Good evening all,
I've just put up a whole load of new songs (virually the whole of my album).
Well, erm, that's all for now folks!
F
x

Hello there,
I've been meaning to post a blog for ages about a few things so I'll just bung them all in together in this one post! Well, firstly I'd like to tell you that I've been nominated for another Inverness City Advertiser award which is lovely indeed. If you'd like to take a couple of mins to vote for me then please go to www.icaawards.com. The awards take place in Eden Court Theatre, Inverness, at the end of April, though the voting closes really, really soon. Thanks!
I was interviewed recently for Northings - the online Highlands and Islands journal from HIE. If you'd like to have a peek at it you can go to www.hi-arts.co.uk/mar09-interview-fiona-mackenzie.htm
I've got some gigs coming up in the next couple of weeks. I'm playing at the new Northern Roots Festival  this Saturday. It should be a great weekend up at Bogbain Farm so if you are in the Inverness area this weekend and fancy hearing some good tunes then go to www.northern-roots-festival.com for more info on who else is playing at this exciting new folk/country/roots festival.
The next couple of gigs are a little bit different. I am actually performing with two other Fiona Mackenzies from the Isle of Lewis. What are the chances!! We have the same name, are from the same island, and we all sing original material (two of us are songwriters, one of whom has a MySpace and is one of my top friends so you can listen to her amazing songs right after you've read this! She goes under the name 'Bosie'). We thought this was too good an opportunity to miss so we're doing a couple of shows called 'Would the Real Fiona Mackenzie Please Stand Up' If you'd like to know more about this show then please go to www.hi-arts.co.uk/default.aspx.locid-hianewovg.Lang-EN.htm
Phew, I've put an awful lot of 'please click on...'s but there you go, I should have been a bit more organised and efficient with my blogging input but...well I just wasn't I suppose.
Anyway, that's my news! Hope you are all having a good Easter holiday (for those of you who have Easter hols that is) and that life is good for you.
All the best for now,
Fiona
x
PS Oh, and I've put up a new track here called In Between. I'm going to try and put up another new song from my album soon. In fact, I might just do that right now! I realise that my own favourite tracks aren't everyone else's so I'll try and rotate them a bit so that all my tracks have been put up at some point.

.......not me:( But hey ho, (and I know everyone says this) it was still a really exciting thing anyway, the whole rigmarole of getting nominated in the first place. I am very pleased however for Duncan Chisolm, whose wonderful album, Farrar, did win. For a list of all other winners you can go to www.handsupfortrad.co.uk.  The whole night was quite amazing, probably the closest thing I'll ever get to attending an Oscar night! It was the first time that the awards were filmed and there were quite a number of cameras swooping around (and yes, focusing on all nominees of each specific category as the winner was announced so plenty reason for practicing your 'I didn't win but that's ok' smile). The Glasgow Fruitmarket is one of these special places that always seems to capture the right atmosphere, the whole place looked beautiful. A big congrats to all who organised the event, especially to Simon Thoumire; it was  an exciting, glitzy, dignified evening with amazing live music throughout. Capercaille did a great set to kick things off and then soon after we heard an amazing couple of songs from Karine Polwart and her band. Also performing were Breabach, Session A9, Kenna Campbell, and many more.....such great music. The whole event was hosted by Tony Keirney and Mary Ann Kennedy, a job well done indeed. And I got to wear a new frock and see loads of people I've not seen in ages. Ach, life is good. But, I do want to say a HUGE thank you for anyone who took the time to vote for me. Much appreciated!
Fiona
xx

Re. the trad music awards. I forgot to say something that I meant to in my other blog about the awards and that was that despite the fact that by the end of the night most people were tired, a tad antsy, and some a little tipsy after the generous amount of complimentary wine offered, The Cast still managed to still this chatty crowd to the point where you could hear a pin drop and almost visibly see the shivers going down people's spine when Mairi Campbell sang 'Smile or Cry'. What a classy finish to the night. Check out that song on their myspace at www.myspace.com/mairicampbelldavefrancis

In the Observer, 30th Nov, Julie Fowlis listed my album, Elevate, as one of her top three albums of 2008. Julie was one of a whole host of currently popular musicians and singers including the likes of Guy Garvey (Elbow), Estelle, Sarah Harding (Girls Aloud) and Laura Marling who were asked to list their favourite albums of the year. It's a hard thing to say what your favourite few albums are so I was completely made up about that one. That's definitely one for cutting out and keeping!

If you would like to see for yourself just how great the trad awards were then you can watch it on the telly. Na Trads will be broadcast on BBC Alba at 21:00 - 22:30 on Monday 8th Dec.

A very huge thankyou to everyone who took the time to vote for me for the Trad Music Awards. I will post a blog soon after the 6th to let you know how I got on!
Mile taing a rithist,
Fiona
x

I am very pleased to tell you that my album, Elevate, has been nominated for Album of the Year at this year's Traditional Music Awards. The voting starts today and will end on the 21st Nov. If you'd like more info and of course if you'd like vote for me  then please go to; http://www.handsupfortrad.co.uk/tradmusicawards/nominations2008_info.htm
Hmm, not sure if that link worked. Hope so. For anyone in the States reading this; ok, so I know you've got a vote to cast that might be a teensy, weensy bit more important but if you still have some voting mojo left......
Cheers for now!
Fiona
x

I have now successfully uploaded a new song that I've been trying to put up here on my MySpace for the past few days. For some reason the volume isn't very loud so I will try and work out why and get a better-sounding upload when I can. It's also a fairly rough recording but at least those who want to hear this commissioned song can hear it ok (apart from the volume issue!) The song is called Maria and I wrote it about a painting by James Selbie of his Italian mother-in-law, Maria. I was asked to write it by Jennifer Thompson, editor of RAW, a magazine promoting Highland writers. RAW wanted to run an issue to coincide with an exhibition of portraits of anonymous Highland women which had previously been in the archives of the Inverness Museum and Art Gallery. Nine writers were asked (I was asked as a song-writer) to each choose a portrait and 'comment' on it; using prose, poetry or, in my case song. I immediately chose the picture of Maria, being drawn immediately to this sad, and reflective looking older woman (I'll add a photo of the portrait and a photo also of Maria on her wedding day to my pics soon). At this point I knew nothing about her at all, nor about this amazing local artist, James Selbie. After a bit of delving (and a huge big thanks to my dad for helping with this and having the good sense to look in the phone book for local Selbie's with an 'ie' instead of a 'y') I found out that Maria's daughter and grand-daughter actually still live in Inverness. Andrea, the grand-daughter, met with me and and took me to see her now very elderly mother, Filomena, who then very generously shared the whole incredible life-story of Maria with me. The song had to be no more than 100 words so I only got a tiny bit of the story in my song but if you'd like to read more then you can find out more info at; www.randomactsofwriting.co.uk
So, between Jenny and co at RAW and Katey Boal, curator at the museum, an incredibly moving and inspiring exhibition was launched on 3rd Nov, and it runs until the end of the month. It really was an honour to be part of it; the paintings are all so interesting and amazing and the pieces of prose and poetry (and Liza Mulholland did a piece of flash-fiction) by all the writers were moving, funny, clever and poignant.
Also, thanks to the multi-talented  Liza Mulholland for playing the accordian so beautifully on Maria.
Cheers for now,
Fiona
x

Aahh! tried to upload my song, Maria, but for some reason it didn't work. As it happens I re-recorded it today with the wonderful Liza Mulholland on accordian so please come back tomorrow and hopefully it will be there to listen to.