Summer 2016

I am delighted to be home after a fantastic year at Berklee College of
Music, back just in time for another fantastic Orkney Folk Festival and
some beautiful Orkney sunshine! (The best kind..)

I was really chuffed to have achieved a full set of A’s for this
semester and I feel I’ve learned so much in the past 8 or 9 months there
and met so many fantastic people. I am really excited to say that I
have just been awarded repeat funding from the Robertson Scholarship
Trust and I’m awaiting decisions from a couple other trust funds as to
whether they might help me for another year also. I am excited to return
and am working hard to make it possible. Being able to work as a
photographer for Berklee’s marketing department has been a huge help, so
I hope to be able to continue doing so in September. I have signed up
for some great classes and will continue to learn from Bruce Molsky, as
well as Darol Anger and technique expert Sandy Kott. Exciting times!

It has been so lovely to be back home in Orkney, as well as catching up
with people in Glasgow. I had a lovely photo shoot with fiddler Eilidh
Firth the other week and have a couple more lined up in the coming
months, which I am looking forward to. I had the chance to photograph a
beautiful Orkney wedding at the St Magnus Cathedral a week or so ago and
I’m looking forward to one in Hoy at the end of July. We were
incredibly lucky the have the beautiful Poppies display up at the
Cathedral, which made a beautiful backdrop for the group photos.

France

This week I am just outside of Paris, catching up with my English ‘twin’, the lovely Elly Lucas,
getting ready to photograph a French-Russian wedding in
Saint-Germaine-En-Laye. We are both a bit giddy with excitement, having
taken a peek at the venue and the couple’s plans for the day! We then
have a couple of days to explore Paris, before we head back to Sheffield
and work with the equally lovely Rosie Hood, on photography for her upcoming album.

Last time Elly and I got together for a photographic adventure, we hiked
to the Whangie, in the Kilpatrick Hills, near Loch Lomond, and we also
spent a lovely day in the Glasgow Botanic Gardens.

Take a look at Elly’s photos from the day here: https://ellylucas.wordpress.com/2016/06/14/from-gardens-to-mountains-the-glasgow-adventures/

July Tour

I’m really excited to say that I’m going to be playing some concerts all
round Scotland this July, with some great friends! Galen Fraser and I
met at his father’s fiddle camp Valley of the Moon
in California, in 2013 and have been great friends since. During the
past year in Boston, we often got together and played music, at home and
in various Irish pubs, along with lots of great musicians and friends.
Galen has just finished making his debut album ‘Mischief Managed’ (we
had a great time taking photos in Boston for the artwork!) and if we are
lucky, he may have a few copies with him! Take a look at his website
here: www.galenfraser.com

We are excited to play music from both of our album projects, as well as
lots of our favourite tunes from Scotland, Ireland, America (I have
really enjoyed lessons in Old Time fiddling with Bruce Molsky at
Berklee!), Scandinavia and beyond, as well as tunes learned at Valley of
the Moon. We will be joined by lots of friends along the way and are
really looking forward to getting out and about and playing our music.

1st Gable End Theatre, Hoy, Orkney
5th Graand Owld Byre, Westray, Orkney
7th Woodwick House, Evie, Orkney
8th King St Halls, Kirkwall, Orkney
9th Orkney Brewery, Sandwick, Orkney
11th Carnegie Hall, Sandwick, Shetland
12th Bixter Hall, Bixter, Shetland
14th Carnegie Hall, Portmahomack
16th Braemar Hall, Braemar, Aberdeenshire
19th The Big Shed, Aberfeldy, Perthshire
21st Astley Hall, Arisaig
22nd Red Roof Cafe Gallery, Skye

I shall also be doing a concert with some friends and support from the Feis Chataibh Ceilidh Trail:

27th Sutherland Sessions The Pier Cafe, Lairg

Full details and ticket links here: http://www.louisebichan.co.uk/live

We are delighted that NorthLink Ferries are helping us out with some discounted travel, thank you to them for their sponsorship.

Out of My Own Light

I am chomping at the bit to release my album, though shall have to
remain patient, as the plan is for an official release on the 2nd of
December! I am currently looking to book a release tour in January, so
will have more updates on that in a couple months time.

www.outofmyownlight.com

I am still working my way through the list of donators to make sure that
have sent out all the rewards for my Indiegogo campaign, please do get
in touch if you haven’t yet received your CD etc. I have had some really
lovely feedback so far, so I am really delighted about that - I have
been excited and nervous to hear what folk think, so it’s lovely to hear
such positive things about it! Thank you once again to all who helped
me to make it to Berklee, by helping me with my Indiegogo fund-raiser,
it is so much appreciate.

