Live Breaking News & Updates on Scottish folk music

Stay informed with the latest breaking news from Scottish folk music on our comprehensive webpage. Get up-to-the-minute updates on local events, politics, business, entertainment, and more. Our dedicated team of journalists delivers timely and reliable news, ensuring you're always in the know. Discover firsthand accounts, expert analysis, and exclusive interviews, all in one convenient destination. Don't miss a beat — visit our webpage for real-time breaking news in Scottish folk music and stay connected to the pulse of your community

This Cultural Life

everybody wants to have, which is totally fine. i don�t feel quite so evangelical about it as i did when i was younger but what i do feel incredibly strongly about, and i�m kind of more dedicated to than ever, is the what is there, you put in front of people and when you put it in front of people, you contextualise that thing in a way that gives people the best chance of feeling the most that they can from that experience. the life of the soloist is all—consuming, isn�t it? the rehearsals and the tours and the publicity. and you�ve been doing this from such a young age and been so well known on the public stage. did you ever imagine when you started out that you would get to this stage of the career — or, more importantly — that a life dedicated to music would turn out the way it has done? i think that very young, the love and dedication

Kind , Everybody , Feel , People , Way , Thing , Front , Chance , It , Life , Age , Experience

This Cultural Life

you were born and brought up in north ayrshire. what are your earliest musical memories at home? what memories do you have of music being played at home? the bee gees and abba. later on, good dose of shania twain. that was all my dad's taste. my mum definitely had a kenny g record. um... she laughs saxophone? they'll kill me for saying all of this quite like this, but it's the truth! both of your parents were born in italy, weren't they ? yes. was it an italian household culturally growing up? it's a good question. i would say both parents assimilated very concretely and quite deliberately with scottishness and scottish culture, but they also came over very young. my mum was three years old. an italian—speaking three—year—old with an italian mother and scottish father. um...came over to scotland and, er...was sort of banned from speaking italian quite quickly. it was considered to be detrimental to her education and all sorts of things. we know better now. so my mum lost most of her italian, um...and it was a very

Scottish-folk-music , Mum , Dad , Home , Memories , Record , Dose , Taste , North-ayrshire , The-bee-gees , Abba , Shania-twain

This Cultural Life

out of lockdown. .. music plays ..he says that he actually had an idea, started trying to go in that direction and had to completely put it to bed. and it was several months ofjust torturous being unable to get out what he needed to say. music plays he said it was the most intense compositional experience he�s ever had. to learn that piece was, i think, the most intense. without any comparison, really, the most intense experience i�ve had of getting to learn any piece of music. this has been a rough 2a hours with a huge reality check on how lacking in absolute

Idea , Lockdown , Music-plays , Direction , Bed , Scottish-folk-music , Experience , Piece , Intense , Comparison , Reality-check , 2

This Cultural Life

you know, him sending me — he does everything by hand, so a handwritten three bar, you know, scribble, like, "could this go instead "of this, or could this instead of this? "can you try this?" i would do a voice note recording, send it back to him so that he could hear was the effect was like. and a significant amount of your musical time is spent in musical education and taking the community benefits of music to those from less—privileged backgrounds — as wynton marsalis has done, as well. was he an influence in that aspect of your career, do you think? well, it�s interesting because i actually started doing things like that before meeting him, a couple of years before meeting him. but you saw him as a kindred spirit? absolutely. it was more that — a kindred spirit. he will always say to me, "don�t wait. "a lot of people just take care of themselves and their career "until a certain point and then, start the giving back. "don�t wait. "do these things whilst you�re young. "you have the relatability for those young musicians "and you have good ideas at this age. "just do it."

