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No Longer Separated by Oceans and Centuries
d Scottish Songtress Moira Kerr c
Our Benefactress-- Moira Kerr, a leading Scottish songtress, has kindly granted permission to
Team Liddell et al to play two of her recordings, "Highland Cathedral" and "I Know Where I'm
Going", in our latest website--currently still under development at this writing but scheduled to
open during November/December 2005. Kerr has written and recorded more than 200 of her own
songs as well as hundreds more of Scotland-specific ones and has produced a number of lovely
CD collections which are available for purchase at www.moirakerr.com.
(Photo by Sandy Osborough)
d About Moira Kerr c
Moira Kerr began her public career principally as a young Scottish athlete. At one time, when she was only 14 and competing for the first time, she held both of the Field Athletic Shotput titles for Scotland and the United Kingdom (British) and was still the Scottish champion when a back injury forced her retirement in her late 'teens.
But this setback only allowed her to return her focus to singing and her guitar with which she began winning the talent contests that soon led to her repeated triumphs in entertainment as a leading Scottish-theme song writer, composer and performer. She has been signally honored by being repeatedly asked to provide the music for a number of BBC documentaries and other major productions and in recent years, Moira Kerr has taken to highly successful tours abroad including both the United States and Canada.
Moira's song writing abilities were really put to the test when BBC Television asked her to write twelve songs for the TV series "Where Eagles Fly" which presented a wide-ranging travelogue of the Scottish Highlands. In addition to performing her songs in the full video set of the programmes, Moira has also created a video of the songs with their accompanying scenic views of places such as Skye, Loch Lomond, Applecross and Torridon.
When Moira appeared on the BBC TV programme "Sweet Inspirations" singing a selection of popular hymns, the positive response to her voice was so great that it resulted in the release of her first album of hymns called "Be Thou My Vision" and subsequent appearances on the BBC series "Songs of Praise". CDs entitled "Glencoe: Glen of Weeping", "Bravest Heart" and "Celtic Soul" followed in quick succession.
Moira's latest album "Time and Tide" includes some original songs as well as many traditional favorites. A firm favorite is "When the Pipers Play" from the TV series "Instruments of War" which was shown on PBS in the United States.
More than 10 albums recorded by Moira
Moira has now recorded no fewer than 10 albums, ranging from her original "folk" emphasis to jazz, hymns, and her current unique blend of contemporary Scottish music with time-honored traditional songs. Again, a selection of these CDs and albums are available at www.moirakerr.com.
In 2002, Moira became involved in the "Scotland Forever Tattoo" - a spectacular event which provides a showcase for the skirl o' the pipes and Scottish singers and dancers. Up to 400 pipers, drummers, Scottish country dancers, Irish dancers, a brass band and Scots and Gaelic singers perform at venues in both Scotland and England. Moira, accompanied by singer Stuart Barbour compèred the show in Glasgow (and sang a few songs too, of course)
Talking and describing the songs in her programme, in such an easy-going manner, have also taught her how to communicate with audiences. This skill has led on to expanding into after-dinner speaking engagements where she talks not just about her experiences as a singer/songwriter/entertainer but also on other Scottish-related themes.
In addition to being a delightful singer, Moira Kerr has written a large number of wonderful songs about Scotland - and love. The words can be on historical subjects such as the haunting "MacIan of Glencoe" and the powerful "Bravest Heart" or on specific places in Scotland which have appealed to her, as in the lyrical Drifting Away (Applecross and Torridon) or Safely Ashore (Iona). And then there are the songs specifically aimed at children, such as Henrietta Hen and Misty Moo.
While arrangements to have Moira Kerr at your event can more readily be accommodated if it is in the UK, Moira may also be able to participate in events in other parts of the world (North America in particular) as part of other engagements there. You can contact Moira to discuss her participation in your event either by emailing her at "Moira Kerr " <moira.kerr@talk21.com> (To use, cut-and-paste to your browser "To" window) or by fax at 0141 882 3465 or, if you are faxing from abroad, the UK International dial code from your country plus 141 882 3465.
TEAM NOTE: All of the promotional aspects to this file are provided by Team Liddell et al simply to demonstrate its gratitude to this remarkably talented woman. She asked only for a single mention of her website, which we show in the cutline under her picture, but we feel that we wanted to do more and thus, have included these other bits of information about her availability as an entertainer and a speaker.
Moira's connection to Team Liddell et al
The Team began work on its four-gigabyte "be all-do all" website in early May 2005 as a result of approaching memory exhaustion at all of its private Liddesdale archival sites. It was early decided that this yet-unnamed Website would be a mature and robust creation involving all the bells and whistles that the digital world can provide and to be a credit to the statue that the Team has achieved in its short life and the many contributions of its members. One certain feature would be Scottish music to greet the website's visitors and entertain them at various inside pages.
The Team member working on this part of the project set out one morning on the Web to find any Scottish-theme music that could be obtained for free, since the Team operates with zero funding and always has.
Moira Kerr's website was the first he visited and he stopped right there, listened to two of her songs, the two she has granted the Team the privilege of playing without fee at their website, and burst into tears at the sheer beauty of her voice and the impact of the special words she has written for "Highland Cathedral". The Web search was ended then and there without a single more site visited, and an email was immediately dispatched to Moira to explain what the Team wanted to do--namely, play her songs at the new website once it was opened to the world. Two days later, Moira wrote back and granted her permission to the Team to do that very thing for "Highland Cathedral" and "I Know Where I'm Going".
The Team is grateful to the gracious, lovely--and remarkably talented--Moira Kerr for her kindness.
Thank you, Moira.
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