Shona Mooney

Borders fiddler Shona Mooney is one of Scotland’s leading musicians. The winner of the 2006 BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year, Shona began playing music with her parents in the band O’er the Border and has gone on to feature prominently in the acclaimed Borders Young Fiddles and has toured with the Scottish folk orchestra, Unusual Suspects. As a result of winning the award, she has had the opportunity to record her debut album ‘Heartsease’ for Foot Stompin’ Records which combines traditional Borders material with contemporary self-penned tunes inspired by the Borders landscape, culture and people...................................................... ............................................................ ............................................................ .......................................Shona’s first instrument was a tiny second-hand fiddle, bought in a junk shop in Peebles. During a peripatetic childhood moving between Newstead, Newtown, Westruther, Maxton, Eildon and Lauder in the Scottish Borders, she studied classical violin and traditional fiddle styles with the prominent Borders fiddler Lucy Cowan before joining the vibrant traditional musical scene fostered by Harris Playfair and John Mabon at Kelso High School...................................................... ............................................................ ............................................................ .......................................In 2001, Shona set off for Newcastle University to become part of the first intake on the BMus in Folk and Traditional Music. Her tutors included such great fiddlers as Catriona Macdonald, Chris Wood and Aidan O’Rourke and a great deal of her study time was spent researching Borders music. Much of Shona’s repertoire comes from her father’s research into Borders piping and she intends building upon this work by searching out more Borders melodies and interpreting them and integrating them with contemporary influences. Shona then graduated with first-class honours from Newcastle University in 2005 and that same year appeared on a Scottish tour with The Unusual Suspects.................................................... ............................................................ ............................................................ ....................................... Particular highlights this year for her have been to perform alongside Capercaillie stars Donald Shaw and Karen Matheson at the BBC Proms in the Park and to be chosen to appear on Howard Goodall’s How Music Works for Channel 4........................................................... ............................................................ ............................................................ ..........................................Reviews “bringing a breath of fresh Borders air to the crowded record shelves with her first album.” (Scotland On Sunday)..................................................... .....................”Mooney brings an arranging and compositional vision as well as fiddling skill to her music.” (Rob Adams - The Herald)..................................................... ...................”5 star review ...she is also a truly terrific player, marrying traditional fidelity and contemporary flair, a beautifully rounded tone with ultrasensitive phrasing. “ (Sunday Herald - Sue Wilson)..................................................... ..............”With Heartsease, Shona has first of all given us a striking and superb fiddle album, and second, a fiddle album with a difference: one that, while retaining her instrument's necessary dominance, proves to be so much more.” (David Kidman - FRoots)..................................................... .................”..a striking debut from a rising star.” (Alex Monaghan Living Tradition )........................................................... ...............................
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