Category: Albums

Michael Marra has been in the studio at An Tobar on Mull the past few days recording new and previously unreleased material. He had Dundee band The Hazey Janes with him for company and by all accounts they had a very productive four days .  You can read about the sessions and see some great photographs on The Hazey Janes facebook page .

A new video of Michael Marra's song "I Love The Alphabet" sung by his daughter Alice with assistance from brother Christopher. The song was written for Alice after she mastered the really useful skill of reciting the alphabet backwards.

The new album from Dave Formula and Christine Hanson features contributions from Michael Marra amongst others. The album is due for release on 17 October 2011 on Off Records for more information visit their website    You can hear selected music samples at the album's Facebook page.

Michael has recorded an appearance for the new series of  My Life In Five Songs with Phil Cunningham for BBC Radio Scotland . It is due for broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland on Thursday 17th February at 15.30 . The programme gets a repeat just after midnight on Saturday night( 00.02 Sunday morning) for those getting home late! And again just after 6am on Sunday morning, 20th February, for those getting home very late! The programme will also be on the BBC i-player for 7 days after transmission. It's bound to be an interesting choice of songs!

Michael Marra has won a Herald Angel Award for his recent performances at the
Edinburgh Fringe -

Keith Bruce writes in The Herald

"Michael Marra is a songsmith from Dundee, whose craft has been revered for
years, and whose collaboration with dancer and choreographer Frank McConnell was
revived last year and has been presented at the Acoustic Music Centre at St
Bride's as part of the Made in Scotland showcase. On Tuesday, Marra returned to
play a solo concert and showed how he has achieved complete mastery of his
material and his relationship with the audience. A Bank of Scotland Herald Angel
goes to a national treasure."

Full piece at -

http://www.heraldscotland.com/arts-ents/music-features/eyes-on-the-prizes-1.1051
047

Cutting a Bohemian figure in beret and black suit, Dundee songsmith Michael Marra brought Saturday’s Bank of Scotland Herald Angels awards presentation to a superb conclusion with a performance of his song O Fellow Man, written for the actor Tom Watson, who died last month.

Marra had received an Angel from this week’s guest presenter, Simon Callow, for his triumphant Fringe appearance at the Acoustic Music Centre. The solo gig had followed a run of performances at the same venue of the revival of A Wee Home From Home, the show he created 20 years ago with dancer and choreographer Frank McConnell and director Gerry Mulgrew. Accepting the award, he told his audience, “I’m as proud as a Dundee man is permitted to be.”

Michael Marra's new album is now availble. Recorded Live On Tour 2010 with Mr McFall's Chamber the album is on Delphian Records. DCD34092

Original photo taken by Marc Marnie as were all the photographs of Michael and Mr McFall's Chamber.

Have a listen the  soundbites from the the album courtesy of Delphian Records now available in the song section of the website .

Read Jim Gilchrist's review of the new album in The Scotsman

New Eilidh Mackenzie's new CD " Bel Canto" on the Macmeanmna label has a couple of contributions from Michael Marra. On track one Michael narrates a passage from Bel Canto the Ann Patchett book which inspired Eilidh to write the songs for the album. On track five he performs the vocals on "You Misunderstand Me" assisted by Eddi Reader.  The Cd is available as a download from Gaelic Musi c  . The CD proper is released on 01 November.

This from Eilidh Mackenzie'a myspace page

The songs on the new album, Bel Canto, which follows the story of Ann Patchett's award winning novel of the same name. "Chan eil cuimnh am" features my sisters Gillian and Fiona Gress on backing vocals; Gentle Kisses has the wonderful Anna Meldrum on lead with me on backing and Reidhphort, written for my Uncle Kenny, is sung as a duet with the fabulous James Graham. I hope you all enjoy them.

During the making of the album I was surrounded by the most talented and enthusiastic bunch of musicians possible. Brian McAlpine, Ged Grimes, Gordon Gunn, Chrisitne Hanson, Allan Glenuig Macdonald, Terry Small, Elizabeth McCormack, Michael Marra, James Graham, Anna Meldrum, Gillian Mackenzie and Fiona Gress Mackenzie and Eddi Reader. What a complete treat for me....

We headed down to Glasgow for a fairly intensive recording stretch with Mark Freegard at 3kyoti in the best bit of town. The food round his studio is the best...highly recommended - and he's a great guy who made the time in the studio an absolute pleasure. He recorded and mixed the 14 tracks and then we took it to Calum Malcolm, our trusted master, to finish.

Bel Canto (published 2001, Harper Collins) is a beautiful novel and weaves its way through the universal themes of love and music, identity, communication and language. I took the story and transferred it to Gaelic Scotland. Once upon a time there was a girl who swallowed a bird...and to hear the rest you'll need to read the novel and listen to the CD......

Sinsheen are Christine Kydd and Barbara Dymock. Each a fine singer in her own right, 'Lift' is their first CD as a duo. Christine and Barbara have built a reputation among roots music lovers for originality, virtuosity and the livliest of live performances. Combining power, passion and pedigree, they contrast superb harmony vocals with light instrumental and percussive backing. The CD, which was produced by Michael Marra, features a great set of Scots songs and there's good, informative sleeve-notes to the album too! It includes a version of Mr Marra's Mother Glasgow soon to be heard in it's original context when the Plan B's new production of A Wee Home From Home starts it's Scottish tour. Also pleased to see that the CD cover photograph is by Andy Hall who with painter Francis Boag has a wonderful new book out, titled The Mearns Distilled it is well worth searching out.

For more information on Sinsheen check out their website at -

http://www.sinsheen.com/

You can also hear tracks from the new CD and check out their forthcoming tour dates at -

http://www.myspace.com/sinsheen

Just a wee bit of information about the "Numbers" CD produced by and featuring Michael and the guys from the Noranside Songwriters Group and now available for your listening pleasure. The 11 track album is the culmination of the work Michael has been doing with long term prisoners at HMP Noranside, Angus. Michael has been taking the songwritng group once a week. The best of the songs along with an unreleased song of Michael's " Eternity Has Just Begun" are featured on the album. The track listing is as follows -

29 addresses
don't go away
enternity has just begun
let me out
the man in black
buckfast blues
forever is you
what you've got or not
better days
the holy city
wheels

Sadly due to bureaucratic reasons the album cannot be made available for sale however musical1.com have stepped in and the songs can now be heard at a dedicated website. Visit numbers  to hear all the songs which are available as streaming mp3's.

Enjoy 

Dates are confirmed - 28 and 29th December 2008.  Fat Sam's is the Dundee venue for Michael's legendary hometown gigs backed by The Hazey Janes. Tickets are on sale now from following -

Advance tickets from Grouchos Ticket Agency tel 01382 - 228496.