It’s twenty years since Gaelic singer, musician and composer Julie Fowlis released her debut album ‘mar a tha mo chridhe (as my heart is), and her heart is still deeply rooted in the coastal edges and wide skies of the Highlands and Hebridean Islands of Scotland which her songs conjure in tender and vivid detail. She makes a musical map of the North, drawing in history, folklore and the intimate ecology of places she knows and loves.
These are journeying, shapeshifting songs, windows into the otherworld, in which a seal sings at the tideline between land and sea, and a swan laments the loss of her fledglings. They’re portals across time and space too, breathing melodic life into ancient poetry, allowing the voices of those who’ve gone before to speak to this moment now.
‘If snow could sing, it would sing like Julie Fowlis…’ Robert Mcfarlane
She is an artist with genuine curiosity and ability to cross musical boundaries. A natural collaborator, she has worked with acts as diverse as James Taylor, Graham Coxon (Blur), KT Tunstall, Bill Whelan (Riverdance), Nicola Benedetti, Tommy Smith and the Scottish Jazz Orchestra, The RTÉ Concert Orchestra and the Scottish Symphony Orchestra. In January 2025 she released an album with iconic singer songwriters Mary Chapin Carpenter and Karine Polwart to critical acclaim (See below) She also performs and records with folk supergroup Spell Songs, and the harmonious chamber-folk quartet ‘Allt’.
Julie’s singing has featured in ‘Brave’, Disney Pixar’s Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA winning animated film, and reached the stars quite literally via an official NASA astronaut playlist. Scotland’s inaugural ‘Tosgaire na Gàidhlig’ (Scottish Government appointed Ambassador for Gaelic), hers is also the voice of Gaelic in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights Project, which aims to record the declaration in every language in the world, from Abkhaz to Zulu. And all of this speaks to the nature of her music – its cinematic colour, airy luminosity and compassionate depth.
Join Julie and her band to celebrate two decades of journeying in music.
Live dates
October 27th MANCHESTER, RNCM
October 28th SUNDERLAND, The Fire Station
October 29th MILTON KEYNES, The Stables
October 30th LONDON, Cadogan Hall
November 1st BANGOR, Pontio
For a full schedule of live dates, further information and ticket links please visit: www.juliefowlis.com
Featured image credit Craig Mackay
