Simon Thoumire

LATEST NEWS

Foot Stompin’ Free Scottish Music Podcast No 256

Hi there! Ciamar a tha thu? What’s happening? Sorry for the long break between these podcasts. Sometimes life just gets in the way… Anyway we are back now with the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards Album of the Year Podcast 2023! Starting of with the winner Duncan Chisholm! If you would like to support this podcast please check out our Patreon www.patreon.com/handsupfortrad.

Black Cuillin by Duncan Chisholm
Track – On the winds of chaos born
https://www.duncanchisholm.com

Tempus by Skerryvore 
Track – Everything You Need
https://skerryvore.com

Dialogues by Su-a Lee 
Track – Stroma featuring James Ross
https://sualee.bandcamp.com/album/dialogues

Awakening by Ìmar
Track – Bangers
https://www.imarband.com

Fàs by Breabach
Track – Eadar an Da Bhraigh
https://breabach.bandcamp.com/album/f-s

Dusk Moon by Rura
Track – Think of Today
https://rura.bandcamp.com

DIAD by Tim Edey & Ross Ainslie
Track – LUNNY
https://rossainslie.bandcamp.com/album/diad-2

I See A World by Peatbog Faeries
Track – The Sister of Moses
https://peatbogfaeriesofficial.bandcamp.com/album/i-see-a-world

Decemberwell by Decade by Mike Vass
Track – Prisms on the dark sea
https://mikevass.bandcamp.com

Haar by Lauren MacColl
Track – Haar
https://laurenmaccoll.bandcamp.com

Ian on the left, Simon on the right

Here’s a new tune played by me and Ian Carr and written by Simon Thoumire and Alana NicAonghais with financial help from TASGADH (Traditional Arts Small Grants) and Creative Scotland.

The title is to remind me and Ian where we sit on the stage! It’s full title should be Ian on stage left…

Room 24 by Simon Thoumire and Ian Carr

This is a new composition of Ian’s that we recorded in Sweden in September 23. It was originally written in 2021 during the height of lockdown and we made a version of this from our two house. At last we managed to play it in the same room. Find out more https://simonthoumire.ffm.to/invisible

Foot Stompin’ Free Scottish Music Podcast No 255

Hi there, Ciamar a tha sibh? We are back after the summer. My youngest is now back at the school – in his last year! Where does the time go! Anyway loads of great music for you to listen toooo! See you in September!

Live Wire by Mec Lir
Track – Flashback
https://meclir.bandcamp.com/album/livewire

Dream Angus by Claire Hastings
Track – Dream Angus
https://clairehastings.bandcamp.com

Arche by Routes Quartet
Track – Astar
https://routesstrings.bandcamp.com/album/arche-2

Popular Manx Tunes D♭ Edition by Tomas Callister & David Kilgallon
Track – Polkas
https://davidkilgallon.bandcamp.com/album/popular-manx-tunes-d-edition

Dancing Feet by Blair Douglas
Track – Back to the Island
https://gaelicmusic.com/products/dancing-feet-1

Fath mo mhulaid a bhith ann (Being here has caused my sorrow) by Maggie MacInnes
https://www.maggiemacinnes.co.uk

Road to Caolburns by Ian Stephenson
https://ianstephenson.me/index.php/performer/

I See A World by Peatbog Faeries
Track – Clunie Road / The Winning Bid
https://peatbogfaeries.com

Run by Man of the Minch
https://manoftheminch.bandcamp.com

The Dawning by Graham Mackenzie
Track – Josh’s Jigs
https://grahammackenzie.bandcamp.com/album/the-dawning

John Thoumire’s Castle

My dad is having a rough week so here is a tune I wrote for him a while ago – John Thoumire’s Castle. Https://simonthoumire.ffm.to/portraits

Music Review: Ileach – The Independent Newspaper for Islay and Jura

Music review

Portraits – Simon Thoumire and Dave Milligan

In 2001, concertina player, Simon Thoumire and pianist, Dave Mil- ligan released their first album to- gether, entitled ‘The Big Day’, a title that reflected the music having been recorded in a single day, due to the sudden availability of a recording studio.

‘Portraits’, however, took considerably longer, despite not having been conceived as an album in the first place. As was the case for many musicians, the pandemic forced the opportunity to create new music un- interrupted by gigs or touring. Such was the case for Simon Thoumire.

LISTEN HERE

And with no real opportunities to collaborate in person, ‘Portraits’ consists of music sent to and fro between himself and Dave Milligan, each track representing a different person in Thoumire’s life.

The results can be heard across the album’s eleven impressive tracks.

Simon Thoumire was once an integral part of John Rae’s Celtic Feet, a band that were stalwarts of those early Islay Jazz festivals. His concer- tina playing is every bit as identifable today as it was over quarter of a century past.

Dave Milligan has appeared at several Islay Festivals and whose own album, ‘Momento’ was reviewed in these pages a few years past.

The collaboration between the two musicians is, to confine it to a single word, ‘seamless’. Thoumire’s more folk-oriented approach is matched, note for note, by Milligan’s jazzier feel. If nothing else, this particular album underlines that the Scottish folk/jazz experiments from John Rae, Colin Steele, Fergus McCreadie and more recently, Fraser Fifield, have a value that highlights them as more than just a passing fad or notion.

The opening track, ‘Come on, let us sway together’ was written as a Valentine’s Day present for Simon’s wife and sways as the very waltz you might hear at a village hall ceilidh.

‘Anastasia McAroe’s Waltz’, howev- er is a smidgeon more emphatic in its 3/4 swing. And, as a nostalgic reminder of Thoumire’s time with Celtic Feet, ‘King Bill’s Hornpipe’, though a con- temporary composition, brings back memories of ‘Beware the Feet’.

While not wishing to descend into clichéd ‘toe-tapping’ references, I dare anyone to listen to the en- tire album, while keeping both feet firmly planted on the floor, partic- ularly during ‘Louis DeCarlo’s 70th Birthday Strathspey’, (where Dave Milligan’s piano-playing provides one of the album’s finest moments), or ‘Misha’, a track dedicated to the Ukrainian pianist, the late Misha Alpern.

A joyous album.

bp

Find out more https://simonthoumire.ffm.to/portraits