Distil 8 will take place from 8th - 11th March, 2007 in New Lanark.

Participants:
Barnaby Brown is re-introducing the triple pipe, an instrument which flourished in Ireland and Scotland before the arrival of the bagpipe. It appears on medieval stone carvings opposite the harp, lyre, and fiddle. In 2004, Barnaby combined these medieval images with pibroch, medieval Welsh harp music, the Sardinian launeddas tradition, and Georgian polyphony to compose “Adiutor laborantium” for choir and triplepipe. Since September 2006, he has taught at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama: “Composing & Arranging” to Scottish Music students, and “Teaching Scottish Music” to future music teachers. His pibroch playing is causing a stir in the piping establishment and Barnaby has twice performed at the Edinburgh International Festival. His research into the seventeenth-century pibroch tradition is revealing a musical culture richer in variety than that of modern competitions.

Jen Clark pioneered the use of the dulcimer in Scottish music, and brings the same innovative use of rhythm and countermelody to guitar and cittern. Currently she's working with Iain Macinnes and Mairi Campbell in a new line-up as well as on a solo recording. Jen was an early member of the Battlefield Band. Her career includes extensive film, television and radio work including the soundtrack for John McGrath's 'Blood Red Roses', and composing and directing a cross-cultural opening segment for the inaugural Adelaide International Tattoo that blended Aboriginal players and dancers with the formidable talents of Dougie Pincock and Jim Sutherland from Scotland.

Mairi Campbell. In the past few years my interest in improvisation has been rekindled
through working with Benno Plassmann in Glasgow (the Working Party) and
taking several trips to Europe to work in this field. At home I have a
dance band that plays regularly, a duo with David Francis (The Cast) - we'll make our
3rd cd this year - and I am Musical Director of Sangstream, a community folk
choir and write most of the song arrangements for them.
I am in the early stages of researching a new groupwork method for musicians.

Marie Fielding was born in Edinburgh and now stays in Falkirk. From the age of 9, Marie has played the fiddle and although she studied classical music, her musical career has evolved around traditional music. Marie teaches fiddle at The Tolbooth and many other many workshops. She has played on more than 30 albums, radio and TV broadcasts as well as recently releasing her own solo recording ‘Executive Club’, which features 10 of her own compositions. Marie has been fortunate to perform with many artists including Maggie MacInnes, the Finlay MacDonald Band, Fiddlers 5, Jim Johnstone, and many more. Marie has a particular interest in pipe music, Gaelic song, Indian music, poetry, art and Gregorian Chant. She is also a Specialist Advisor for SAC on traditional music and is currently promoting Creativity and Colourstrings in Early Years for Falkirk Council.

Rachel Hair. From the Scottish Highlands, Rachel’s eclectic mix of Scottish, Irish and Original music, highly influenced from both her time studying alongside jazz, folk, rock and classical musicians and her mixed Scots and Irish parentage, has led her to be described as “one of the most innovative young musicians to have emerged over the last few years” (The Irish Music Review). A first class honours Music graduate, Rachel has performed many times throughout the UK, Europe and America, as well as appearing on BBC Radio and TV, including the famous “Hogmanay Live” show, where she performed with Karen Matheson, Michael McGoldrick and John McCusker. Her recent debut album “Hubcaps and Potholes” showcases the harp as a solo instrument, with a mixture of solo tracks and collaborations with pianist Douglas Millar.

Nuala Kennedy (flute, whistles, vocals) grew up in Dundalk, Co.Louth and in 1995 moved to Scotland where she now lives. She is best known for her work with trio Fine Friday, with whom she has toured extensively and recorded two critically acclaimed CDs, "Gone Dancing" (Mar. 2002) and "Mowing the Machair" (Dec.2004). An accomplished and versatile musician, with a wide repertoire of Scottish traditional and contemporary music, she is much in demand as a session musician and plays occasionally with the Celtic Big Band "The Unusual Suspects", has recorded two albums with Harem Scarem and is a member of the traditional band ‘Anam’.. In 2006 she returned for a fourth year as a soloist to the Celtic Colours International Festival in Cape Breton where she has developed strong links with people and music. Nuala has this year at Celtic Connections performed her New Voices commission featuring musicians from diverse backgrounds including Will ‘Bonnie Prince Billy’ Oldham, and Canadian musicians Oliver Schroer and Daniel Lapp.

