A Thurso teacher has become the latest to feature as a singer in a social music project that seeks to unearth Scotland’s best undiscovered voices.
The “social compact” music project Finn Moray aims to reinvest profits from its music sales into the communities where that talent originates.
Eilidh Harper, who has been confirmed as the project’s fifth vocalist, will perform The Silver Darlings, a song rooted in the coastal heritage of Dunbeath.
The song will feature on the project’s second album AON: THE GATHERING.
Eilidh grew up in the far north and began performing at the Caithness Music Festival at the age of seven, continuing until she was 17. Her work with the project coincides with the festival’s 70th anniversary year.
She now works as a home economics teacher at Thurso High School, which she attended as a child.
After stepping back from performing with her sister, she has since been singing again, including with the Caithness Big Band, and was actually in Dunbeath when the invitation to audition came through. It was her former music teacher, Heather Lewry, who passed the opportunity on to her.
The Silver Darlings was written and produced by Finn Moray founder David Sheret with his future father-in-law, Charlie Kennedy, very much in mind. Kennedy is Dunbeath born and bred and a great lover of Irish country music. David said the song was written with his sensibility, his place, and his feel for home somewhere in its bones.
Eilidh said: “It means so much to sing for the people you love, especially when the songs hold personal meaning. Growing up in Caithness, with the cliffs, the sea, and the landscape of Dunbeath and its castle sitting in my imagination, this song feels like it belongs to a place I know.
“Coming back to music through Finn Moray, in the festival’s 70th year, feels like a full circle moment for me.”
BBC radio and television presenter Richard Gordon is leading inerviews with all the featured vocalist for AON: THE GATHERING. Eilidh’s interview will be aired shortly.
David Sheret, founder of Finn Moray, said: “When we heard Eilidh’s audition we all thought there was something pretty compelling about her as a performer. She wasn’t trying to arrive as a finished product with all the edges varnished. She comes across as thoughtful, grounded and serious, with a real sense of the value of the song.
“For me, she brings not just vocal ability, but a real legitimacy of feeling. She understands Caithness. She understands the culture of the north. And because she’s from this part of the world, she knows how to sing it. That is a big part of what AON: THE GATHERING is about.”
The Finn Moray project operates on a commitment that 50 per cent of net profits are returned to Scottish community, cultural, and charitable causes. The other 50 per cent is reinvested into sustaining and growing the project. David explains that it is a model built on the principle that commercial music and genuine social contribution can coexist, and that one can strengthen the other.
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Alongside Eilidh, the other four confirmed singers are Adele Henderson from Aberchirder, Banffshire, who will sing Foggie; Rhuaridh McHardy, of Netherley, Aberdeenshire (I’m The Bridge); Shetland-based Lisa Manson (Muddy Bay (Blood & Bone)); and Terry McDermott, originally of Pitmedden, Aberdeenshire – now New Orleans (Two Stars On Our Chest).
Finn Moray is actively seeking vocalists with genuine connections to the remaining song locations. Opportunities are open for singers connected to Inverness, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Darvel, Yetholm, Cumbernauld and St Andrews.
Since January, Finn Moray has made donations to 13 causes in its first four months of operation. Recipients range from the Beatson Cancer Charity and SAMH (Scottish Action for Mental Health) to the Paul Lawrie Foundation, Shetland Young Farmers, and rural community infrastructure projects in Aberchirder and Stirling.
The first album, AON: THE CALL, contains 15 original songs inspired by Scottish towns and villages, produced by two-time Latin Grammy winner Mariano Beyoglonian at Estudio Tritono in Buenos Aires. The second album, AON: THE GATHERING, replaces the synthesised voices of the debut with local singers connected to the places the songs represent.
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