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Read each member's biog, photo, info and discography:
HAMISH NAPIER
Piano, Flute, Whistles,
Vocals, Stepdance
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Hamish
was nominated as a solo artist in the 'Best up
and Coming Artist' category at the Scots Trad
Music Awards 2005.
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Hamish Napier plays George Ormiston
Flutes. George has been making flutes since 1978,
combining the skills he acquired as a trained
engineer and as a flute player.
george@ormistonflutes.fsnet.co.uk
www.ormistonflutes.fsnet.co.uk
+44 (0) 1501785416 |
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BIOGRAPHY
Hamish Napier and is a Scottish traditional musician
and music teacher living in Glasgow. He plays piano,
flute, whistle, sings and stepdances (traditional Scottish
tap dancing). He was a finalist in the 'Young Scottish
Traditional Musician of the Year Award 2006' and was
nominated for 'Best Up and Coming Artist' at the Scots
Trad Awards 2005. Originally from Strathspey, Hamish
was steeped in traditional music by my family from an
early age - his mother, Marie-Louise Napier, is a singer/composer/harpist
and his older brother Findlay Napier is a singer/songwriter/guitarist.
At 24, Hamish has appeared on a dozen albums of Scottish
traditional music, produced by the likes of Donald Shaw
(Capercaille), Martin Bennett and Mary Anne Kennedy
(BBC Radio Scotland presenter of folk/world music show
Global Gathering'). He has performed with the Margaret
Bennett Band, The Scottish Stepdance Company, the infamous
Walkabout Ceilidh Band, the Jamie Smith Band, the Gary
Innes Band, the Anna Massey Band and The Trotters.
Hamish's main project is performing with multi-award
winning Scottish band 'Back of the Moon', but he has
also set up a solo project called 'The Hamish Napier
Duos', where he is paired with one of half a dozen other
Scottish multi-instrumentalists. The Duos is mainly
a project designed for corporate events, but have performed
just as often in a large concert setting, including
four appearances at Glasgow's Piping Live Festival 2005,
and twice at Celtic Connections 2004.
Also a music teacher, Hamish has taught/taken workshops
at dozens of music schools and festivals abroad including
Canadian Folk Festivals Calgary and Goderich and the
Sunshine Coast Music Camp. At home in Scotland he has
taught at Celtic Connections Festival, the Glasgow Fiddle
Workshop, The RSAMD (Royal Scottish Academy of Music
and Drama) 'Scottish Music' degree course, and at various
Feisean (Gaelic music camps in Scotland) including some
of the largest ones Feis Rois and Feis An Earrich. Hamish
also occasionally teaches piano or group work at the
prestigious National Centre of Excellence in Traditional
Music at Plockton High School.
PRESS REVIEWS
"...consistently excellent performances, with...Hamish
exciting flute and flat-picked guitar partnership with
Anna Massie...' [Anna Massie is one of the guitarists
in the 'Hamish Napier Duos']
Rob Adams
2"My personal standout
song was [Hamish] Napier Jnr's beautifully modulated,
achingly poignant rendition of [scots song] Gin
I Was A Baron's Heir, blending an apt boyish lightness
with an intensity of yearning that raised a major lump
in the throat."
Sue Wilson
"Piano, flute, whistle, singing and step dancing,
Hamish Napier is one of the finest young musicians in
Scotland. A multi-talented bundle of energy, his music
is invigorating, passionate and steeped in tradition.
Pair him with other young musicians such as his brother
Findlay Napier, Anna Massie, Ali Hutton, Ross Ainslie
and Innes Watson - all of whom represent the cream of
the crop - and you have the makings of a cracking and
enlightening night."
John Morran, Development Worker for TMSA
"...Hamish Napier excelling on the quieter and
more sensitive songs...My favourite is the song Baron
of Brackley, a Scottish tale of murder and theft, not
an uncommon theme in Scottish traditional music! This
is wonderfully sung by Hamish, whose accompaniment on
keyboards is always excellent."
