Album of the Week – The Tannahill Weavers ‘Solstice’
Written by celtic music radio on December 7, 2024
The final Album of the Week for 2024 is this extraordinary collection of seasonal music from The Tannahill Weavers, a band that’s been a stalwart of the Scottish traditional scene since the 1970s.
SOLSTICE displays the exceptional depth of their talents in creating imaginative ways to treat well known melodies.
The band said: “Our inspiration for making this album was the urge to explore and create connections between well-known centuries old seasonal melodies and our own Scottish traditional music.
“While many of the compositions we encountered had changed throughout the years, the feel to most of them has kept a folky/trad approach.
“We have tried to enhance that traditional feel by composing extra parts to some of the tunes, which we feel adds to the flow of the melodies.
“In many cases, this involved changing the timing into jig, march, waltz and reel time, which suits our array of traditional instruments.
“This is the first time that we have created a predominantly instrumental album, which we felt that the melodies richly deserved.”
The band also included two songs from sublime Gaelic singer ,Annia MacGillivray and the result is an exceptional collection of melodies and songs.
Solstice, arranged and produced by Phil Smillie, was created thanks to support from Creative Scotland.
The band will be chatting about the album and their music with Hugh Taylor today on the last Album of the Week show of the year.
• ALBUM OF THE WEEK SHOW – The Tannahill Weavers in conversation with Hugh Taylor – midday, Saturday, December 7, 2024.
