Biography:

BACKGROUND

Mary Ann Kennedy has been surrounded by music all her life. She was brought up in a Gaelic-speaking family in Glasgow – her father from the Isle of Tiree and mother, Kenna Campbell, one of the Campbell family of Greepe in the Isle of Skye, a family well-known as singers and pipers. She grew up in the south side of the city, in a multi-cultural community where two languages was the norm, whether it be Gaelic or Urdu. Her first memories are of music – hearing her mum and her sister and brother rehearsing in the front room after she'd gone to bed.
Music News

MUSIC  

She trained intensively as a classical musician from the age of six, starting out on piano and later taking up the harp. In 1979, she was awarded one of the first places at the first state-funded specialist school in the UK – the Music School of Douglas Academy in Glasgow . The school was to form the model later on for the Centres of Excellence that now include a school for Traditional Music in Plockton, Ross-shire.

She went on to study as a pianist at the Roy al Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow and postgraduate research and training was at the Roy al Northern College of Music in Manchester, where she was the first harpist in the college's history to be awarded its highest performance diploma. Her thesis however was a study of Gaelic ‘mouth-music' or ‘puirt-a-beul', a speciality of her mother's family.

Ultimately, Mary Ann has chosen to work mainly with the traditional music that has always been a part of her. She is one of a select band of singers to have won both the Seann-Nòs and An Comunn Gaidhealach Gold Medals at the National Mòd, Gaeldom's premier festival of language and music, and was twice winner of the Concours International de la Harpe Celtique in Lorient , France . She is the recipient of a Saltire Award for her Highland Festival commission, “Lasair Dhè”.

As the co-founder of the Gaelic group, Cliar, she shared in their success in being awarded the inaugural ‘all-time' Best Album accolade at the Scots Trad Music Awards.

As a writer, she has been awarded several commissions, including a suite of music to celebrate the 1400 th anniversary of St Columba's death at the Edinburgh International Festival, a work for 8 Highland voices to mark the Millennium, and most recently a trio setting of the Sorley MacLean poem, ‘Tràighean', for a major musical celebration of the poet's work.

Band News

BROADCASTING

Mary Ann joined the BBC in Inverness in 1993, during a break from her studies when the ‘money ran out'. A temporary job to keep the wolf from the door however turned into one of the best things ever to happen to her. Six years on staff gave her the journalistic and creative skills that were to be at the heart of a whole new parallel career. Having finally risen to editorial level in the Gaelic news service, she decided to return to freelance life to pursue her musical interests. She has never looked back.

Her broadcast credits include radio work for BBC Radio Scotland as presenter of ‘Mary Ann Kennedy's Global Gathering', BBC Radio 3, RTE and BBC Radio nan Gaidheal. She has presented major series and specials on BBC Scotland, BBC2, TG4 and BBC4, on world and traditional Scottish and Irish music, including ‘The Highland Sessions', the ‘Radio 3 Awards for World Music' and ‘Celtic Connections'.

Watercolour Music have now emerged as an independent producer, and commissions are in hand for BBC Scotland, BBC Radio Scotland and BBC Radio nan Gaidheal. The radio suite at Watercolour allows Mary Ann to broadcast much of her live work from the company's base in Ardgour.

She was named ‘Radio Presenter of the Year' at the international Celtic Media Festival in 2007.

Mary Ann is increasingly in demand as a producer, working as a team with Nick at Watercolour. She has produced three debut albums for winners of BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year; the Scotland on Sunday Gaelic album of the Year 2000 for Donnie Murdo MacLeod, and many other albums of traditional music. The Watercolour team were also responsible for the music soundtrack and production for the award-winning BBC Scotland series on Gaelic song, ‘Aig Cridhe ar Ciùil'.

ore Industry News

INDUSTRY

Mary Ann, as part of Watercolour Music, has been involved in a range of arts administration, advocacy, consultancy and artistic management projects, based on the directors' skills and combined years of experience in the music industry.

Projects have included tour management of one of the inaugural Scottish Arts Council - Tune Up tours with Cliar and Irish superstars, Altan; setting up Ceilear! – a community singing project in Lochaber, and project management of self-release recordings of emerging artists such as Teine , Iain Angus MacLeod , and Shona Mooney .

She is also a partner in the specialist Gaelic record label Macmeanmna Records.

Recent Changes