Voice-note-recording , Everything , Hand , Bar , Scribble , Three , Scottish-folk-music , Wynton-marsalis , Education , Community-benefits , Backgrounds , Effect

This Cultural Life

and then my mum would be, like, "you�ve got to do this in a minute. focus." and then, when i would play, i would be very focused. what did the experience of playing with the orchestra at that age teach you? what did you take away from that, do you think? it�s just. . . it�s just unreal. there is nothing like the feeling of playing in a full symphony orchestra. and when you have grown to love certain pieces of music and then you literally hear that come to life with a group of 90 people, i mean, it�s like a wave that has its own momentum and life to it, and all these voices talking to each other within such a mass group. and being part of that sound, helping to make that sound... yes. you must have known at that age that this was your life, this is what you wanted to do... oh, i knew very young that there was no question i wanted to play the violin. like, really very quickly. even going to music school, for me, which was a difficult thing to do. i was incredibly homesick and, er...sort of didn�*t make

Mum , Experience , Playing , Orchestra , Ve , Focus , Scottish-folk-music , People , It , Life , Feeling , Wave

This Cultural Life

i mean, that�s the plight of any violin. one violin against a bunch of trumpets and trombones. like, if you put those two instruments in herejust now and you got us both to play, the violin would be obliterated. but i think the key for him was to get some sort of advice and guidance on the things to do with the instrument that he was least experienced in. but wynton�s loved the violin forever, and he knows a lot about the violin. loves fiddle music, loves the, um...kind of celtic traditions of playing. i mean, knows, to a pretty high degree, music from all over the world and, certainly, the violin�s place in the world, so... there are passages in that concerto which draw on scottish folk music, in fact, aren�t there? yes, there are.

Things , Sort , Play , Violin , Us , Both , Instruments , Trumpets , Plight , Bunch , Trombones , Key

This Cultural Life

was such that i never questioned it. and i think there�s no real moment in my life that i�ve questioned a relationship to music. music plays the playing of the violin and music, it�s almost music plays the playing of the violin and music, it�s almost like the glue in the foundation out of which, i�*ve had endless opportunities to try to do things for people and impact something. nicola benedetti, thank you for sharing your cultural life.

Scottish-folk-music , Life , Relationship , Playing , Violin , Music , Something , People , Things , Nicola-benedetti , Ve , Which

This Cultural Life

at the beginning. with this method, you're learning tunes immediately. and therefore, it is music immediately. it's not a whole load of technical work before you get to play a tune. but it came naturally to you. i mean, your earliest memories are of music being made and it feeling like it was something you should do? i think that i had an intensity towards the music itself, and a real ability to want to express that. there has to be some impetus and purpose that's attached to anything you're then going to do for that long. and for me, it was the emotional music, it was things that were moving. i was moved to tears by pieces i was learning when i was as young as six. um...that was the pull, and, er...the thing that made me want to go to my violin each day. it was the feeling that you're able to experience yourself and give to other people. that was... it was like a pull. i wanted to go back

Scottish-folk-music , Method , Work , Learning-tunes , Load , Tune , Something , It , Intensity , Memories , Itself , Ability

This Cultural Life

he wrote a concerto for you, as well. how did that process differ to working with marsalis? mark is absolutely one of a kind. i have loved him, his musicianship, his playing, since he won young musician of the year. the 2006 bbc young musician of the year, mark simpson. cheering and applause. i met him that year. i handed over the prize to him. had you won it the year before? yes. so, i�ve known him for a long time. and he has the capacity to delve very deep inside the human condition and suffering and is willing to sit there in order to write music and express music, and that�s what he does. he sacrifices a lot. and this concerto born

Kind , Playing , Wynton-marsalis , Process , Musician , Concerto , Musicianship , Mark , One , Mark-simpson , Applause , Yes

This Cultural Life

days on a residential course, so, um... i remember the... i was going to say lady, because that�s what she seemed to me at the time, that was sitting next to me. she was “i! and that was, er... i felt sort of intimidated by that. i don�t think my feet could properly touch the floor. but... iwas... i remember being told off once or twice for chatting to the person behind me, misbehaving. i remember there being one particularly difficult passage of music that i had worked out, like, a really complicated, like, finger pattern for, alongside my teacher, and i had to turn around and play the whole thing slowly for the whole first—violin section, and... but, i mean, at the age of eight, how much sense of responsibility do you really have? i was oblivious, kind of, and i was particularly oblivious the minute i started playing. so i could be kind of running around, going crazy backstage,

Um , Lady , Course , Er , Person , Passage , Feet , Floor , Iwas , Misbehaving , One , Scottish-folk-music