Sarah McFadyen was brought up on Hoy in Orkney, and was taught fiddle by Orcadian
fiddler Jennifer Wrigley among others. Moving to Edinburgh when she was seventeen to attend Edinburgh College of Art she soon became absorbed into the folk pub session scene. Here she met fiddler Eilidh Shaw who she plays with in Harem Scarem and other bands.
Harem Scarem have released two albums on Vertical Records, and last year saw them on tour with the great American singer-songwriter Bonny ‘Prince’ Billy. Over the last four years her main project has been with the folk-tinged pop band Aberfeldy, with which she sings backing vocals and plays fiddle, as well as bits and pieces of 5-string banjo and keyboards. Aberfeldy has travelled all over, from playing at the Mexican International festival Cervantino, to supporting main stream acts like Beautiful South and Paolo Nutini. Their music has been used in commercial releases such as American sitcom Queer Eye For The Straight Guy and a beer advert in Argentina! Sarah was involved in the performing of recent BBC2 Folk Award winner Kris Drever's New Voices commission for Celtic Connections, and among everything else she still plays a regular weekly session with Kris.

Ailie Robertson is a clarsach player from Edinburgh. A seasoned performer, she has just gained a first-class MA in traditional music performance at the Irish World Academy of Music. Since graduating in June she has been accepted as a soloist for Live Music Now, toured with a theatre company and is about to release her first CD with her new band The Outside Track. She also teaches regularly for organisations such as Féisean nan Gáidheal and ALP Scots Music Group.

Workshop Leaders:
Sally Beamish studied viola at the Royal Northern College of Music and in Italy. Her early career was centred on the viola (notably with the Raphael Ensemble and the London Sinfonietta). On moving to Scotland in 1989 she co-founded the Chamber Group of Scotland with Robert Irvine and James McMillan, after which her career as a composer started to flourish. Her work includes two symphonies, concertos for violin, viola, cello, oboe, and saxophone (The Imagined Sound of Sun on Stone), percussion, flute and trumpet.

She has also written for children, amateur string groups, and in 2002 worked with author Janice Galloway on an opera based on the life of Mary Shelley, of Frankenstein fame.
She is a past winner of SAC’s Creative Scotland award, which enabled her to write her oratorio, Knotgrass Elegy, which featured Tommy Smith as soloist. She has also written extensively for film and television. Her third viola concerto, for Lawrence Power and the SCO, was premiered at the end of 2006. She has recently completed work on a stage musical, with writer Donald Goodbrand Saunders, about the Highlands of Scotland.

Paul Dunmall is noted for his involvement in free improvisation, but has performed in a wide range of jazz settings, and in folk-jazz styles with Danny Thompson’s Whatever. He lived in the US for some years playing with musicians like Alice Coltrane and Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson, before returning to the UK. He has been for many years a member of the London Jazz Composers’ Orchestra, an improvising big band. He is also a member of Mujician with Keith Tippett [a tutor on Distil 1], and works with bassist Paul Rogers [Distil 6] in a duo folk project.

Kuljit Bhamra Described as ‘one of the most prolific and dedicated Asian music producers to come out of Britain’, Kuljit Bhamra is perhaps the most influential musician in the British Asian music scene, having recorded over 2000 songs to date. He is a composer, producer,
tabla player and a pioneer of the Bhangra phenomenon. Kuljit has worked both
independently and collaboratively on film scores for over 15 years, producing soundtracks for award winning films Bhaji on the Beach, Bend it like Beckham, Masala Beans and playing percussion on the soundtracks for The Four Feathers, A Little Princess , Wings of a Dove and The Guru. He worked on Andrew Lloyd Webbers massive hit musical Bombay Dreams for
which he gave a much acclaimed performance as on-stage percussionist. He also acted as Indian music consultant for the musical adaptation of M. M. Kaye’s The Far Pavilions. As well as playing with his own band Taala, Kuljit also performs with other renowned artists including saxophonist Andy Sheppard, pianist Joanna McGregor, and fiddler Aidan O’Rourke.