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The POOZIES began their career in 1990 after Patsy Seddon and Mary Macmaster, aka the Scottish harp duo, Sileas, had been working with singer Sally Barker on a solo album. They all agreed that a new women's group was a good idea and when Sally met the all-Ireland accordion champion, Karen Tweed, at the Hong Kong Folk Festival, the band was born.
During the last 10 or so years, the band has enjoyed great success wherever they have travelled, due largely to the spirit of joy in their music which is at their core, whatever changes are on the surface.
With Sally there was an element of rock music present - she was once descrived as "the only person I've heard SCREAM in tune", (Shetland Folk Festival). When Sally left to start a family, the "voice of the nineties", Kate Rusby, joined. With Kate came a more traditional flavour and a blossoming of the harmony singing that is such a trade-mark of the POOZIES. However, Kate's meteoric rise to stardom, via the Mercury Awards swept her away from the band to concentrate on solo work and a new metamorphosis occured.
Seventeen years down the line The Poozies seem to have found the secret of eternal youth. Still with three original members, Sally, Patsy and Mary, they have been energised by the perfectly compatible additions of Eilidh Shaw (fiddle) and Mairearad Green (accordion), and remain as fresh and delightful as ever.
The Poozie recipe is a fragrant casserole of inventive interpretations, creative collaborations and melodic mastery, saturated by the spice of open-mindedness with which they happily explore the musical universe.
In this inspirational band of women, the passion of Sally Barker’s vivid voice is reinforced by the percussive power of her rock solid guitar; irresistible energy bursts from Eilidh Shaw’s faultless fiddle; the perfect precision of Patsy Seddon’s shimmering harp intertwines with the magical melodies of Mairearad Green’s delicately dextrous accordion, all grounded by the growling groove of Mary Macmaster’s capacious Camac electro harp and rounded off by the blending of five different yet sympathetic voices
in heart-wrenching harmony.
The success of the POOZIES is evidenced by their continued popularity with audiences. They play to packed houses where ever they go and they are constantly in demand at festivals throughout the summer months.
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