressionist, Debussy. Stevenson’s output in fact spans traditional, classical, jazz and beyond: as well as collaborating with the poet and songwriter les barker, she writes for orchestras, chamber groups and particularly for the Scottish early and contemporary vocal group Capella Nova. Last year saw her psalm 121 performed by St Giles’ Cathedral choir.
Kettley’s activities are similarly eclectic. A founder member of such vigorously genredefying outfits as the Cauld Blast orchestra and salsa celtic a, he also led his own quartet Odd Times, plays with Omar Afif in the Moroccan fusion group Gnawa Transfusion and recently launched the second album by his Captain Beef heart tribute band orange Claw Hammer. His theatre work includes collaborations with the former makar Liz Lochhead.
Kettley describes himself as “incredibly pleased” with how the forthcoming album sounds, paying tribute to the small Washoose Studio near Biggar where it was recorded. He anticipates a further festival appearance for the duo in August at the Noia Harp Festival in Galicia, Spain, and other Scottish dates.
The pair embarked on the album just before lockdown, but the hiatus, says Stevenson, has given them “time for the music to mature and develop. It was so important to hang onto positive stuff during lock down .” That maturation, along with the duo’s recognition of advancing years, is reflected in the album title, taken from a celebratory line in one of Les Barker’s poems arranged by Stevenson: “Here and now let’s drink the wine of life while life is ours.”
See www.stevekettley.com and www.savournastevenson.uk and Edinburgh International Harp Festival, visit https://www.harpfestival.co.uk/