đˇ Photo above by Nicky Murray
Fiddle players from across Scotland each bring their own regional styles and musical accents, but growing up in the middle of Glasgow, I never really felt like I had a geographical heritage or cultural lineage to belong to. Now, after a decade of following my fiddle round the world and studying degrees in Jazz and Classical violin, Iâve eventually started to settle into a comfortable voice that feels like home.
This process of discovery and self-acceptance has culminated in my debut solo release âCloseâ, an album which celebrates the vibrance and diversity of my upbringing and is rooted in the music of my family. It features performances alongside my mum, gran and auntie as well as three compositions by my late grandfather which, together with a handful of my own tunes, encompass the myriad influences which have come to form my own peculiar, 21st-century fiddle tradition.
The record is performed on my great, great grandfatherâs fiddle, an instrument thatâs been passed down through our family for over a hundred years. Below are a couple of posters, advertising concerts in Glasgow at the turn of the last century featuring âJack Hugoâ (his stage name) and âviolin recitals by the Geddes Familyâ. His grandson was my grandfather, John Maxwell Geddes, a contemporary classical composer and an inspiring educator. Some of my earliest memories are sitting with him, feet dangling below the piano stool, as he showed me round the magic of music and sound.
My granddadâs piece âBartĂłk on Byres Roadâ was inspired by hearing a Hungarian busker playing on the same streets in which Bela BartĂłk stayed during his visit to Glasgow in 1933. The score is headed with a dedication: âto Roo plus any of his cellistsâ (referring to my mum, gran, auntie and sister) and is performed brilliantly on the album by his daughter – my auntie – Nicola Geddes.
Another of his compositions is an elusive creature Iâve had to temporarily name âAne Fragment O His Aynâ: For as long as I can remember, a tiny, handwritten fragment of his music has hung in the hall of our home and recently, I opened the dusty old frame, hoping for a title or clue, but only found another slip of paper with his initials and a couple of delicate sketches of starlings. I’ve rifled through the archives and called up old composers the length and breadth of the country, but the origins of this one remain a mystery for now… And lastly the final track âLullaby for Ruairidhâ is a short tune he wrote the day I was born which gradually diminuendos âal nienteâ as the music falls asleep.
Also on the album are two original tunes from my multi-talented mother, Trish Strain, and an arrangement of an ancient GĂ idhlig air arranged for fiddle and piano with my gran Lily Geddes. Itâs hard to put into words the feelings of connection and affirmation that arose from the chance to make music with them in this way: the immense privilege of having a shared fluency in a language as emotional and transcendent as music with the people you love.
None of us exist in isolation, least of all artists and musicians, and as I moved beyond conceiving of my first âsolo releaseâ as being centred around me individually and towards a more collective understanding of my music as something embedded within and growing from family and community, it felt increasingly honest and relevant.
Growing up in the city, and as one of the first generation to grow up with the internet, I had access to an incredible variety of musical cultures within a 15-minute cycle from my home. As a teenager I learned gypsy jazz from playing with Polish-Roma musicians in Clydebank and (with the help of a band-funded fake ID) could go to a trad session or pop/rock open mic night any night of the week. Even the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland was only a couple miles from home. I studied for five years as a traditional fiddle player before completing my undergraduate in classical violin and going on to be the first violinist to graduate from the Jazz Department for my Masters.
The rest of the album is comprised of little vignettes which nod to, and are grateful for, these many traditions which continue to inform and nourish my practice. Track 9, for instance is a retreat march, written in the pipe scale and littered with the idiomatic ornaments and intonations that Iâve grown to love from my exposure to GĂ idhlig music. There are a couple tunes inspired by my time in Ireland and northern England, while the opening track conceals secret flirtations with the Indian raag Kaushik Dhwani between two jigs, borrowed from my study of Hindustani music with Glaswegian friends.
There are also compositions of my own which engage more directly with the more Classical sides of my upbringing, such as the âPartick Partitaâ, a work for solo violin that grew out of the scales and mixed meters of âBartòk on Byres Roadâ. Dancing across the full register of the instrument with fiery double-stops and intricate left-hand pizzicati, the tune is a technical nightmare â but a fun playground for some of the wilder techniques that have emerged in my playing over recent years.
The process of making the album was greatly helped by funding from the RCSâs âMake it Happen Fundâ which provides select funding to recent graduates to help with early-career projects. This enabled us to work with my favourite engineer the world over: Gus Stirrat at his Solas Studios. In four jam packed days we had recorded, mixed and mastered the entire album and Iâm immensely grateful for his assiduous effort and boundless encouragement throughout the process.
For the artwork, I spent a morning touring some of the southsideâs bonnie tenement closes with photographer extraordinaire Nicky Murray and his amazing analogue gear, before commissioning Glaswegian artist, and old school friend, Laurie OâDowd to create and design the cover. Their creativity was incredible, and I couldnât be happier with how the physical manifestation of the music came to life in their hands. One detail that Iâm particularly fond of is how Laurie incorporated the tassel which hangs from the scroll of my fiddle for the design of the CD itself. Mum gifted me that tassel when I was a teenager, having worn it on her own fiddle for many years beforehand.
Once we had the physical copies at the end of April, we were ready to launch. We opted for the Partick Burgh Halls, a beautiful community centre run by the council that was built in 1872 and is just down the road from our house! Tickets were free and came with an unlimited supply of tea and biscuits. The date was set for the 8th of May and soon gathered one of the warmest audiences Iâve had the pleasure of playing for. We ran the album in full, from top to bottom before lingering in the lovely atmosphere of the space for hours telling stories and catching up with one another. It was the perfect way to welcome this music into the world.
Iâm continually delighted by the reception of the album, both at home and abroad. In the past couple weeks weâve had radio stations in California, Alaska, Ireland, Spain and Aotearoa/New Zealand broadcast the tunes on the airwaves. Iâve even had a radio station in Mexico ask to play the tunes! Celtic Music Radio have us scheduled as âAlbum of the Weekâ later in June and the Fleadh Cheoil na hĂireann have invited us to launch the record in Ireland in August. This engagement is particularly heartening given that the album has been released entirely independently.
With the release of âCloseâ, Iâm now formally a published solo artist, after over a decade of releasing music with bands and ensembles, and I canât wait to do more! Touring commitments in Scotland, Spain and India have me fully booked until next year, but Iâm hoping to pull together my first run of solo shows upon my return. This year sees the release of albums with âRoo & Neilâ, âAwkward Family Portraitsâ, âDarachâ, âNiamh Corkeyâ, âThe Black Denimsâ, âDonald Lynseyâ and others, though Iâm already excited to make a start on writing some more music and to see where we end up next! Thank you all for listening.
âCloseâ is available on bandcamp: roogeddes.bandcamp.com/album/close
Or email Roo directly for a physical copy: [email protected]
