Thanks, Nic: Trad star keeping her home in
Singer on classical musician’s key role in
A star of traditional music has hailed one from the world of classics for keeping her children in key during lockdown.
Singer Julie Fowlis signed up her daughters, 10-year-old Aoibhe and Niamh, eight, for violinist Nicola Benedetti’s music lessons online and was blown away. She said: “The kids have been great, as has their school, which acted really quickly in getting everything online. And the teachers have been really supportive.
“We’ve tried to use the time to do things we wouldn’t normally do, so we’ve been playing so much music with them. The girls did a three-week online course of music-making with the Benedetti Foundation, which was incredible.
“They’d previously gone along to the event organised by the foundation in Dundee just before lockdown. It was truly inspirational and I’m really proud of Nicky and everything she’s doing, giving opportunities. It wasn’t established for people with money or privilege. It’s open to everyone.
“The virtual sessions were set up in such a short space of time. My girls went to lessons every day and it was incredible what they got from it. It made a lot of the lockdown really positive. That idea of music for all is something I firmly believe in.”
She is loving the music at home but fears the pandemic might risk the future of live music in Scotland.
“I’ve moved all my tour dates to 2021, and we’re keeping our fingers crossed they can happen at that point,” said Julie, who has achieved crossover success thanks to her songs on Disney’s Brave movie soundtrack, as well as performances at the Commonwealth Games and on the television show Later With Jools Holland. “I think people will be ready to celebrate music again, but also nervous to go to festivals and gigs. “It’s a worry when you see how big the gap is going to be, in terms of infrastructure, to make shows happen. Venues, promoters, agents, everyone in the industry is under financial pressure, so I hope there will be enough support of the scene in general that it still exists in 2021. “It’s hard when so much is unknown. We can’t follow a road at the moment – we are floating, waiting and wondering – and that’s one of the difficulties. We have the phases laid out, which is helpful, but in terms of music there is not an obvious plan for returning to live performance and, even if it does happen, how does it happen?”
Julie, who lives near Inverness, had set aside much of the year to work on new music with her husband and collaborator Eamon Doorley, but did have a tour of America and a string of summer festivals in her diary.
Julie admitted that while it was never her intention starting out, she does feel pressure to fly the flag for the Gaelic language and help keep it alive. “I never set out with any agenda to do any