Edinburgh-based harp player Karen Marshalsay to play Dores Village Hall on October 29
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A distinguished harp player who has contributed to a prestigious new collection of traditional music will this month play Dores Village Hall.
The south Loch Ness-side village venue will host Edinburgh-based Karen Marshalsay on Saturday, October 29.
The harpist has had two of her tunes selected for the MusicHub Collection 2022, which is published by Hands Up for Trad, the organisers of the annual MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards and the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year competition.
The collection also features contributions from Highland composers, fiddlers Karen Steven and Adam Sutherland, from Caithness and Errogie respectively, and Speyside multi-instrumentalist Hamish Napier.
“It’s great to have your tunes included in collections like these,” Karen said.
“The whole point about writing new music in the traditional style is to have it played, whether it be in informal sessions or by other musicians in their concert repertoires.
“The MusicHub, being high profile, certainly gives your music exposure.”
The artist has had her music played in a variety of settings from folk groups to orchestral performances.
As well as playing the sort of solo concert that brings her to Dores, Karen plays with Irish music legend and founder of the internationally popular Boys of the Lough, singer-flautist Cathal McConnell.
She has also worked with Gaelic song and piping authority Allan MacDonald, of the Glenuig piping family, and in 2019 was invited to arrange and perform her own compositions with the award-winning Russian String Orchestra at the Edinburgh Festival.
One of the tunes chosen for the MusicHub Collection 2022, Dr Karen McAulay of the Books appears on Karen’s solo album, The Road to Kennacraig.
It received enthusiastic reviews on its release just before the pandemic and will form the basis of her concert set in Dores.
“I’ll be playing all three harps from the Scottish tradition in the concert,” she said
“There’s the modern, gut-strung clarsach that most people who listen to traditional music will be familiar with.
“I also play the wire-string harp from the Gaelic tradition and the dark horse of the harp family, the bray harp, which looks like a harp, except it’s a bit slimmer, but has a very distinctive sound that takes people by surprise.”
Tickets for the concert are available from Ness Gifts in Dores or can be reserved by calling 07715 617319.
