Borders Tunesmiths: In 2008, 9 tunesmiths were locked away for 2 days in Roxburghshire to compose tunes inspired by the Borders landscape, history and people. The tunes they produced were numerous and of impressive variety – Gypsy Kings and Queens, railways, sweeties, castles, hills, pubs, wells and local ‘sayings’ were all included.

The tunesmiths are Iain Fraser, Lori Watson, Martin Marroni, Innes Watson, Elspeth Smellie, Christopher Keating, Matt Seattle and Chris Waite and were brought together by Shona Mooney, the Borders Traditional and World Music Development Worker.

The aim of the project was to bring together established and up-and-coming talented composers within the region to produce new music collectively. 
Following a further 2 days learning and arranging their material the Borders Tunesmiths performed a concert in Heart of Hawick on 7 March 2009 and recorded the concert live for CD.
Featuring 8 tunes composed collectively by the whole group, 6 smaller collaborations and 8 solo works all arranged collectively by the Borders Tunesmiths for the live CD recording, the project has been a huge success.

The 6th Volume in the Borders Traditions Series, Borders Tunesmiths is an enhanced CD featuring notation for the tunes, additional information and some photographs from the writing weekend.

If you are interested in good music, or a musician on the look out for new tunes, this album is a valuable and unique addition to your collection. And the enhanced feature means you can print out the dots too!