Alison Burns, who leads the Castle Douglas Feral Choir, tells us what’s special to her about this time of year and why audiences will enjoy the upcoming Forgotten Carols performances.
Forgotten Carols will be performed in Dalry, Twynholm, Dumfries Museum and Kirkpatrick Durham on the weekend of 15th-17th December.
Alison started researching old songs when her daughter was a baby and she was feeling jaded with Christmas and especially fed up with the same old songs and carols every year.
“Even if you’re not religious, Christmas is a really important time when most people can slow down and take stock of their lives, for a short time at least. I realised I had to reinvent it for myself in a way that would make it meaningful and special again. I began researching old songs and customs and found a treasure trove of beautiful and ‘lost’ songs. I found carols that went out to America with early settlers, for example, and have evolved into different versions of the ones we’re used to. It’s great to breathe new life into them.
“I also love the traditions that everyone’s families have adopted over the years. When my nieces were children we made coloured paper lanterns and lit candles in them as the light of the day turned into dusk. Now that they’re adults, we still do this together and it’s a wonderful connection to the past and each other.”
Alison takes a lot of inspiration from poetry and sets existing poems to music and weaves spoken word into Feral Choir’s concerts. This year, the choir will be joined by local and internationally acclaimed poet, Tom Pow, who also talks about that connection to Christmas past.
Tom tells us, “The Forgotten Carols concerts are a chance to reconnect with Christmas. The whole story is embedded in the old songs and the spoken words enlarge the meaning of Christmas. Come and celebrate simple joy.”
“Lots of our audience say their Christmas starts with Forgotten Carols!” adds Alison.
See https://www.feralchoir.co.uk/news/ for more information and booking details. All tickets are £10.
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