Dave Dewar
"...buoyant, Cape Breton-influenced piano."
Sue Wilson
DISCOGRAPHY
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
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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TMSA Young Trad Tour 2004 - LIVE
TMSA001, 2005
Buy now from the TMSA website>
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Anyone
who has attended the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional
Musician of the Year finals concerts over the last
few years will already know about the strength of
talent apparent in Scotlands young musicians. In
2004 the Traditional Music and Song Association
(TMSA) organised a tour round Scotland featuring
that year's finalists plus Anna Massie the 2003
winner. This album recorded live at two of the concerts
- in Keith and Stonehaven - let's us hear these
great young players and singers and allows us to
appreciate how fortunate we are to have this well
of talent coming through for the future. Featuring
Shona Donaldson, James Graham, Anna Massie, Rosie
Morton, Hamish Napier, Sarah Naylor, Tom Orr and
Jenna Reid. |
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Emily Smith - A Different Life
WFRCD01, 2005
Buy now
from www.emilysmith.org>
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Gary Innes - How's the Craic?
SKIPCD05, Skipinnish Records, 2005
Buy
now from Skippinish Records>
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"The
term is old, even if 'craic' is an Irish neologism,
and the dozen young musicians here are having a
good lot of it, piling up pipes, fiddle, flute,
whistle, banjo, mandolin, guitar, drums, keyboard,
bass and clarsach behind their Lochaber leader's
piano accordion. There are a couple of sweetly paced
marches, three guest singers - William Ross' evergreen
'Filoro' is performed with great Gaelic gusto, there's
a country rock Tennessee Waltz then a gentle clarsach-led
song for a new baby in 'Orans do Cheit' - and a
rake of Scots, Irish and Innes' own tunes brimming
with digital dexterity and just inside the speed
limit." Norman Chalmers
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Tale of the howe - Rodger Lyall
2005
Buy here
now at www.howesong.co.uk>
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"This CD is a collection of songs celebrating
a region of South Aberdeenshire known as the Mearns.
It is punctuated with readings from local son
and famous novelist Lewis Grassic Gibbon and accompanied
by a selection of string quartet and folk instruments.
It has been an ambitious project by all accounts
but a great success."
"A "Tale Of The Howe" is a collection
of eight hauntingly beautful songs accompanied
by a selection of guitar, bouzouki, whistle, pipes,
accordion, strings and double bass." Jan
06
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Jamie Smith - Jamie Smith
2006
Buy now at
CD Baby>
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The
distinctive figure of this Glasgow fiddler is well
known from his appearances with Beneche and other
groupings. On this debut solo recording he mixes
Irish and Scottish tunes ancient and modern, adding
seven of his own compositions. There are some rare
treats here: Little Jennifer from the repertoire
of Tommy Potts, Leddy From Cavan putting a name
to one of Ed Reavy's many reels, and the cracking
jig Miss Catherine Jane Sprees with Brian MacNeill's
wizardry written right through it. Jamie Smith fiddles
in a clear, no-nonsense style, cutting through all
accompaniment with ease. And the accompaniment is
rich and varied here, |
ranging from the near-jazz of Edinburgh's folk scene
on Clare Toast to the Spanish fiesta rhythms and
Latin guitar on Palma Perfecto. Jamie's composition
Ma's Taxi stands out, as do Eve's Jig by James Kelly
and Christina's Set featuring Jamie's talented younger
sister who divides her time between fiddling in
Glasgow and painting in Edinburgh. Jamie finishes
with a real blast of powerful fiddling on Cuz Teehan's
Barndance and Christy Barry's Jig, showing how well
he can get inside a tune. His gutsy fiddle and fondness
for the lower register make this a very interesting
album, raw tunes over a meaty backing, promising
plenty of
pleasant surprises to come from Jamie Smith."
Alex Monaghan
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