Simon Thoumire

New release "When you see millions of the mouthless dead" by Simon Thoumire and Charles Hamilton Sorley.
I wrote this music as an anti-war protest. We hear in the news of civilians and soldiers dying all the time and I wanted to write some music that reflected the fear of what I think it must be like to be constantly under fire. In this piece the instruments are the people and the drums/aeroplanes/bombs are the attacking forces.
The music is in two parts 1. Under fire 2. Fear. They are both linked ofcourse. The words by Aberdeenshire born Charles Hamilton Sorley reflect for me the futility of death in war. Sorley died himself in the First World War in 1915 with a snipers bullet to the head. This and other poems were found in his satchel.

Self Portrait 2009
Simon Thoumire

Self Portrait 2009 is a new unique piece of video work concentrating on Scottish music and new media. It takes the form of a YouTube playlist (www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=1516B8EF804A4C92) and Simon is the first artist in the UK to release an album on YouTube (source: UK editor of YouTube). It is a free work open to all to view. As the album title says 'Self Portrait 2009' looks at Simon's life in 2009. Simon is a musician, event organiser and director of footstompin.com who works from home whilst looking after his 2 children with his partner Clare. 
Whilst this album shows off Simon's first love of Scottish traditional music it also features his very eclective musical tastes. "I have tried to take my music and put it into situations that surround me. Everything you see and hear on this album is real life. From sitting on the living room couch practising to being inundated by the commercialism that is directed at our children from most TV channels. It also features frustration, sharing and happiness. There is a lot of humour on this album and I hope it makes you smile."

Simon Thoumire is a virtuoso Scottish concertina player who has been releasing albums since 1987. He has performed all over the world solo and with pianist Dave Milligan. Simon has never been afraid to experiment with music and has released traditional, folk jazz fusion and improvised albums in the last few years. As a composer he has written the Scots Fiddle Concerto, the Garvie Bagpipe Concerto, the Scottish Requiem and much more. Simon also helps run family business Foot Stompin’  (www.footstompin.com), a Scottish interest website that promotes and sells Scottish product worldwide. With Scottish charity Hands Up for Trad he organises premier Scottish events the Scots Trad Music Awards and the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician Award.

Tracks:
1. Introduction
2. Family Times
3. Darth Vader meets Atom Buster meets Barney Kessel meets Simon Thoumire
4. Give Me Peace
5. …and Relax
6. Duo
7. Finally

Running time 22mins.

Watch the album playlist below:

Watch the videos individually

If you enjoyed this check out Simon Thoumire's other CDs.