So I have this recording of fluteplayer Laura MacKenzie playing the air, “Rona’s Heather”, that I’m going about getting my head around. Very evocative, deceptively simple, varied, and probably the longest (it’s way long) air I’ve come across yet. I’ve done some cursory searching and have come up with zilch. Lovely piece.
I’m not only interested in other recordings of it (for the sake of comparison), but general info, like provenance, composer if known, age if known, anecdotes, etc. Calling all archivists! Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Here’s the “Rona” part: “The Isle of Rona (sometimes known as South Rona) lies in the Sound of Raasay, between the Isle of Skye and the Scottish mainland.”
Now all you have to find is the “Heather” part. (aren’t I helpful? )
I could only find a couple of tunes with the letters r.o.n.a. in the title. The first is Rona’s Voe, but it seems pretty simplistic compared to what you describe.
I really do not know Laura, but I have met her. She is a very nice person. Asking her would be the best way to get all the info you should need for the tune.
I intend to ask her. When I see her, anyway, which is about twice a year, it seems. She’s always off gallivanting about and stuff. Of course, I suppose I could call in case she’s doing the hermit thing…but I’m sure she’d be willing to give me what info she has on it if I asked, no problem. I’ll just bribe her with another bottle of Calvados if need be (long story, there. And boring).
So anyway, in absence of herself, I have turned to the Trad Forum. I thought of The Session website while driving around, today. I’ll give it a shot. Thanks. As for the Isle of Rona, I have to say that the tune sounded Scottish to me, somehow. Very haunting.
But enough of that. The invitation for knowledgeable folks to weigh in here still stands!
Thanks, Mark. Lovely singing, but not enough to help clarify. Reasons below:
As fate would have it, I encountered Laura at the session at Kieran’s this last Wed. evening, and plied her with questions until she was fairly pinned to the wall.
Turns out that the track from which I got the "tune " is actually a medley. Warning: shocking breach of Tradness ahead.–> I got the CD whilst traipseing through a Target store, and there they were on the New Age Moods tripe rack: “Medicine Visions”, “Oceanic Dreams”, “Zydeco Meditations”, or whatever they were called and whatnot. I was drawn despite myself to idly pick up “Relaxing Celtic” (blearghhh), thinking I was safe in my Trad smugness until I saw who the main artist was. I decided to buy it for the fluteplaying, fully expecting spiritual synthesizers into the bargain. I wasn’t disappointed on either count.
Laura hates that CD. She recorded her tracks, and then the philistines did the rest without her input. She said that THEY didn’t take kindly to medleys being called medleys, wanting solid, mind-numbing titles, and damn the truth. That it was a medley makes sense, as there are basically two themes that I can discern, starting out in Am, changing to A-mix, and resolving back to the Am theme as best as I can tell. It all fits well together as one, though. Anyway, she was kind enough to offer to give another listen to it and let me know which part was the Rona’s Heather/Heather of Rona/Fraoch an Ronnaigh part, as she’d long forgotten about it.
If I can, I will. The problem is in laying down the tune in a way that makes sense. Part of that medley can be written in 3/4 meter, but of course it’s not really played that way. Plus my ABC skills are primitive. Still, I’ll give it a go and see if I can make something sensible of it.
="MarkB]Our local drugstore chain carries them there type of CD’s, next time I go in I will check for titles,
MarkB
It’s enjoyable for what it is. The fluteplaying is great, the peripherals aren’t too distracting, and there’s some tasteful guitar in it, too. Still, to repeat, I can’t recommend it for Pure Drop listening!
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