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Relaxed atmosphere, and maybe 100 people all in all tonight at the hub, as we settle down to kick off a splendid night with.... argh, where did I put that paper with the girls' names on! Help me someone...!?       " tell me now.... my ancient soul .. I know you well ... you are beautiful... "
and, aye green grow the rushes , oh....
but red and black grow Fiona and band, oh...
The evening was advertised as Fiona Hunter and Mike Vass, but we see very little if anything solo of Mike or his tantalizingly hung up various fiddles. Ah well, it is a night where the girls shine!

A night of truly Scottish tongue and tune towering tremendously through one of the best young  (ah still young!) singers in that genre, inspiring young and old alike.
One can only recommend visiting her website  http://www.fionahunter.co.uk/ - also in the hope to order her new album which was launched tonight in spirit but not yet quite in body as promised.
We have got more amateur footage of Fiona and the band from tonight, but for now this their good night song has to do for showing a tiny glimpse of the richness of that voice and team wonder.
Thank you PeniFolk for getting them along here!
Oh, and do check out the starky sparkly sound clips of Mike here http://mikevass.com/ too
 
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Most wonderful event of this Arts festival! Perfection of setting, high quality string music reverberating through the mysterious arches, and poetry about the marvels of Nature and our soul's and wit's reverberations to Her... 
thank you all involved! 

The artists and their family and friends, the congregation, the poster makers and the Chapel.

To 'hear' the poets, please visit their website:
http://www.henrymarshpoetry.co.uk/
http://www.henrymarshpoetry.co.uk/poems.html#seasonal
http://alexanderhutchison.com/
http://alexanderhutchison.com/traces.pdf

Tessa Ransford: http://wisdomfield.com/
http://wisdomfield.com/reedShaken.html

 
Reading and writing Poetry or prose, and listening to music combined to a cosy event in the view of the art works entered for the Turner Prize. The musical treats included:
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Peter Stewart, piano, blues and classical, present with his usual precision and vigor, this young man got us (as usual!), breathless, clapping and joining in. Truly invigorating!

15 yr old Sophie Burt fairly shook us with her deep lyric songs (self penned!) touching profoundly on the mysteries of life and death, and intimate relationship with those.
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Interestingly enough, the veil seemed thin that night, with friends and their poetry being remembered, and the paintings chosen as stimulus for writing echoed mystery such as this one:
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As the mist of memory fades in the morning light
the reflection of the lonely man
bends to his other half
and the whisper arises, from the rim of the distant shore,
"con mortuis in lingua mortua"" 

 poem, written to this painting, by two people, line after line, alternating


It was very inspiring to witness how poetic or prose text beating humour or longing or other notions of relating to self and already visually expressed images, was birthed and voiced. Here a few more examples of interaction of creative 'Inspired by Art' participants with the art of their choice to the prompts of : "Come and let me tell you..." and "Relate to a tiny detail..."
How did I get here you ask, well I was here before the footpath. 

Long, long ago, I was here with the standing stone behind, we were surrounded by a wood of ancient trees, which year by year were felled to keep humans warm. 

They laid bare this area, it was scrub, then it became a designers dream to make walls, paths, grassy areas so that you human’s can frolic and play.

Do you ask how I felt when you removed my moss, I am bare to the world, naked, to please you only.


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Sunflower petal

I am part of the all, a tiny part

We are all overlapping

Jostling for the sun

Are we meant to be this close

Nature says, yes it’s so

The cosy kitchen one with the beam

The beam diffuses the light
Sending it down towards the plants against the wall
All else is cast into shadow
Giving me a cosy feeling

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Come with me and let me tell you………
how I escaped !

I am Horance, I was out the day Ms Potter
Stopped by, I was chasing the pesky
 Chicks, or so Miss Jemima Puddleduck
told me so.
They exclaim, "Horance watch out  for
Ms Potter's return!!, I do, I did.
Proud stance upon the chicken coupe
My beady eyes see furthest of all
The farm beasts,
yet I missed the calling from
our fair author? So I did not feature.
I am a proud beast of the farm
I am too busy for fame.
No-one will rise from their
snuggled warmth without me.
I am bold - check out my tail-feathers!!
I was not forgotten!! Ahha for I was only
 born this year…from the brush of my
 fair artist.

There was lots more - but so far these masterworks did not make it to the press here. Back to completing the list of musicians:
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And, played regally, the saxophone, by Stephanie Clark.
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60's tunes sung beautifully with well trained voice: Royston Timewell.
And now is high time for a proper listen to the music:
and then - just in case you are interested: here is a creative writing experience open for you at West Street
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