Sìleas

Greater than a 10 years since Scottish harpers Patsy Seddon and Mary MacMaster’s first collaborations, their duo, Sileas (pronounced: She-less) remains to be the only real duo of its kind. While they stay rooted in traditional Scottish folk music, Sileas’ mix of nylon-strung acoustic harp and brass-strung electro-harp creates a exciting, exciting and modern audio. Although Seddon and MacMaster possess recently concentrated their focus on the Poozies, the eclectic music group which they tell accordionist Karen Tweed and guitarist Kate Rusby, their harp duo is a regular feature from the Poozies’ concerts. The motivation for Sileas was conceived when Seddon, who analyzed harp for four years with Alison Kinnaird, and MacMaster, who was simply mostly self-taught, performed together inside a short-lived music group, Sprangeen. Named following a 17th hundred years woman poet who published in Gaelic, Sileas released their debut recording, Delighted With Harps, in 1986. Made by Freeland Barbour, the recording showcased both women’s exclusive harp playing and their silken vocal harmonies with tunes sung both in Gaelic and British. Sileas’ second recording, Conquering Harps, released in 1988, continuing the high-quality of its forerunner. The duo’s third recording, Harpbreakers, released in 1990, was their weakest work, concentrating too greatly with an electronically-enhanced sound. Six years approved before the launch of Sileas’ 4th recording, Play on Light, in 1996. Made by Jim Sutherland, the recording signaled a go back to the acoustic audio from the duo’s 1st two albums and included a medley of Expenses Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunlight” and MacMaste ‘s instrumental structure, “The Perfect Juggler.” Seddon and MacMaster documented an recording, Sail On, with Clan Alba, a music group of Scottish music artists put together by Dick Gaughan, in 1996. Play on Light adopted three years later on.