Shona Donaldson - Short Nichts And Lang Kisses: Shona Donaldson is one of Scotland’s leading young tradition bearers. She grew up in Huntly surrounded by music and dancing in the heart of North-east Scotland’s bothy ballad country . With 'Short Nichts And Lang Kisses' Shona gives us bothy ballads from the mighty 'Greig-Duncan Collection'. Some missing lines from the traditional songs have been replaced and some new songs written in traditional style. The bothy ballads were composed (often not written down) and set largely to existing pipe and fiddle tunes by the men hired or fee'd at the local hiring fairs or fee'ing markets held in towns and villages.This is a perfect project for Shona's rather gorgeous authentic voice, and the accompaniment is exactly right for the songs.
Shona Donaldson - vocals, piano (fiddle tr.6); Paul Anderson - fiddle, vocals; Jonny Hardie - guest vocals tr 12
Media Reviews
Donaldson’s voice, one of the most beguiling in contemporary Scottish folk music
Following a spell as musician-in-residence with the Deveron Arts project in her native Huntly, folk singer Shona Donaldson has crafted an album whose songs seep out of the history and landscape of the Aberdeenshire town. Although Donaldson has reworked old bothy ballads from the eight-volume Greig-Duncan Collection, this isn’t an archivist exercise in the style of Alan Lomax or Ewan MacColl, but a collection of living, breathing songs, many with new tunes. Donaldson’s voice, one of the most beguiling in contemporary Scottish folk music, here embraces the local dialect and inflections, capturing the carefree spirit of a girl about to swap Huntly for the big, wide world in the unaccompanied The Rovin’ Ploughboy or caressing the minor notes on top of minimal touches of fiddle and piano in the spare and atmospheric Cald Blaws The Wind. Yes, it’s a musical map of a specific area but one that’s beautifully illustrated and a pleasure to pore over, regardless of where you call home...The Heral