Making Tracks Residency & Tour

I am not long back from a month long residency and tour with a fantastic programme called Making Tracks and I wanted to share some of my experiences as well as the uplifting and restorative time I had.

A little about Making Tracks first! It takes on 8 applicants each year from different music cultures and countries to create new, diverse music while also focusing on environmental engagement. The nature theme is both present in the music and in the practical logistics of the project, as every musician travelled from their home country to the residency place by train. For me this involved a 2 day train journey from Denmark (my current base) to the west coast of Scotland - which was quite a trek with my harp and luggage - but it opened my eyes to the possibility of long distance train travel as a touring musician. We spent 2 weeks working together and sharing our music at the residency place, creating a concert program before going on tour for 2 weeks in England.

We met in a beautiful residency site called Cove Park which is near Helensburgh, Glasgow. The views of Long Long as well as the surrounding mountains were inspiring enough in themselves before we had even begun to play music together! The days were typically structured, beginning with body and vocal warm ups, song sharing from our different cultures, work in different music collaborations building repertoire, workshops from different sectors of the music industry and quality time spent enjoying delicious food from our talented chef, Nada.

Before starting the residency, I was balancing a lot of work things and honestly feeling pretty stressed but after a few days into the residency, I felt my body begin to relax and return to a ‘normal’ functioning rate. It was quite an incredible couple weeks because it felt a very safe place to be; a place where you could be yourself, and everyone was very supportive and encouraging as well as working towards a common goal of music making. It could have been taken for granted but if any of these elements were lacking, it wouldn’t have felt the same experience and I am hugely thankful to each and every person who contributed to a perfect 2 weeks. 

I wanted to write about the food experience as I honestly felt it was an essential part of the residency! Generally I love food but recently my interest has subsided as I have been prioritising work and basically not giving myself the time to enjoy it well or prepare it thoughtfully. The food prepared for us was all vegetarian and even though I prefer to cook vegetarian myself, it was hands down the best food I have ever eaten. I remember speaking to one of the musicians on the train up to the residency and he was quite apprehensive about eating vegetarian food for 2 weeks. Turned out he was very surprised to find that he not only survived but thrived being veggie during this time! Eating wholesome food that was planned and prepared with love really uplifted us and honestly made us all very happy! I’m so relieved to say that my interest and love for food has been restored and I have felt challenged to think differently about the culture surrounding food. I’m really looking forward to starting a new food journey and I’m even toying with the idea of starting a music and food community with anyone who wants to subscribe to my mailing list and perhaps engage in some recipe sharing…? It could be a thing, I’m keen! (If you’re interested, please subscribe on my website ;D )

Before I met all the musicians I had some feelings of uncertainty about how I would find my place in collaborating with everyone, as to be honest there were some instruments I had never even heard of… Nonetheless, it was still a hugely eclectic group of instruments and musicians that I was excited to get stuck into as it’s not every day you get the opportunity to be in the same place with such variety. Turned out, I was surprised at how easy it was to collaborate in different ensembles, duos and trios. From the first day of collaborations, it soon became clear that it would be a very natural process to work with these musicians as every person was so willing to share their music and invite musicians in that were not accustomed to that specific music culture. For example the first collaboration that I found myself in was with a beautiful Indian vocalist, Ranjana Ghatak and fabulous Iranian classical vocalist, setar & tar player, Shahab Azinmehr. What a trio to play in! And every time that we performed our piece in concert, it really took me to another musical realm that I hadn’t been to before. 

Another collaboration was with singer/songwriter/guitarist, Iona Lane who wrote songs and lyrics enough to melt the heart and amazing multi instrumentalist, Malin Lewis who played fiddle, whistle & pipes (to name a few of their attributes!). I have never been involved in the creation of a song so meaningful and beautifully engaging, and our time working together opened the door for us to future work, gigging and recording! The other primary collaboration I had was with amazing Swedish fiddle player, Anna Ekborg who was a delight to play with and get to know. It felt like we had quite a bit in common (especially our love for breakfast!), and this was deepened by our connection to Scandinavia - as I said to audiences, it felt like playing with a lovely neighbour - and it couldn’t have been more true! 

Although I didn’t play with our exceptional oud player, Alaa Zouiten on his primary instrument, it was an absolute pleasure to learn from him, his culture and music and he’s generally a great guy and hang! The final musician, Cherif Soumano unfortunately wasn’t able to join us on the residency part due to visa delays but we were very fortunate to have him join for the tour and get to hear his incredible kora playing.

Of course this is a very brief insight into the whole month and I could spend pages writing about it all but I want to conclude by recommending to anyone who gets the opportunity to do a residency/tour project in the future - take it! The amount that you learn and share with one another is invaluable and you will find that you take away new perspectives and ideas. I have come away feeling so inspired, empowered through my work, excited to try new avenues in my work and ultimately I have gained a beautiful group of friends that I know I can always connect with in the future no matter where we live in the world! Special thanks to Merlyn Driver, Luna Silva and all the amazing team at Making Tracks for your vision, musicianship and unending support.

Making Tracks - Ranjana Ghatak - Shahab Azinmehr - Iona Lane - Malin Lewis Anna Ekborg - Alaa Zouiten - Cherif Soumano - Merlyn Driver - Luna Silva