Julie Fowlis

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Julie Fowlis (2008)

Julie Fowlis (born June 20, 1979 on North Uist in Scotland ) is a Scottish folk singer and multi-instrumentalist , who sings primarily in Scottish Gaelic and also in Irish .

life and career

Julie Fowlis grew up in North Uist , an island in the Outer Hebrides , part of Scotland. On the maternal side, she is descended from local fishermen and small farmers. The father comes from the Scottish mainland. The family ran a hotel on the island, where Gaelic is primarily spoken. At the age of 15, her father changed jobs and moved to Strathpeffer on the mainland . After completing her school career, Julie Fowlis studied oboe and English horn at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow and earned a Bachelor of Arts in applied music. She then deepened her knowledge of her mother tongue and Gaelic folklore by visiting the Sabhal Mòr Ostaig College on the Isle of Skye . In the early 2000s she worked as a music development officer for the Fèis Rois organization in Dingwall .

She gained her first attention as a professional musician as the singer of the Dòchas , a predominantly female Scottish sextet. In 2004 she was named best Gaelic singer at the Scots Trad Music Awards . She made her debut as a solo artist in 2005 with the album Mar a tha mo chridhe ( How my heart is ), produced by Iain MacDonald .

Fowlis' repertoire typically consists of songs that have otherwise only been passed down orally over the centuries on her home island, where they are part of traditional everyday culture. As a multi-instrumentalist, Fowlis plays typical wind instruments such as the flute , tin whistle and bagpipes ( Great Highland Bagpipe and Scottish smallpipes ), but also accordion and melodion . In her reinterpretation of Gaelic folklore, she places particular emphasis on authenticity that goes beyond strict purism and commercialization:

I always try to be as true to tradition as possible, but I know that just adding traditional instruments changes tradition. Most of these songs were sung unaccompanied, so even in what we do we are not perfect purists. This is something that I am very aware of and I always try to keep the original song while it is presented with some kind of congenial and, hopefully, appropriate music.

For the soundtrack of Merida - Legende der Highlands (2012) she lent her voice to Alex Mandel's original compositions Touch the Sky and Into the Open Air .

Fowlis is married to the musician Éamon Doorley, a member of the Irish band Danú . The couple have two daughters together.

Discography (selection)

Albums

Together with the Dòchas
  • Dòchas (2002)
  • To Darna Umhail (2005)
  • TBC (2009)
solo
  • Mar a tha mo chridhe (2005)
  • Cuilidh (2007)
  • Uam (2009)
  • Live at Perthshire Amber (2011)
  • Gach Sgeul / Every Story (2014)
  • alterum (2017)
  • Allt (2018)

Singles

  • Turas san Lochmor (2007)
  • Hùg Air A 'Bhonaid Mhòir (2008)
  • Lon Dubh / Blackbird (2008 - cover of the Beatles song Blackbird )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. When I open my mouth, a Gaelic song comes up . Sara Trauffer, SRF , December 21, 2014 (accessed December 30, 2014)
  2. Quotation translated from: Ruth Walker: Julie Fowlis on Gaelic, music, and Pixar's Brave . The Scotsman, August 4, 2013 ( Memento of May 11, 2015 in the Internet Archive )