English:
Since the mid-90's, I have become a fan of Celtic music, thanks to first finding Canadian singer/songwriter Loreena McKennitt whose origins are Irish. While most of her songs are in English, it was her voice and the music that I began to feel deep in me – an unexplainable feeling. I dove into her catalog of music but suddenly found myself going deeper and discovering truer Celtic music, I mean traditional songs (but not only) sang in Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic and other variations that I am not an expert of, in between. Often, the songs that I find that really move me vary from the reels to the ballads and more often sang /played by contemporary singers and musicians breathing new life into them.
Though as I mentioned there are songs sang in English that I also love, the not understanding a word of these languages is a plus, for me. Why? Several reasons - I often find that translations, mainly in music and literature, lose the original thoughts, emotions and ideas. I also feel, especially in languages that are only spoken in small cultures, that it's almost a secret language that belong only to them – a language muttered in secret or in code and as the Gaelic/Irish languages are ancient coming from fae folklore, they give me a sense of romance and wonder.
Over the years, I have discovered many Irish and Scottish artists who still continue to create and share traaditional/contemporary compositions with the world and it is in the way they use their voices and instruments that are still very much rooted in tradition and there are songs that simply overwhelm me and take me to another place and time.
Hence, one of the reasons my photographic work has an almost timeless feel is in part due to inspiration from this music. I often play it when doing my shoots to take me to those other worlds. My photographs in the forest, especially, have an obvious connection to it because of the fae-aspect but also in how I pose, offering expressions of melancholy and longing. These emotions that are not false inside me are evoked when listening to this music. In addition, my most recent thoughts over the last 10 years of wanting to find roots, wanting to create new traditions yet having difficulty connecting makes me more attracted to ideas that have those elements and ideologies.
Today, I would like to present you with several songs that I am sharing from Spotify. A more ancient one entitled SealWoman/Yundah which was sung to attract the seals to shore. Sung by Mary McLaughlin. One by Julie Fowlis who is one of my absolute favorite singers and have quite a collection of her music. This is from one of her most recent projects entitled Cuimhne which means memory and another from her same project but written and sung by John McEntyre entitled Connia (woman’s name)– another musician part of the project and wanting to include a male voice and how it also makes me feel so part of this almost ethereal music. Perhaps when you listen to these songs and look at my photography, you can see the connections.
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