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ABOUT

photo - Ian Martin

"Her dark-tinged lyrics are deep and rich, and she composes melodies to die for"

- Leith Folk Club

Emma is a Scottish singer songwriter living in Glasgow and is known for their Folk roots, blended with a touch of Americana.  A lot of their previous writing concentrates on Scottish Folk and their first Old Scots song 'Kettle Bilers' won the Hands up for Trad, Scots song writing competition. Their latest work embarks on topical issues showing the positive effect and power music can have on important issues 

 

Summer 2019 marked their debut appearances in Glasgow’s Celtic Connections, as part of Bogha Frois (sharing stories about LGBT+ experiences) and the Edinburgh Fringe festival.  Emma will return to both festivals in 2020.

 

2020 is going to be a big year for Emma as they are releasing the first instalment of a trilogy of topical concept music. Focusing on an environmental factor and other topical issues, it will be released on a reusable cup in a bid to reduce single use plastic cups in Scottish gig venues.

Key Music Highlights

 

Lifecycle of a cup

 

The lifecycle of a cup is a great metaphor,

for the lifecycle of humans.

 

The Lifecyle of a Cup is trilogy of music releases between 2020 and 2021.   

 

Three stages of the cup lifecycle will be told through songs that show how we are all created uniquely and the individual paths we walk, from our own beginning to our end. 

·       Creating the Cup

·       Filling the Cup

·       Emptying the Cup

The first release, ‘Creating the Cup’ will be released on 3rd April 2020 and will be the first main commercial release from Emma.  It will be released on a reusable cup with a QR code and Emma will be the first person to do this. 

 

The key themes throughout each release will show differences, judgement, uncertainty and acceptance.

Songs from the Jute Box

 

Over the last 4 years Emma has written a collection of songs about the Jute Mills in Dundee.  Emma's Grannie was a weaver and a massive inspiration to them.  They were also born and brought up in Dundee.  It has such a rich and powerful history, especially in terms of remarkable women and to be connected to that makes them proud.

 

Within this project Emma has looked at many different aspects surrounding the Mills from the women themselves, to the extremely young children that worked rather than go to school, to help feed their families.  All songs are written in Old Scots with one of the songs ‘Kettle Bilers’ winning the Hands up for Trad Scots Song writing competition in 2017.

Sing No to Plastic Waste

 

Encouraging gig venues to make the positive swap to reusable plastic cups

 

As a musician and a live music lover, Emma intends to make a positive change to gig venues that use single use plastic cups to help them make the switch to reusable plastic.  As well as a musician, they are also a Graphic Designer and they want to work with venues to design bespoke cups that are branded to them.

More information on the benefits of the campaign can be found in the SNtPW page.

 

Community projects

 

Emma has worked on several community projects, mainly song writing with vulnerable people or being part of music sharing sessions. 

 

Currently they are working with Jim Prime of Deacon Blue on a project with Alzheimer’s Scotland, working with people that are in the early stages of dementia to gather their stories to write songs to be performed and recorded.

 

Song a week 2019

 

Emma took on a challenge within an international group to write a song a week for the year to a theme given to me each week.  The challenge helped them write to constraints and has produced a large pool of songs to work with.  It was an extremely difficult challenge though it has produced some of Emma's best writing to date. 

 

Song for a midwife

 

Emma was asked to write and release a song to raise money for the UWS Midwifery Scholarship Fund.  All monies raised were used to financially support student midwives.  The song is released in time for International Day of the Midwife 2019 (5th May)

 

About the song - This Woman’s Hands

The song has been inspired by Jane Sharp – a midwife of 30 years in 17th century and an incredible woman.  She was the first midwife to publish a book on midwifery and her teachings are still used today.

 

The single is available on Bandcamp

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