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Read each member's biog, photo, info and discography:
GILLIAN FRAME
Fiddle and vocals
BIOGRAPHY
Gillian Frame comes from the Isle of Arran on the West
Coast of Scotland. Hailing from a family of musicians
she was introduced to traditional Scots and Irish music
at an early age.
In January 2001 Gillian won the prestigious Young Scottish
Traditional Musician 2001 Award. Since then she has
been rapidly gaining experience in all areas of traditional
music, using her talents as fiddle player and singer
in both performing, recording and teaching contexts,
and in 2002 graduated from The Royal Scottish Academy
of Music and Drama with BA (Scottish Music) Hons degree.
During the Celtic Connections festival 2002 Gillian
debuted her 'New Voices' commission, "Kinship Theory",
which consists of all her own compositions and arrangements,
and amongst numerous other performances played in the
first ever, "Unusual Suspects" a piece put
together by Corrina Hewat and Dave Milligan involving
over thirty of Scotland's top Traditional Musicians.
PRESS REVIEWS
"….Gillian Frame, whose fiddling and unaccompanied
singing oozed confidence and poise"
Rob Adams
"Gillian Frame's performance was all we have come
to expect from the inaugural Young Scottish Traditional
Musician of the Year, full of charm and vitality, but
weighted with a solid depth of technique."
Sue Wilson
"The timbre of Frame's voice has settled, softened,
shaded down a touch as its underlying strength has grown,
evident here in her sure and subtle handling of expressive
nuance."
Sue Wilson
"Frame's wonderfully vigorous, full-bodied
fiddle tone..."
Sue Wilson
"Maybe I'll Be Married" provides a
nice counterpoint, featuring not only an absence of
violent death, but Gillan Frame's velvety singing as
well. The lilting melody is the most beautiful one on
the album, and she makes the most of it."
Dan Gilman
"...elegant understated vocals, mostly courtesy
of fiddler Gillian Frame."
GW
"I really enjoyed Gillian on the ballads, seemingly
effortless, clear and smooth."
DISCOGRAPHY
Gillian Frame and Back of the Moon
CDFSR1711, 2001
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This is Gillian's solo
CD, awarded to her as prize for winning the Young
Scottish Traditional Musician of the Year Award.
The album is exactly half solo album, half band
album, as she used it primarily to launch Back
of the Moon in 2001.
For
more info and reviews click here
AVAILABLE HERE>
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Margaret Bennet - In the Sunny Long Ago
CDFSR1708, Footstompin Records,
2001
Buy now at Footstompin Records>
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"Nostalgic
and sentimental, but with a keen ear for the lithe
beauty of some of Scottish trad's song repertoire,
Margaret Bennett, native of the Isle of Skye is
a throwback to another time. When accordion and
fiddle did the two-step and 'Sweet Forget Me Nots'
rang from the wireless. Still, this is a lovingly
honed collection; one that would be labelled 'Old
Timey' if a U.S. label released it. (Unsurprisingly,
she lived for 9 years in Newfoundland, a folkie's
paradise). Bennett's soprano is startlingly crystalline,
close harmonies provided by Gillian Frame and Hamish
and Finlay Napier. Beautiful, gentle tiptoeing music."
Siobhan Long 
In the very impressive Ceol Irish music exhibition
in Dublin’s Smithfield, there’s a Singing
Room where visitors find themselves smack in the
middle of a traditional singaround using space-age
technology. On a smaller scale this album sets out
six chairs – one for the singer, four for the
backing musicians and one for the listener. Margaret
Bennett grew up in Skye and Lewis and she was just
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leaving
her teens when she emigrated to Newfoundland, which
she describes as paradise to a folk musician. The
informality of this recording is intentional, for
singer and musicians attempt to recreate the kitchen
sessions when old favourite songs were sung and
exchanged. The recording venue this time, however,
was An Tobar in Mull and the musicians are from
the younger generation, comprising Findlay Napier
on guitar; Gillian Frame, fiddle; Hamish Napier,
accordian and flute; and Margaret’s son Martyn
Bennett on fiddle, viola, flute and whistle. A bonus
too, is that all the musicians sing and there’s
a standout vocals-only track “An t-oighre og”
Naturally, there are Scots and Irish-influenced
songs but there’s a native Newfoundland input,
too, in the shape off “Sweet Forget-me-nots”,
“Pat Murphy’s Meadow”, a line from
which provides the album’s title. Margaret
is in fine voice and you’ll find it very difficult
not to join in the songs you know. It’s a very
pleasant album and the listener can’t help
but feel that Margaret really enjoyed reminiscing
about the Newfoundland sessions – and that
perhaps the youngsters wished they’d been there
too.
Alan McIntosh Brown
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