FitkinWall – Harpland at Lancaster Arts

We’ve been performing our new show Harpland extensively in 2023-24 and are delighted to be continuing the tour into the Autumn and returning to Lancaster Arts. For several  years I’ve been exploring the music and stories of the Scottish Highlands and the theme of migration in its many forms. Graham has composed new works based on old Gaelic songs and tunes from bagpipe and fiddle books for my three harps – the beautiful medieval Gaelic wire harp (clàrsach), the buzzing Renaissance bray harp and the Scottish lever harp. This is an opportunity to hear us perform the works from our new FitkinWall album, as ancient music is re-imagined in looping, evolving patterns.

My background growing up in Sutherland, in the far north of Scotland has driven the new album and the music you will hear in the show.   The enforced eviction and subsequent migration of crofters from the highlands, as part of the Clearances which benefited landlords, gentry and wealthy Southern sheep farmers, provides a central focus.

The performance will feature a choreographed light installation by acclaimed light artist Peter Freeman as well as snippets of interviews from people who have migrated into the Highlands in the last 50 years.

“ Taking the theme of migration as the connecting thread, composer Graham Fitkin and harpist Ruth Wall conjured a haunting sense of longing and loss, wringing contemporary resonance from traditional tunes”                                   Guardian on Harpland performance, Cardiff 2023 ****

” .. The combination works lyrical wonders. It’s a music of reverie, one that moves like vapour, thickening and clearing, never staying still or returning to the same place twice.” Songlines

“Variously recalling Steve Reich, Ennio Morricone, Bowie, John Coltrane and Talvin Singh, Fitkin Wall’s mesmerising, multi-layered canvass marries neo-classical, electronica and jazz to create an enticing, sumptuous, body of work.”   Last FM on Still Warm

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CREATIVE TEAM

Composer, Electronics, Sound Design, Editing – Graham Fitkin

All harps, Interviewer – Ruth Wall

Lighting artist – Peter Freeman

Sound Technician for tour – Charlie Rickett

Technical advice – Alessandro Baldessari

Senior Consulting Engineer – Tim Oliver, Real World Studios

Film – Berta Valverde,  Ian Kingsnorth

Website – bebang.com

Huge thanks also to:

Cultivator Cornwall, Scottish Faiths Action for Refugees, Patricia Findlay, Tonia Liu, Rosie, Tony and especially to our Interviewees – Lewis Backie, Marija Matvejeva,  Mariya Bezkorovanya,  Farhad, Shameran Lafferty, Brigitte Geddes,  Rhona and Alec Morrison.