The Scottish group FARA, four beautiful young women whose three fiddles and a piano produce a fiery sound rooted strongly in their Orkney Island upbringing will be featured in a Susquehanna Folk Music Society concert on Saturday, May12th. The concert begins at 7:30 pm and will be held at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of York located at 925 S. George Street in York. This concert is part of the group’s first tour in the United States.
Tickets and information can be found here: http://www.sfmsfolk.org/concerts/Fara.html Tickets will also be available at the door.
Fara brings together four leading musicians at the forefront of today’s Scottish folk scene – Jennifer Austin, Kristan Harvey, Jeana Leslie and Catriona Price. Their repertoire showcases the strong fiddle tradition of the Orkneys; a group of around 70 islands situated just off the northern coast of Scotland. The Islands were parof Norway until the early 1400s, so Norwegian, as well as Gaelic influences, can be heard in the group’s music.
As is common on Orkney, they grew up playing music in Grammer School, and later all sought University degrees at Royal Academy of Music, the Royal Northern College of Music, The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and Strathclyde University. First coming together as backup musicians for the popular Orkney group “The Chair,” Fara decided to strike out on their own in 2014.
The four contrasting personalities and individual musical voices in Fara make for a colorful melting pot, with each member bringing a different musical palette to the mix. With vibrant arrangements full of rich harmonies, energetic fiddle playing, and driving piano, Fara’s music is an exciting experience.
Using a mixture of self-penned and traditional Orkney tunes along with the stunning vocals of the group’s lead singer Jeana Leslie, Fara has been called “a new fiddle supergroup,” and “a real delight.” Their on-stage banter and musicianship routinely hold audiences spellbound.
A nomination for “Up And Coming Act of the Year” at the Scots Trad Music Awards in 2015 and the success of their debut album Cross The Line in 2016 lead to a nomination for the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards’ Horizon Award. Since then they have played across the UK and Europe and are making debut tours this year in the U.S., Canada, Sweden, and Germany.
Concert tickets are $24 General Admission, $20 for SFMS members and $10 for students ages 3-22. Advance tickets are available through BrownPaperTickets.com or call (800) 838-3006. This concert is presented with support from Bob and Donna Pullo and from an anonymous Your Name in Lights sponsor and in cooperation with Songside.com and the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of York.
Funding for Susquehanna Folk Music Society concerts is provided by the York County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, the Cultural Enrichment Fund and by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, administered locally by the Cultural Alliance of York County. For more information, visit the Susquehanna Folk Music Society website at http://www.sfmsfolk.org.
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