On a Wing and a Prayer Project launches

On a Wing and a Prayer is a new two-year project from Nordic Viola taking place in small communities around Scotland. To do something “on a wing and a prayer” means to do something in the hope that you’ll succeed despite being insufficiently prepared” and I’ll be taking this as  a starting point for exploring humankind’s approach to the climate crisis.

Going back to Nordic Viola’s roots, I’ll be working with local composers living in habitats under threat. In this first year until June 2024, I’ll be working with percussionist, composer and sound artist Renzo Spiteri in Shetland, Pete and Joe Stollery in Deeside and Lisa Robertson in Morvern in the West Highlands of Scotland. Through a process of musical conversation and improvisation, we’ll be creating new pieces of music in response to the environment.

Alongside these I’ll be introducing works by Nordic composers who write in a complementary style and/or live in similar habitats. These composers will include Kristian Blak from the Faroes and Charles Ross and Anna Thorvaldsdóttir from Iceland.

The focus of this project is small rural communities, but you’ll be able to join in if you live further afield too. In a new initiative I’ll be launching a series of podcasts hosted by Ear to the Ground’s Aileen Sweeney (also a composer) where the composers and I discuss the impetus behind our work ahead of our performances. We’ll also be recording the performances in audio to be released as online concerts. Be sure to subscribe here so you don’t miss any of these!

Additionally, I’d love to hear your concerns for your local environment and any sounds you have captured that resonate with you. You can either comment publicly on this post or on my social media channels, or use the contact form to get in touch.

Renzo Spiteri in Shetland

On a Wing and a Prayer kicked off last week in Shetland with Renzo Spiteri. We spent an intensive three days at his home in West Mainland exploring the sounds of Shetland’s moorland and sea habitats. Our music includes recordings of Shetland’s birds, especially species that are struggling with the current bird flu outbreak such as the great skua – known as the Bonxie in Shetland.

As I travelled across Mainland, I was immediately struck by the extent of the new Viking windfarm and the speed at which it’s been erected since my last visit in March. Once over the hill from Lerwick you can see it from almost everywhere. This is, of course, an emotive issue. There is an undisputed need to lower our carbon emissions. How to balance that against a respect for the landscape, nature and the environment is a very difficult question. It’s not my place as an outsider to judge on this particular windfarm (though it is an issue close to my home too) but in our music we hope to open a space for reflection in a piece that includes some quite industrial sounds and the sense of humankind marching across the landscape.

Reflecting on the idea of prayer, our first piece, “Serenity”, is influenced by the contours of Faroese hymn “O Aegtestand”. We’ll be finishing our performance on a lighter note with an arrangement of an ancient tune, “Winya Depla”, that comes from the small island of Fetlar on the north-east tip of Shetland.

Shetland and Faroe share many of the same birds and my Nordic pick for this programme is a couple  of movements from Kristian Blak’s “Drrrunnn”.

Drrrunnn comes from the Faroese word for storm petrels. I was lucky enough to experience these amazing little birds for myself at Mousa Broch last Wednesday. The whole island seemed to be resonating with their purrs and tiny hiccups. It’s stunning to watch them fly into the Broch, of course, but I couldn’t tear myself away from the beach where they’re nesting between the stones. They’re like little electronic composers in their own right. Listen to these incredible looping sounds:

Boat Hall Shetland Museum 20^th September 6:30pm

The first performance from “On a Wing and a Prayer” will take place at Shetland Museum in the beautiful Boat Hall at 6:30 on 20^th September and tickets are now live via Eventbrite.

In the open, relaxed space of the Boat Hall, you will have the opportunity to meet us and our instruments before and after the show and to share your own experiences of Shetland’s nature and environment.

All are welcome at this relaxed performance and there is space to move in and out of the performance setting if desired. The venue is fully accessible.

Finally a big thanks to Orla Stevens for her striking graphics once again for this project. We’ll be releasing some merchandise soon and we’d love to hear what your preferences are: cards, prints, T-shirts, mugs, bags. Let us know!

Finally, our thanks go to Creative Scotland for supporting this project.