Blyde Lasses (album)
The long-awaited and thoroughly refreshing debut album from Shetland-flavoured, wordwide-travelling fiddle, concertina, and vocals duo Blyde Lasses. The CD offers a glimpse into Shetland's aert-kent musical tradition with fourteen tracks of traditional and self-penned Shetland songs and tunes accompanied by detailed sleevenotes, a glossary of over 200 dialect words, watercolour paintings and photographs.
Claire White (fiddle and vocals) was raised in Shetland, where she learned the fiddle from Dr Tom Anderson from the age of 7, and played as a member of Shetland's Young Heritage for many years. An ethnomusicologist by trade, Frances Wilkins first took up the English concertina in Shetland sessions whilst living there in the 1990s. Much in demand as a lecturer and archivist, she has a wealth of traditional, often nearly forgotten, material at her fingertips.
Frances Wilkins and Claire White are accomplished and sensitive musicians whose love for the music shines through and is ultimately what makes this CD so special.