Thanks for reading and all the best,

Louise

View my latest newsletter here:  http://eepurl.com/bpEn7v 

Sign up for email updates (I promise not to overload your inbox! Just the occasional update, I guess monthly at the most!) on my contact page:

http://www.louisebichan.co.uk/contact

I’m extremely excited to say that I have been offered a place and a generous scholarship, to study music at Berklee College of Music in Boston in September! I auditioned in London in Feb and have been offered an almost full-fee scholarship, so I am now looking to raise the remainder of the fees living costs, in order to take up the place. I have launched a crowd funding campaign, with lots of things in return for donations. I would very much appreciate if you would take the time to have a look and share the campaign if you can:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/study-at-berklee-college-of-music/x/6333096#/story

Thank you!

Bichan’s vividly expressive and evocative chamber-folk score underpinned a wonderfully engaging, absorbing illumination of past lives and family ties.
Sue Wilson, The Scotsman, 25th May 2015

I have just about recovered after a crazy weekend at the Orkney Folk Festival, which saw me perform my first show for ‘Out of My Own Light’ and play several gigs with the Fara lasses, as well as the Fiddle Gathering and joining Hadhirgaan, Douglas Montgomery’s school fiddle group, for a tune (a fair few years since I played with Hadhirgaan!) I’m absolutely delighted with how my concert went and totally over the moon to have received such a fantastic review from Sue Wilson, in her round up of the festival in the Scotsman on Monday. It was really wonderful to have so many family and friends of my Grandmother there and again at the special viewing of the exhibition in the Pier Arts Centre, I was delighted to hear so many nice and encouraging words from folk. Thank you again to the festival for having me and for such a great weekend, I can’t wait for Orkney Folk Festival 2016! Take a look on my blog about the project to see photos of the exhibition, concert and the photographic book:

http://mstait.tumblr.com/

I put together a behind the scenes video from our time at Watercolour Studio in Ardgour (near Fort William) and at Gloworm studio in Glasgow recording piano parts, featuring a rough of one of the tracks we recorded. Take a look:

Cellist Su-a wrote a really lovely blog about our time at Watercolour, read that here:
http://sualee.tumblr.com/post/118908723516/watercolour-wilderness

I have borrowed some photos from her blog also:

If you like what you hear of the music so far, please consider pre-ordering the album here, as you’d be helping me towards taking up my place at Berklee College of Music by doing so. Thank you.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/study-at-berklee-college-of-music/x/6333096#/story

Not long now until the Orkney Folk Festival! I’ll be performing the music from Out of My Own Light next Thursday in the Orphir Hall; tickets available from the festival website: www.orkneyfolkfestival.com

My photography will be on display at the Pier Arts Centre and I will have the first copies of the photographic book ready to add to the exhibition in time for the festival also.

Sadly the album wont be ready in time for the festival, but shouldn’t be far behind! I’m delighted with how it is sounding so far and there are still a few bits to record before mixing happens. I can’t wait to share it! If you are interested, you can pre-order the album here and help me greatly by doing so. Thank you.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/study-at-berklee-college-of-music/x/6333096#/story

Extremely sad leaving this behind this afternoon.. What a lovely week at Watercolour Music, really a special place to record an album, with such a fantastic group of people, who I can’t thank enough; Su-a, Mike, Mike, Duncan, Angus, Jennifer and Signy. It is extremely rewarding and really exciting to hear the music I have been working on for so long, finally come to life and I couldn’t have asked for a better team, what a fun week! Thank you so much to Nick and Mary Ann of Watercolour, it is such a beautiful, inspiring place to create music and a fantastic backdrop for photos and video; really brilliant having Mike Guest Photography around to take loads of beautiful footage and create masterpieces in the kitchen too, what a guy! Thank you all so much.

I’m really excited about this album, I can’t wait to finish it off and to be able to share it, but first up, the concert at Orkney Folk Festival next week… Tickets on sale online for ‘Out of My Own Light’ at the Orphir Hall on Thursday 21st: www.orkneyfolkfestival.com Can’t wait!

This week I am recording the music for ‘Out of My Own Light’ at Watercolour Studio, near Fort William. I am really delighted with how it all sounds so far and it has been such a lovely time recording with these fantastic people. A really rewarding experience.

I’m just back from a fantastic weekend at the Shetland Folk Festival playing with Fara and now straight on with rehearsals and recording for my project ‘Out of My Own Light,’ in time for the Orkney Folk Festival on the 21st May!

Here is a wee rough clip of some of the music I will be recording. I’m really excited to have Mike Vass on fiddle/guitar, Su-a Lee on cello, Jen Austin on piano, Duncan Lyall on double bass and Signy Jakobsdottir on percussion for this, with Angus Lyon in the engineer/producers seat, at Watercolour Studio in Ardgour.

You can pre-order a signed copy or a digital download of the music and help me out greatly at the same time, by donating to my Crowdfunding project. I am raising money to take up my place at Berklee College of Music in Boston, please have a look here:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/study-at-berklee-college-of-music/x/6333096#/story

Thanks to Ewan Coltherd for making the wee clip of Meb sound way better!