Atlantic Edge Music Services

Mary Ann Kennedy & Na Seóid – Debut Album

The debut album from Mary Ann Kennedy & Na Seóid will be released on 21st April, 2008 on the Lochaber based record label Watercolour Music.

The self titled album, which was also recorded at Watercolour Studio’s in Lochaber by owner / engineer Nick Turner, features substantially re-worked versions of eleven traditional Gaelic songs, together with an astounding version of ‘Down by the River to Pray’ – a track originally made famous on the hugely acclaimed ‘O Brother Where Art Thou’ soundtrack.

A personal favourite of Mary Ann’s, the famous track was translated into Gaelic by her mother Kenna Campbell, a singer and lecturer in Gaelic Song at Glasgow’s RSAMD.

The recording is also a stunningly authentic rendering of the seven male singers’ substantial vocal talents. “That was really important to me,” says Mary Ann. “Unusually, much of the album was recorded live in the studio, with whole takes, no edits and no digital assistance. This brought a particular feel and tension to the final sound.”

Mary Ann’s “gathering of Gaeldom’s young lions” also, surprisingly, represents some significant cultural gender-bending. “The genre is largely regarded as a female singer’s domain, with very few male performers” said Mary Ann. “So it’s equally exciting that Na Seòid’s members are part of a flourishing new generation of male Gaelic singers” she said.

It’s a project that, given her love of and long-standing involvement in, Scottish traditional music, is close to Kennedy’s heart - but not one that she wants to place her in the spotlight.

“I’m much happier working in the midst of this collective,” she says. “What’s unique about this group is not only the male dominance but the fact that Gaelic is part of their every-day lives, not just a language for the stage.

“To me, that’s the most powerful element of this project. In turn, it has a fundamental impact on the way the music is performed.”

The album will be available in all good record shops and on-line from www.watercolourmusic.co.uk

Further information also available from www.watercolourmusic.co.uk